Snappy Spotted Pardalotes
Spotted Pardalote
A few days ago I was out in our garden and my attention was alerted by constant snapping noises. It wasn’t loud mind you, but loud enough to be aware of. I knew immediately what to look for. The mallee tree above me had been taken over by about a half dozen Spotted Pardalotes. The soft snapping noise was from their beaks grabbing a feast of little bugs called Lerps which are a form of psyllid sap sucking insects.
I went inside to get my camera and by that time all except one bird had moved on. He was rather shy about having his photo taken, so you will have to be satisfied with the partial view as seen above. If you click on the photo it will enlarge the image. Then you might be just able to see on the leaves the waxy scale like coverings the Lerps like to hide under.
To learn more about the Lerps insects click here.
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The Story of Quack
I really appreciate all the great comments that my readers have been leaving lately. It is wonderful how so many people are enjoying the bird life that comes across their paths in their daily lives.
Every now and then a reader leaves more than just a comment or two or a question. When they tell a great story about their encounter with birds I think it is only fair that everyone gets to read the story. Otherwise some great stories just get drowned in the flood of comments.
Sometimes readers also send me great stories via email through my contact form. These do not even appear in the comments section. Here is one such recent story.
I just came across your website and thought I would add our story. My 12 year old daughter just loves wildlife of any kind. she has a connection with animals of any sort but because we have several chickens and a pair of Appleyard Ducks she has a very strong bond with these.
Last year our pair of ducks had a clutch and one morning she found a duckling on the ground hardly moving. She brought it inside, kept it warm and hand-raised it herself and now it is a very handsome male.
A couple of months ago on our school oval a student found a duckling wandering by itself. It must have been about 1 – 2 days old. After a long search the parents were nowhere to be found. As they knew we had ducks we were asked if we would like to hand-raise it.
Knowing the best place would be with its mother we again searched the oval and nearby properties for Mum and the other ducklings but she couldn’t be found so we took “Quack” home.
He proved to be quite different in personality to raising our Appleyard ducks, probably because it was a wild duck. He was constantly chirping and jumping in his box. My daughter would sit and cuddle him in front of the heater, talk to him and be very attentive to all his needs, collecting slaters, worms and crickets to feed him as well as giving him his normal crumbles. She couldn’t even walk out of the room and Quack would be calling for her and looking to see where she had gone.
Over the weeks he grew quite large and it was time for him to stay outside. He would sit at the back door and call for my daughter and would follow her wherever she went. He would roam around our backyard during the day and we would put him in a cage at night.
As his wings were developing he would stand on the grass and flap them, surprising himself when he lifted a few centimetres off the ground.
Well yesterday (29th September) she took him out of his cage as usual, he had a quick bath and then walked on to the lawn, looked skyward and flew off! My daughter was devastated that she didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye, especially seeing we were soon to release him ourselves.
We were concerned that he flew into a neighbouring backyard which had a dog, so we went door knocking to see if we could find him – no luck. About a half hour later my husband heard the neighbour on the other side say there was a duck in her pool, so on investigation, yes it was Quack having a wonderful time in the pool.
Apparently he had been at their back door quacking to get someone’s attention. Well my daughter was reunited with him, with a big cuddle and we are now preparing him (and my daughter) to be released.
He is a male Pacific Black Duck.
My thanks to Sandy Davis for permission to quote this story in full.
Adelaide Rosella comes to visit
Adelaide Rosella
Yesterday we had a glorious spring morning. We spent a few hours chatting with our daughter who has been visiting over the last few days. We were enjoying being able to sit on the front verandah enjoying the beautiful day.
While chatting – and having a lovely cup of chai tea – my attention was suddenly drawn by the call of an unusual bird in the tree across the driveway. On investigation I found it was a solitary Adelaide Rosella.
This species is common throughout the Adelaide Hills some 50km to the west of Murray Bridge but not at all common around here. We do have the occasional visitor, but this only happens maybe several times a year.
As I moved towards the tree, camera at the ready, an aggressive Red Wattlebird chased the Rosella away. Can’t blame the Wattlebird; it has a nest only a few metres away – not that the Rosella was about to take and egg or chick from the nest.
The photo above was taken elsewhere some time ago.
Read some related articles:
- Eastern Rosella
- Budgerigars
- King Parrot
- Cockatoo close encounter
- So that’s who’s been eating my flowers
- Musk Lorikeets
Read through some more of my articles about parrots and lorikeets here.
The Start of my Indian Bird List?
2 Comments »11th October, 2008; Category: Birds in the News, Birds on Television, Eagles Hawks and Kites
While watching the news on television this evening I was interested in seeing footage highlights of the First Cricket Test match between Australia and India. This match is currently under way in Bangalore, India.
Imagine my delight when part of the highlights package included some close up shots of about 15 -20 Black Kites soaring over the cricket ground.
I’ve never been birding in India. Moral dilemma: can I now start my list of Indian birds?
Black Kite at Mannum, South Australia
Red Wattlebird nesting?
Red Wattlebird
While having breakfast a few days ago my wife and I were fascinated by the antics of two of our resident Red Wattlebirds (a species of honeyeater). They were cavorting around in the melaleuca bushes a few metres from our sun room.
Now – don’t get me wrong. When I say ‘cavorting’ I do not mean that they were up to any hanky-panky. THAT obviously had already happened, I’d say.
This pair was busily swinging on twigs trying to break them off the bush. Every time one came off they would then fly directly to a eucalypt tree about forty metres away.
Ah-ha – nest building thinks I. Reasonably logical conclusion, I thought. So after breakfast I wandered casually over to said tree to investigate.
What? No nest! I was perplexed. I could find nothing. Mmm… perhaps they are quite clever at disguising the nest in the outer foliage. Not sure what they were up to if they weren’t nest building.
UPDATE: I went and had another look just now. Clever birds. It was there all the time, not in the tree where they were flying, but in the two metre high bush under the tree. Very sneaky.
Red Wattlebird