National birds from around the world
No Comments »8th April, 2009; Category: Non-Australian birds
Ever wondered what the national bird of Nepal is? Or the national bird of Chile?
Wonder no more.
Someone has made a long list on Wikipedia of all the countries that have a national bird. It also has a list of the official birds of some states or territories of some countries.
Link: A list of National Birds
By the way, the national bird of Nepal is the Himalayan Monal, a large pheasant found in the mountainous regions. This is one species I was pleased to see on my trip to the area in 2006. You can read about it here and here.
A new species at the bird bath
European Rabbit in our garden
Our bird baths give us a great deal of pleasure, especially during the warmer months of the year. I am sure that the birds appreciate it too.
I have written often about the birds visiting the bird baths, and many photos featured here on this blog are taken while they are enjoying a drink or a splash.
One of the bird baths sits on the ground. We don’t have much of a problem with cats here so the birds are generally happy to use it. Some of the local lizards also enjoy drinking the water provided, as did a fox one evening.
The new species to avail itself of this water source was the introduced European Rabbit. For more than twenty years we have rarely seen a rabbit on our property. The rabbit calicivirus almost wiped them out in the district, but not quite. Over the last two years numbers have increased to the point where we have about 5 or 6 resident rabbits, including very young animals, and we see them on a daily basis. Not good news. I’ll have to rabbit proof the vegetable garden this coming winter.
Further reading:
- Time for a bath – contains a complete list of birds and animals recorded coming to our bird baths. The post also includes a selection of the best photos.
Lorikeets and flowering trees
6 Comments »4th April, 2009; Category: Parrots and Lorikeets
Australia has many colourful parrots, cockatoos and lorikeets. We frequently have small flocks on Rainbow Lorikeets and Purple-crowned Lorikeets screaming overhead and speed, their screeching can be heard for hundreds of metres.
From time to time they will land in one of our trees and feed awhile. They are notoriously hard to photograph. Their habit of often feeding in the outer foliage makes it a challenge. Despite that I have managed a few good shots over recent years.
Musk Lorikeet
Ricki Coughlan has written about three kinds of lorikeets in her part of the world. Her article Lorikeet Explosion has some excellent photos of lorikeets (including one of mine used with permission). She also discusses the feeding habits and preferences of lorikeets.
Afternoon tea at Bordertown, South Australia
No Comments »3rd April, 2009; Category: General
Afternoon tea at Bordertown, South Australia
Arriving in Bordertown meant that we were on the home straight after our three week holiday in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and many points in between. We stopped in a tree lined park just off the main highway through town. There is a small lake in the park, as well as some very unusual public toilets. They are the green buildings in the background in the photo above. These building were originally built as jail cells during the Victorian gold rush era in the 1850s and still have the original bars, locks and heavy doors.
As we had a cuppa the air was constantly filled with the screeching of Rainbow and Purple-crowned Lorikeets in flocks of up to 20 or 30. Much quieter were the Red-rumped Parrots in the trees and coming down to drink from the lake. The many Noisy Miners added to the general cacophony and the White-plumed Honeyeaters in the nearby trees could hardly be heard. None of this disturbed the family of Pacific Black Ducks sleeping in the grass on the bank of the lake.
Pacific Black Ducklings, Bordertown, South Australia
After our cuppa we headed off on the last leg of our 3500km journey through the eastern states. We had covered a lot of territory and I’d seen some wonderful birds.
Australian Magpie Lark, Bordertown, South Australia
Alexandra Gardens, Ararat, Victoria
2 Comments »1st April, 2009; Category: General
Lake in the Alexandra Gardens, Ararat, western Victoria
On the last day of our holidays in January we travelled from Gisborne just north of Melbourne to home in Murray Bridge. It was a long day of driving and I had few opportunities for birding along the way. we left our friends’ place a little later than I had hoped so we didn’t stop for morning tea. We pushed through to Ararat for lunch.
In Ararat we found a reasonable spot in the Alexandra Gardens. Here I was able to do a few minutes of birding during and after our picnic lunch. On the lake were the usual types of birds one expects in lakes in parks and gardens: Eurasian Coots, Dusky Moorhens, Pacific Black Ducks and Silver Gulls.
Long-billed Corellas, Ararat, western Victoria
Pacific Black Ducks and Dusky Moorhens, Ararat, Victoria
While we were eating a flock of about 40 Long-billed Corellas came noisily wheeling overhead and settled in the tree above us. In the distance I saw a smaller flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos winging their way slowly across town. A Laughing Kookaburra called somewhere near and Masked Lapwings could be heard calling on the adjacent sports grounds.
In the shrubbery near us several Common Blackbirds gave their warning call as I came down the path, New Holland Honeyeaters were busy feeding in the well maintained Australian native plant section of the gardens and several Striated Pardalotes called from the canopy of the trees overhead.
Alexandra Gardens, Ararat, western Victoria
Alexandra Gardens, Ararat, western Victoria