Silvereyes at Culburra, SE South Australia
1 Comment »1st March, 2010; Category: Silvereyes
Silvereye, Culburra, SE South Australia
On my recent visit to Tintinara on a business trip I was able to take out some time to do some birding on the way home. I’d finished work, so the time was my own. Between Tintinara and Coonalpyn in the upper south east of South Australia the highway travels through some very interesting country. The dominant vegetation is mallee and wattle, mixed with banksias and a whole range of interesting smaller plants. My wife wasn’t with me; she is the plant expert in the family. She writes a blog about Australian plants (click here.)
About halfway between these towns is a locality known as Culburra. There was a small town there at one time; now only a few houses. At one point there is a road side rest area for tired travellers. I drove in here, parked the car and wandered into the bush. Nearby there is a water tank; I’m not sure of its purpose as there was a sign warning against drinking the water. A few metres away there was a metal slab set in the ground with water weeping from it. This probably covered a pipeline or possibly even an access point for fire fighting trucks.
The seeping water had formed several little pools and the local birds were taking advantage of the freely available water. I watched in the shadow of a nearby tree for some ten minutes while the procession of birds came to drink. The most frequent drinkers were the Silvereyes – shown in the photos. These beautiful little birds are common in the area and would have to be one of my favourites.
Click on the images to enlarge.
Further reading:
Silvereye, Culburra, SE South Australia
Silvereye, Culburra, SE South Australia
Birds and window strikes
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
I was working in my home office last week when I heard a sudden bang on the glass about a metre from where I sat. I immediately grabbed the camera and headed out into the garden. There on the garden bed was a little Silvereye, obviously quite stunned but alive. I was able to take a series of close up photos while it recovered. Within a few minutes it had flown off again.
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Window strikes by birds is a constant problem around the world. Home windows, office blocks and anywhere glass is used in buildings create a potential hazard for flying birds. At certain times of the day or light conditions the reflections of the surrounding area – sky, garden, forest – give flying birds the false impression that they can fly straight ahead.
In reality, they fly straight into the glass which is acting like a huge mirror. I have read about various techniques for preventing bird strikes on windows but haven’t yet come across a foolproof way of preventing it.
Luckily for this little fellow, he survived.
Many don’t.
Further reading:
Click on any image to enlarge the photo.
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
I’ve been distracted a little
No Comments »23rd May, 2009; Category: Silvereyes
I’ve been a little distracted from blogging on this site this week – for two reasons.
I’ve been very busy with my studies is one of the reasons.
The second reason is that this week I became a Grandfather for the first time. Our son and daughter in law are currently in Colombia, South America adopting a little boy. You can read about their adventures here. We’ve actually been able to see and speak to the little fellow (7 months old) via a web cam on Skype, wonderful technology which allows us to actually see and hear him in real time.
Meanwhile, you’ll have to be satisfied with a photo of a Silvereye taken earlier this week in our garden.
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Help needed with Silvereye research
Silvereye
I recently had a request for help with research on Silvereyes in Australia. If you are able to help, please contact Dominique directly at the email address at the bottom of the article.
Hello Fellow Australian Birders!
I need your help!
My name is Dominique, and I am a PhD student currently studying at the University of Melbourne. I am investigating how urban noise affects song learning, development and evolution within a native Australian bird species. The species I have chosen to focus on is the Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). I have chosen the silvereye for a variety of reasons: it occurs commonly in both urban and rural environments, its behaviours (especially acoustic) have been well documented, and we have good knowledge regarding its genetics.
The first part of my project will involve travelling to various sites around Australia, capturing silvereyes for morphological and genetic analysis, releasing them, and recording the songs of individuals in that population. I am using paired sites in order to compare urban vs rural birds, and I am hoping to cover a relatively large geographical range, in order to observe any geographical effects on song, as well as environmental. I will be staying in each place perhaps for a week or so doing data collection, before moving on.
Although there is good data available on the distribution of silvereyes in atlases, I need the help of birders across Australia (yes, that’s YOU!) to locate resident populations of silvereyes: areas where individuals might be able to be recorded and caught reliably.
I would like to specifically focus on the following areas: Southern Victoria, Southeastern South Australia, Eastern NSW, Tasmania, and Southeast Queensland. Therefore, I am asking if anyone knows of any silvereye populations that tend to hang out either in city parks, or rural areas.
If you have any knowledge that could help me with this project, or any further questions about my research, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would like to thank you in advance for your help, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Dominique Potvin
d.potvin@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Wrens and Cockatoos: Birding at Eden, NSW
Eden, south coast of NSW
One of the frustrations I felt on our holiday in New South Wales earlier this year was the lack of time to do some serious birding as we went along. We were on a tight time schedule because our daughter had to return home to go to work. It was great spending three weeks with our adult daughter, but the birding was limited. Despite that I did get to see a good list of birds and I also found some excellent spots to return to later when we are less rushed.
We travelled down the south coast of New South Wales from Bateman’s Bay to Mallacoota in Victoria. On the way we passed through the beautiful towns of Narooma, Bermagui, and Merimbula, all worthy of a stay for a week, not just a quick drive through.
Upon reaching the port of Eden we did stop for about a half hour. We found a picnic area with a great view out over the beach and bay, as shown in the photos on this page.
Eden, south coast of NSW
From our picnic spot we saw Silver Gulls and Whiskered Terns flying along the beach or just out a short way into the bay. A small flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flew over head heading for the nearby coastal forest. Red Wattlebirds and Silvereyes were feeding in the bushes near our picnic spot and a family of cheeky Superb Fairy-wrens came close enough for a few good photos. The full coloured male came up close and posed for me.
Superb Fairy-wren, Eden, NSW
On the way through the town I was able to add Galah, House Sparrow and Rock Dove to my list. This area is well worth another, longer, visit sometime in the near future.