Birds and Communal Bathing
New Holland Honeyeaters
Our bird baths give us many hours of delightful birding. Quite often the honeyeaters come in numbers to bathe communally. When this happens with the New Holland Honeyeaters are often the first – and the bossiest – species to take advantage of the water. Sometimes there can be between five and eight individuals bathing and squawking noisily. With the Brown-headed Honeyeaters the number can be as many as twelve to fifteen at once, but they are very polite and take it in turns to bathe.
During the hot weather we have had this summer the bird baths need frequent replenishing. The water is splashed in all directions. They obviously haven’t heard that we currently have severe water restrictions due to the drought. On one hot day we actually had five species present at the bath at the one time: New Holland, White-plumed and Singing Honeyeaters, House Sparrow and a Spotted Pardalote. Soon after a Red Wattlebird (which is also a species of honeyeater) joined the communal bathing.
More recently I have observed a large family of about a dozen White-winged Choughs coming to bathe and drink together.
The photos on this page are better viewed by clicking on them to enlarge.
This article was update on September 20th 2015.
Further reading:
- Time for a bath – a long list of birds and animals using our bird baths
- White-winged Choughs at our bird baths
- Blue-tongue Lizard comes to our bird bath
New Holland Honeyeaters
Rufous Whistler
We have many beautiful birds here in Australia and the Whistlers would be up there in the most beautiful list of many people. Here in Murray Bridge we have two species, the Golden Whistler and the Rufous Whistler.
While neither whistler is a resident species in our garden, they are both regular visitors. Their rich melodic calls are a delight and the brilliant colours, especially of the Golden Whistler are truly wonderful.
A few days ago we had a male juvenile Rufous Whistler come to visit the bird bath. This is the first time either species had come to drink, but then it was a very hot day so it is not all that surprising I guess. I did observe that he was very hesitant while approaching the water. It was plain that he was not at ease and was being very cautious.
Rufous Whistler (juvenile male)
While the photo is not brillaint (it was the only one I managed before he flew off) it does show the black breast band and rufous belly beginning to develop. This was a very good addition to our list of species that have visited the bird baths.
Related Articles:
- Time for a bath – a list of visitors to our bird baths.
- Close encounters of the bird kind – close up views of a female Golden Whistler
- Golden Moment – close up views of both a male and female Golden Whistler
- Rufous Whistler – another encounter with a juvenile bird.
A Goldfinch at the Bird Bath
We have a constant parade of visitors to the bird baths we have in our garden. I haven’t done a statistical analysis, but I would say with confidence that the most frequent visitors would have to be the many New Holland Honeyeaters. They would be closely followed by the Pardalotes, both the Striated and the Spotted. The list of species seen drinking from the bird baths is growing. This has been particularly so during recent months. The summer has been very hot and very dry.
European Goldfinch
One recent addition to this list was the European Goldfinch. This introduced species is widespread in south eastern Australia, including Tasmania. I understand that while is it widespread and can be locally common, its numbers are not great anywhere. Here in my home town Murray Bridge in South Australia there are several colonies around town, including one large group living near the Post Office and Railway Station.
We live about 5km from the Post Office and the Goldfinch is only an occasional visitor to our garden. It is therefore an interesting addition to the list of birds that have visited our bird baths.
Related articles:
- European Goldfinch – another article about this species.
- Birds in the heat – more about birds at our bird baths.
- Time for a bath – visitors to our bird baths (including a complete list).
European Goldfinch
Night, night to one poor Night Parrot
No Comments »18th February, 2007; Category: Birds in the News, Nocturnal birds, Parrots and Lorikeets
There has been an exciting discovery in far western Queenland. It has been reported in The Australian newspaper that a dead Night Parrot has been discovered.
The Australian has learned that National Parks and Wildlife Service officers have found a dead night parrot in the state’s far west, confirming the survival of Australia’s rarest bird.
In a discovery of international significance, the parrot was found in November in the Diamantina Lakes region after it flew into a barbed-wire fence. The Government has kept the find secret to avoid birdwatchers searching for night parrots while it does a survey to find more.
A road-killed night parrot found in 1990 near Boulia, in northwest Queensland, by Australian Museum scientists was the first confirmed record of the species since 1912.
Now the Night Parrot, a nocturnal species, is a rather rare bird. In fact, it has only been reliably sighted a handful of times in the last century. It is arguably Australia’s rarest bird – no – make that THE rarest Australian bird.
The Night Parrot Pezoporus occidentalis is one of Australia’s most intriguing birds and possibly its least known. It lives in remote parts of the continent, comes out at night and runs along the ground like a quail. Since its discovery by Europeans, the Night Parrot has been a subject of debate, particularly in regard to its abundance and natural history. Australian Museum online.
Related articles:
- Night Parrot – Australian Museum online article.
- Not an ex-parrot – article on Snail’s Eye View with several links to relevant sites.
- Bad news for one dead parrot, good news for species – this link is to the original article in The Australian newspaper.
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
In our garden we have recorded over one hundred different species of birds over about 22 years of residence here. About forty of these are what I would regard as resident, that is, they are present all the time or daily visitors. About a similar number are regular visitors, that is, they may be seen once a week or even only once a month. Some of the seasonal visitors would fall into this category. The remainder would be classified as vagrants, occurring only from time to time with no observable pattern to their appearance.
Yellow-rumped Thornbills are resident in our garden. I have seen Yellow Thornbills here a few times over the years and in the nearby districts quite a few times. The same could be said of the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill. This species was a regular visitor to our garden in the late 1990s and 2000, but my records only show a few sightings here since then.
From time to time over recent days we were aware of a different bird call in the garden but I was unable to track it down. A small flock eventually came to the bird bath and in so doing they revealed themselves to us. They didn’t stay for long and I was only able to get one rather poor photo. If you look closely you may be able to see a little of the rusty coloured tail. As they fly away from you, this area is a bright chestnut colour; they are aptly named.
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Chestnut-rumped Thornbills are essentially a bird of the inland of Australia. Murray Bridge (where I live) is about as far south as they are found. They can also be found throughout much of northern South Australia, western New South Wales, south-western Queensland, central Australia and southern Western Australia.
UPDATE: since taking the photograph above the Chestnut-rumped Thornbills have visited the garden again. This time I was able to get some better shots of them.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill