Great Birding Moments #14 Cockatoo Close Encounter
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Last week I had a post where I wrote about a close encounter with a small flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in suburban Adelaide. In that post I said I had taken a photo of one of the birds looking directly at me, but that it was blurred.
I was wrong.
It was a fine photo albeit a little dark. With a little computer tweaking I was able to make this a reasonable shot after all.
I wonder what he is thinking?
Time for a shower
When we move from of our back verandah we enter a patio area covered in shadecloth. Along the edges of this paved area my wife has a collection of Australian native plants in pots. To water these she has set up a sprinkling system. This morning the plants needed watering.
A few moments after switching on the sprinklers she called me to the window to observe the reaction of the resident New Holland Honeyeaters. About a dozen gathered to enjoy the shower. They would fly into the misting water then land on one of the plants or the nearby bush. They would fluff up their feathers and give themselves a thorough wash. And all through the few minutes that the sprinklers were operating they set up a very noisy and excited chattering.
New Holland Honeyeater
I should add that the above photo was not taken this morning. I include it to show readers a photo of the species I was writing about. It was taken late last year.
How much should I spend on binoculars?
No Comments »22nd September, 2006; Category: Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Birding #6
How much should I spend on binoculars? How much have you got? This is really up to the individual. In Australian dollars, some serious birders feel quite happy spending $3000 on excellent quality binoculars. I’m sure they are wonderful, but I can only justify about $100 and I have seen some wonderful birds using cheap binoculars like that.
While the bottom line is your budget, it must be said that you get what you pay for. If you want good quality in your optics, you will have to pay for it. For the general, occasional birding use, anything over $500 Australian is probably overkill. I know many birders would strongly disagree with me. It’s your hobby; pay what you can afford and justify.
Personally, if I had $3000 I would rather spend $100 on a perfectly adequate pair of binoculars and use the rest on petrol to go see some wonderful birds. That’s far better than sitting at home with the best binoculars money can buy – and seeing only sparrows and starlings in the backyard.
Common Starling
Choughs v Magpies
White Winged Chough
Last week I wrote about the conflict in our garden between the family of White Winged Choughs and the Little Ravens. Both species were present in our mallee scrub feeding several recently fledged young. There was considerable yelling at each other, not the mention chasing and general brouhaha.
More recently the choughs seemed to have taken up residence in our mallee scrub, the orchard and the garden. Now the Australian Magpies are objecting to them moving in on their territory. The male magpie has swooped the choughs on numerous occasions. He never actually attacks any of them but merely makes aggressive swoops in their general direction.
These attacks usually result in the choughs ganging up on the poor lone magpie and seeing him off. With twelve choughs against one magpie it seems that the odds are against the magpie.
Related article:
A Bit on the Nose
My post of yesterday about dealing with aggression in birds, especially towards humans, has caused quite a flurry of comments, both on this blog and on the Birding-Aus forum.
A number of birders have commented on the fact that they have experienced being swooped by Red Wattlebirds. I’ve not seen that myself, but I do know that our resident Red Wattlebirds give most other bird species a hard time. They can be very bossy indeed. Especially towards small species like Pardalotes.
Bill wrote a very humourous post to Birding-Aus about his recent close encounter with a determined Red Wattlebird. Bill has kindly allowed me to quote his email in full.
You’ve heard of garden lists, life lists and hand lists, well this is
now on my nose list.This morning I was riding to work, just starting along my home street
(Kew East, Victoria), when I passed the nesting site of a red
wattlebird. This individual, like some other red wattlebirds, tends to
swoop at this time of year. They hurt less than magpies, but I’ve found
them to be much more tenacious.My normal defence against wattlebirds and magpies is to look around
ostentatiously, in the belief that birds only swoop from behind, and
they break off when they see you watching them. However, when you’re
riding a bike, it’s – shall we say – “advisable” to keep an eye out
forwards as well, meaning you can’t be watching over your shoulder all
the time.Of course, the wattlebird was in the process of attacking from behind as
I turned my head. It was probably six inches and closing when I found
myself face to belly. It broke off – or at least attempted to, and I
got clouted by wings on each ear as well as a nose full of belly. I was
lucky, thinking about it, not to get an eye full of claws.You know that yellow patch on a red wattlebird’s belly? It was a cold
morning and I had a slightly “cold air” runny nose. This guy’s belly
patch is now green.Bill
Thanks very much to Bill for this contribution to my blog.
Readers’ Project:
- Have you had an amusing encounter with a bird?
- I invite all of my readers to share close or amusing encounters with birds.
- Use the comments section below.