Happy New Year~

And with a new year comes a new Steve Parish Bird Diary… or so I thought.

Every year since 2008, I buy the Steve Parish Bird Diary because the photos in it are always so gorgeous. Normally I buy it in December, but this year I left it late hoping for a discount.

So when I went to the city yesterday to buy it, I went from bookstore to bookstore in the 40C heat, but no luck. I'm off to Thailand in a few days and didn't have time to search elsewhere. I contemplated hopping into the car and driving up to Lakeside Joondalup to see if Angus & Robertson there had it, but I had something else to do and didn't have time to do that.

Finally, my last stop, Angus & Robertson in the city, I went to the counter to ask if they had any left. Initially the guy said they had sold out, but he decided to check downstairs just in case. When he came back, he was holding a Steve Parish diary with a picture of a male gang-gang cockatoo on the cover. He asked "Is this what you were after?". Yes! I bought it and it was even 40% off as they were having a clearance sale on their 2011 calendars and diaries.

I guess with all the running around in the heat, I neglected to notice that the cover of the cover of the diary said "2011 Diary", whereas the one I bought last year says "Australian Birds 2010 Diary". Yesterday was a pretty busy day, so this morning, I decided to flip through and look at all the bird pictures, and on the first page, the title says "Birds & Butterflies of Australia 2011 Diary".

And Butterflies?!

Not that I dislike butterflies, they're pretty and all, but… they not as pretty as birds! Checking the Steve Parish website, seems that this year there is no dedicated Australian Birds diary which is disappointing. Ah well~ at least there are still bird pictures in it. Hopefully next year will see the return of the Australian Birds diary.