Yeah, i forgot those big-assed spiders (huntsmen, i presume). They are supposedly harmless, and i have heard they eat cockroaches. There's also a story that they are dead relatives coming back for a visit. Whatever, you are right about them suddenly coming back onto the scene in the last couple of weeks - found a nest of them in my shed and there's another one living in the bathroom.

A couple of times i remember going down to the chookshed at night and (I think it's the same one) but you can actually see their eyes light up (as you probably know, spiders can have up to 6 or 7 eyes) - and there were a lot! Can't remember what time of year it was though when i saw that.

As for the nightjars, they seem strangely quiet tonight - not sure what's up with that coz they've been making a racket every night all night for the past few weeks. They've possibly moved onto somewhere else, or maybe they've all found mates.

I still maintain that their call qualifies as a 'seasonal' thing (we could exchange some invective about it if you like, a-la Forumosa). It is a mating call apparently rather than a territorial one, and i am assuming this is 'mating season', and i did record hearing them at virtually the exact same time in the last two years.

The common ring-necked pheasant was coming onto my property around this time as well and standing on a rock and making his call - also not a particarly pleasant sound, especially if you're not a natural early riser, but unfortunately he hasn't been back the last two years. I can still hear them occasionally, but not close-by. That mu dzao (or is it mung dzao - i hear different names for it), that very fast growing weed that's common here , can grow to about 3 metres tall and form an impenetrable forest if let go, and is a scourge to farmers - especially lazy ones like me who never properly address it - that weed is actually great habitat for several species of birds, especially ground nesters - as it gives them good protection from cats and dogs which inturn gives a few of the native carnivores that can penetrate it a bit of a hunting ground as well.