Black Swans in an unusual place
My wife and I join a friend on a morning walk every weekday. On our way home we pass a small dam about half a kilometre from our home. This dam was constructed on a vacant block of land by our local council several years ago. It stores storm water from the nearby streets. Some areas near here have a flood mitigation problem only discovered about five years ago during an extremely heavy downpour one afternoon. The council workers pump water from this dam to use in watering street trees and to dampen road works where necessary.
I’ve kept an eye on this small reservoir ever since it first contained water. Generally all I see is a few Pacific Black Ducks, Straw-necked Ibis and a collection a Masked Lapwings (which have been seen breeding there). Welcome Swallows are also regular visitors, and I am sure the local population of White-winged Choughs use the wet mud on the edge of the water to construction their mud nests. One one occasion I also saw several Black-tailed Native-hens.
A few mornings ago I was surprised to see several Black Swans gracing the water. This species is not all that common around here, though I have seen several recently at the nearby Rocky Gully Wetlands, about three kilometres to the east.
One day I will get around to making a list of all the species I’ve seen in this dam.
And then I will need to find a way of encouraging the swans to fly over our land so I can count them on my garden list.
Black Swan with cygnets, Canberra
New bird found in Nepal
In January 2006 I spent nearly four weeks in Nepal. Part of this time was spent on a trek towards Mt Everest. After that I visited Chitwan National Park. The remainder of the time was spent in and around Kathmandu. While I didn’t deliberately visit Nepal to go birding, I did get quite a nice list of new birds to add to my life list. I was pleased to actually see a number of “target birds” (i.e. birds I really wanted to see). One I especially enjoyed seeing was the Himalayan Monal.
Himalayan Monal, Nepal
More recently I was intrigued to read that a new bird has recently been found in Nepal. You can read about it here. It is a sub-species of the Rufous-vented Prinia. This new bird will be known as the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia.
Further reading:
- Trevor’s Travels – read all about my adventures in Nepal on my Travel Blog.
Near the village of Monjo, Nepal
Corellas with a death wish
Last Friday evening I needed to drive the 25 kilometres across to Tailem Bend, south east of Murray Bridge in South Australia. As I crossed the Swanport Bridge I noticed a flock of Little Corellas settling down to roost in a row of tall eucalypt trees next to the river and near the bridge. It was dusk and getting dark quickly. Despite that I was able to quickly assess as I drove by that the flock numbered at least 500 individual birds. They were all congregated in three or four trees and they made the trees look as though they were covered in snow.
I regularly travel this route at least once a week. Over recent months I have noticed some of corellas sitting on the lights over the bridge. These tend to fly around quite a deal and almost seem to be playing “chicken” with the passing cars, trucks and buses. From the heaps of feathers regularly seen on the bridge some of them obviously come off second best.
I do not have a photo of a Little Corella in my collection. This is surprising as they are quite common in our district. I’ve never seen one land in our garden or on nearby trees though occasionally a flock will fly over. I must wander down to the river and get a few photos. In the meantime I will have to make do with a photo of a very similar species, the Long-billed Corella.
Long Billed Corellas
I and the Bird #68
Regular readers of this blog about birds will know that I often promote the bird carnival called I and the Bird. In fact, you may recall that I was the host last time around.
The latest edition has just been published and can be found over at Biological Ramblings. There you will find plenty of links that will take you to some wonderful sites about birds – and get you out of those winter blues (or the summer sizzles here down under).
As usual, my contribution to the carnival is there because this time I remembered – and in plenty of time too.
Australian Owlet-nightjar does exist
The Australian Owlet-nightjar DOES exist*.
This enigmatic little owl-like bird can be so frustrating. I have heard it calling many times in many places. It often calls at night from somewhere in our garden – but I’ve spent fruitless hours looking for glimpse of one. My only really good sighting occurred a few years ago in my neighbour’s garden. You can read about that here.
Finally I tracked down where our resident bird was roosting. It has taken up residence in the hollow of a tree branch about thirty metres from my office window. Almost every morning at about 10:30am this bird sits in the entrance of the hollow and will gives its chirr-chirr call once or twice before disappearing back into the hollow.
In the last week it has taken to calling once during the afternoon as well just on dark. On one occasion I was able to sneak outside, slowly aim the camera around the corner of the house and take a photo of it sitting in the entrance way. The photo below is not brilliant, but it is the best I’ve managed so far. I have thought of setting up a hide much nearer – in the form of a car with just a peep hole for the camera. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
* John Tongue – please take note.
Australian Owlet-nightjar