Yellow Thornbills at our bird bath
Yellow Thornbill
The most common thornbill species in our garden is the Yellow-rumped Thornbill. This is a resident breeding species and we see small flocks of up to 20 almost every day. If we searched our whole property we would probably see them every day.
Less common is the Yellow Thornbill shown in today’s photos. This species, also known as the Little Thornbill, is a regular visitor. On a recent hot day a small flock came hesitatingly to our bird bath. Some of the larger birds such as the honeyeaters can be quite bossy and this makes this tiny visitor nervous and flighty, so I was pleased to get a series of close up photos.
As an added bonus, I managed to catch one of them landing but still in flight – check out the last photo below.
Yellow Thornbill
Yellow Thornbill
White Plumed Honeyeater comes for a bath
White Plumed and New Holland Honeyeaters
Over recent days I have been writing about and showing photos of various birds coming to visit our birdbath. Usually the New Holland Honeyeaters dominate proceedings, making a terrible din and splashing water everywhere.
On this occasion a solitary White Plumed Honeyeater forced its way in , running the gauntlet of the mob. I am not sure what it is doing in the photo below. Almost seems like it has landed awkwardly. It’s probably just flapping its wings and I caught it in an unusual pose.
White Plumed and New Holland Honeyeaters
Singing Honeyeater at the birdbath
No Comments »12th March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Garden birds, Honeyeaters
Singing Honeyeater
Yesterday I wrote about New Holland Honeyeaters bathing in our bird bath (click here to view that post).
While the New Hollands are by far the most frequent and noisiest of the visitors to the bird bath, many other species also come to bathe or drink during our hot spells in summer. The New Holland Honeyeaters may come individually, but they are more prone to come in a flock of a dozen or more. The result is usually very noisy – and water sprays everywhere.
By way of contrast, the Singing Honeyeater shown in today’s photo quite often comes alone, or at most, two. They tend to be far more solitary birds in our garden. They often wait a short distance away while other species drink, then slip in quietly to drink when calmness returns.
Crested Pigeon up close
No Comments »19th February, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Pigeons and Doves
Crested Pigeon
The Crested Pigeon is a common species in our garden and on our 5 acre block of land in Murray Bridge, South Australia. We see them every day and they seem to be breeding throughout the year. I have found numerous nests over the time we have lived here. They are one of our many resident breeding species.
Individual birds like that shown in today’s photos frequently come to one of our bird baths to drink. Sometimes two or three will come together. During the hot weather of summer, when the temperatures can soar to 35C or above – as high as 46C – many birds come to the water throughout the day, some bathing, some drinking and many doing both.
I managed to get a series of about a dozen good close-up photos of one bird recently. It is times like this that I really appreciate having a 20x zoom facility on my camera.
Crested Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Let’s all have a morning bath
1 Comment »14th February, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters, Photos, Pigeons and Doves
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath
Earlier this week it was rather warm. On most days we have some birds come to either have a bath, or have a drink. Many do both. Some just sit in the water, especially on very hot days.
On Tuesday of this week I was amazed at the procession of birds coming to drink and bathe. I was having my breakfast and it wasn’t yet very hot. This following is a list of species observed in a ten minute period:
New Holland Honeyeaters – about 12
White-plumed Honeyeaters – 2
Singing Honeyeaters – 2
Red Wattlebirds – 2
Crested Pigeon – 1
Spotted Turtledove – 1
Yellow Thornbill – 1
House sparrow – 10
Common Starling – 6
Australian Magpie Lark – 1
Superb fairy-wren – 3
Other species nearby:
Australian Magpie
White-browed Babblers
Willie Wagtail
The New Holland Honeyeaters caused the greatest kerfuffle; water went absolutely everywhere. I managed to capture this series of photos of one individual getting totally soaked.
Now I’ll have to get a bucket of rainwater and refill the bird bath.
Some of the photos shown here on Trevor’s Birding can now be purchased on tee shirts, coffee mugs, stationary and a large range of other items. Go to Trevor’s Photos site here.
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath