Charlie’s Bird Blog
One of the more entertaining birding blogs on the internet is Charlie’s Bird Blog. Charlie has a dream job – for a birder. He works for British Airways and in this job he flies all over the world to some wonderfully exotic birding places. He makes regular postings of places he has been and what he has seen.
Photo Gallery
Charlie’s photo gallery has over a thousand shots of birds from many different countries. He has 116 galleries in all. They are all brilliant but be warned: they take a while to load.
Trip Reports:
Since 2004 Charlie has been posting trip reports of the birds he has seen in all those wonderful places he visits. These now number over 60 reports and most have photos. The trip reports come from his visits to Africa, Asia (Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Singapore, Thailand), Australia, Europe (UK, Germany), North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), the Middle East and South America.
Motto:
I love Charlie’s motto: “…sleep can wait, I’m going birding!”
Web sites:
- To access Charlie’s Bird Blog click here.
- Another blog Charlie writes is called Hummingbird (click here).
Ravens and windows
4 Comments »6th July, 2006; Category: Ravens and Crows
Little Raven
We always have a few Little Ravens in and around the garden. In recent days they have been very noisy, especially when they perch on the roof guttering just above the office window. Then it is hard to concentrate on my writing.
Mid-morning yesterday I was attracted to a different noise made by one of our local ravens. One of them was attacking the window of our bedroom, pecking at the glass and banging its wings violently at the perceived interloper it could see. It was attacking its own reflection. This happens from time to time when an individual is attracted to its own reflection in a window.
Normally we just chase off the confused bird. In the summer months it can be very annoying when they start attacking the glass reflection at first light at 5:30am. Not a pleasant wake up call!
Birds of Tasmania
One birding site I often visit, mainly for the photos is Birds of Tasmania which features the birds of Tasmania. Some of the photos are quite beautiful.
Here some other sites featuring photos of birds:
Hampel Photo Gallery – am I allowed to list mine first??Sorry – we’ve closed this site.
- Ben Cruachan Blog – Duncan’s photos from SE Victoria.
- Woodsong – Dances with Moths – about birds, moths, animals and more.
Great Birding Moments #6 New Holland Honeyeaters
New Holland Honeyeater
We have many flowering trees and bushes in our garden on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia. As a result of all these plants there is a steady supply of food for many species of birds, especially a range of honeyeaters. Over the last 22 years we have recorded the following species of honeyeaters:
- Red Wattlebirds – resident, breeding, very common.
- White Plumed Honeyeaters – resident, breeding, very common.
- Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater – resident, breeding with only several present at any one time.
- Brown Headed Honeyeater – regular visitor, breeding and usually in groups of 8-12.
- Noisy Miner – only one doubtful record many years ago despite being common along the River Murray less than 5km away.
- Striped Honeyeater – occasional visitor, recorded breeding only once which remains probably the most south-westerly record of breeding in Australia.
- White Eared Honeyeater – occasional visitor despite being widespread in this area.
- Yellow Plumed Honeyeater – occasional visitor.
- New Holland Honeyeater – resident, breeding and very common.
- Singing Honeyeater – resident, breeding and common.
New Holland Honeyeaters
The most prominent species has to be the the New Holland Honeyeater. This was not always the case. When we moved here we never saw any New Hollands despite being very common throughout Murray Bridge and the district. After the first few migrated to our garden, the numbers increased rapidly until they are now the dominant species. They are also rather aggressive. (See my posting called “Aggressive bird behaviour in the garden.”)
Distribution and Habitat
New Holland Honeyeaters are widely distributed along coastal south-eastern Australia. They are also found in southern Western Australia and in Tasmania. They prefer gardens, parks, golf courses, orchards, mallee, heathlands, coastal scrubs and eucalypt woodlands. They are often found in association with other honeyeater species towards which it acts aggressively, chasing them away from their preferred flowering plants.
Photo opportunities
I have had many opportunities to photograph this species over the last year. The best is the one featured at the top of this post. I was near the neighbour’s fence looking at the old plough set as a garden ornament. The bird alighted on the handle only three metres away and settled long enough for me to zoom in, focus and shoot. I am very pleased with the result; it couldn’t have posed better if I’d given it instructions.
The photo below is of another bird, and yes, it is up the right way. It’s the bird that’s upside down!
New Holland Honeyeater
Clever Crows
15 Comments »4th July, 2006; Category: Ravens and Crows
From time to time we see the clever antics of birds and animals featured on television programmes. These birds and animals have usually been trained to do these clever, sometimes cute tricks.
In their natural state birds can be even smarter. The humble crow has long been known here in Australia as being very cunning, often stealing eggs from domestic fowl sheds, much to the annoyance of the owners of the home chooks.
A report from The Times Online service states these interesting things about crows and their cleverness:
CAW! THAT’S SMART
UPDATE:
Debbie has left an interesting comment. I decided to copy it into the main body of the text here:
There is a golf course across the road from my block, when I moved in I thought the local golfers were very poor shots as there were heaps of golf balls on my block, I used to pick them up & give them back to the golf club & thats when I learnt about ‘crow eggs’ – it seems the crows steal the balls thinking they are eggs & drop them from height to break them. They have been known to swoop in & take the ball while the game is in play. Daft buggers!
Thanks for that Debbie