Singing Honeyeaters and native plants
The Singing Honeyeater is a common species in suitable habitat throughout much of Australia. It tends to be absent only from the eastern coastal areas, most of Victoria (except the south coast), and the far north of Queensland and the Northern Territory. It’s preferred habitats include mallee scrubs, mulga, roadside vegetation, orchards, vineyards and gardens. It tends to be rather solitary in habit. On occasions I have seen small loose flocks of up to four or five birds, usually where the vegetation is dense, for example, coastal dunes.
Resident Breeding species
The Singing Honeyeater is a resident breeding species in our garden. Their numbers never seem to go over about four or five on our 2 hectare (5 acre) block of land. The dominant plant species is mallee scrub (click here for a photo). They were perhaps more numerous more than ten years ago, but in recent times the New Holland Honeyeaters have become the dominant – and very bossy – species.
Updated November 2013
Singing Honeyeater
Eremophila glabra
The resident Singing Honeyeaters are regular visitors to our bird baths. I don’t think I’ve seen them actually bathing in the water; they just tend to come for a drink. Next to the bird bath is a sprawling bush called Eremophila glabra. In the photo this plant has the bright red tube-shaped flowers. (Click on the photo to enlarge). The honeyeaters frequently stay for five minutes or more feeding on these flowers. A quick return trip to the water for a drink and then they are off to feed elsewhere.
Dripper systems
In the photo you will observe a black hose in front of the bird. This is part of our watering system. We have installed many hundreds of metres of similar hoses throughout our garden and orchard. Wherever there is a plant we place a dripper. Each dripper then allows a steady stream of drips to the plant when the tap is turned on. We have timers on each tap which then turn off the water to the dripper hoses after a set time, usually one or two hours.
Severe drought
Many Australian gardeners have recently moved to this system because of the severe drought we are experiencing. Many areas are on severe water restrictions. In some places you cannot even use dripper systems like this one. We have certainly done our bit to conserve water because we’ve been using drippers for over 20 years. Most people are only installing them now.
Plants in our garden
For more photos and information about the plants in our garden and in our district go to Mallee Native Plants Nursery, my wife’s blog about our beautiful Australian plants.
Eremophila splendens
Great Birding Moments # 16 Cockatoo Valley
Keith Pitman's garden in Cockatoo Valley
We have driven through Cockatoo Valley dozens of times over the years but we have never stopped to have a look around. This small but growing community is near Gawler north of Adelaide. Last Saturday we rectified that; we were invited to visit a private garden just off the main road.
Callistemon flower (Bottlebrush)
This private garden is a massive three acres in size, almost like a small botanic garden or arboretum. We have known Keith, the owner, for some years through our mutual interest in Australian native plants. Keith planted up this garden some 18 years ago and he grew many Australian native plants for the cut flower trade. He no longer does this, having retired several years ago, but he still maintains this magnificent garden.
Banksia flower
Honeyeaters everywhere
With so many flowering plants in the garden the bird life is also wonderful. There seemed to be New Holland Honeyeaters everywhere and they far outnumbered the White Plumed Honeyeaters. The irritatingly noisy Little Wattlebirds keep up a constant barrage of their gratingly harsh “cocky-cock” and “yekkop, yekkop” calls all afternoon. Keith informed me that he rarely saw Red Wattlebirds in his garden which I found interesting.
Peaceful calls
We had barely sat down to have a cuppa in the garden when we heard the soft and soothing “doodle-doo” call of a Peaceful Dove nearby. House Sparrows frequently visited the fish pond near where we sat, but the Diamond Firetail finches did not make an appearance today. Pity. Such beautiful birds.
Babblers
The clownish White Browed Babblers played all around the bushes and where we had parked the car, their miaowing calls coming from a half dozen different bushes. Overhead the recently arrived Rainbow Bee-eaters swooped and glided on the air currents looking for insects. As we were having a final cuppa I spied a very quiet Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo feeding in a nearby eucalypt tree, but he flew on before I managed to get a photo.
Musk Lorikeet
Where are the Cockatoos in Cockatoo Valley?
All afternoon I had been seeing and hearing various parrots. I managed some lovely shots of the Musk Lorikeet as shown in the photo above. Rainbow Lorikeets often flew overhead as did small flocks of Galahs. I never saw a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo that afternoon even though they are common in the area. As for cockatoos in Cockatoo Valley I had a settle for eight Little Corellas that flew overhead just as we were about to leave.
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And a few miles down the road – Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in Williamstown where we had a picnic tea!
Birds and Plants
My wife and I have just finished a very busy weekend of hard work. On both Saturday and Sunday we spent all day at the Australian Plants Society autumn plant sale at the Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide. We also plan to attend the spring plant sale and flower show on the 7th and 8th of October. We took several loads of plants to sell at this event, totalling over 1500 individual plants this time. These are grown in our Mallee Native Plants nursery.
Help Desk
My wife spends most of her time keeping an eye on her plants on the tables and assisting customers with their purchases. She also networks with other growers attending the sale. These growers are an excellent source if information and most are very willing to share their knowledge. At the same time my job is to assist at the Help Desk, usually situated near the entrance. Many customers come to the help desk asking for help with plant selection. I have my laptop there in front of me, my laser printer alongside and with a monitor facing the customers. We step them through a selection process, keying in their preferences and then print out a list of plants available at the sale which potentially meet their requirements.
APS Query
One of the others at the Help Desk is Howard Harvey who has written the program called APS Query which we use during the sales. This program helps us narrow the search for plants. We key in the unique planting situation of the customer, such as whether they are planting in full sun, dappled shade or full shade, whether the plants need to be drought, frost, wind or lime tolerant, the Ph of the soil, the desired size (height, width) of the plants and many other fields to choose from. This narrows the search from some 1500 species available at the sale down to a manageable 20-50 species, which we then print out for them. Most customers then happily trot off with this list to the tables displaying the plants that are for sale. I find it very satisfying helpingpeople in this way.
Birds and Plants
What has this got to do with birds?
Everything.
Many birds rely on plants for their food as well as for nesting and roosting sites. By careful plant selection we can encourage our native Australian birds to become and remain resident in our gardens. The result can be most satisfying. The colour of the flowers is augmented by the activity of the birds. They not only add their own colour, their movements flitting from flower to flower and from bush to bush adds much in the way of interest. A garden without birds is sterile and uninteresting – to me anyway.
Bird Attracting Plants
This is a huge topic. I will mention only a few of the types of plants we find work in our garden and district. I have already written (in other posts) about the delights of Correas, those beautifully coloured bell shaped flowers that will light up any garden with colour and which are so irresistable to our honeyeaters here in Australia.
The eremophila species (commonly called ‘Emu bushes’) are another attractive species for birds in our gardens. Their curved tubular flowers are nectar treasure troves to our honeyeaters. They come in such a wide range of colours too. Callistemons (or ‘Bottle-brushes’) are plants that can be covered in flowers – and simply filled with honeyeaters getting drunk on the nectar. A flowering bottle-brush plant can aslo be noisy with the screeching of lorikeets or the squabbling of honeyeaters.
Eucalypts (‘gum trees’) offer much for the birds of Australia too. When in flower the honeyeaters, lorikeets and other parrots swarm all over them. The tiny pardalotes have a smorgasbord of insects such as lerp to feast on. Sittellas, shrike-tits, tree-creepers, babblers and currawongs search for insects, beetles and spiders lurking under the bark. Robins and Flycatchers use the branches to sit quietly, watching for passing insects to fly by. Gum trees provide many opportunities for nesting and roosting sites. Older trees provide hollows for nesting parrots, owls, frogmouths and pardalotes.
Many Uses
As I said, this is a vast topic. I have mentioned only four genera of plants. There would be few, if any, Australian native plants that are not used in some way by our birds. Some species show a decided preference for some plant species, but most birds use our plants in a variety of ways.
Purple Crowned Lorikeets
4 Comments »2nd April, 2006; Category: Birds, Flowers, General, Murray Bridge, Parrots and Lorikeets, Photos
One species I forgot to mention yesterday was the Purple Crowned Lorikeet. Like many Australian parrots and lorikeets, the Purple Crowned is a gregarious, noisy, restless bird found in many parks and gardens in southern Australia. It ranges south of a line from Geraldton Western Australia through to eastern Victoria (but not Tasmania).
Garden Visitor
I can’t say that they are a resident species in our garden – they don’t seem to stay long enough! When the mallee is in flower they come on rushed sorties into the trees in near the house, feed for a while before screeching off to the next feeding ground. Their underwing patch of red distinguishes them from the slightly larger Musk Lorikeet (which is an uncommon species here in Murray Bridge).
Difficult to photograph
These bright green parrots with a prominent red forehead and purple coloured crown are very difficult to photograph – or so I have found. Many times they just go darting overhead as they pass from one clump of trees to another. When they do decide to stop in our garden they are so cryptic in the leaves and flowers of the eucalyptus tree where they are feeding that it becomes hard to see where the leaf ends and the bird begins. I almost dispair of ever getting a clear photo of this species.
Challenge
One of the field guides* I use regularly describes their flight as “bullet-like”. As they go rocketing across the sky past our garden, their “zitt-zitt-zitt” calls seem to challenge me. “Catch us if you can,” they seem taunt as they fly by.
*Pizzey, G and Knight, F “The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia” (Angus and Robertson 1997)
Birds Calling
No Comments »1st April, 2006; Category: Birds, Flowers, General, Honeyeaters, Murray Bridge, Photos, Ravens and Crows
Grevillea flowers
Nursery
This afternoon I helped my wife Corinne in her nursery for about three hours. This included taking about 60 photos of the flowers of plants in the stock plant area and some in the nursery itself. Most of these photos turned out really well. Corinne needs some of these photos for the coming plant sale in Adelaide at the end of the month.
Bird Calls
I also did some more tidying up and weeding in the nursery. While I was doing that I was aware of the bird life calling all around. The White Plumed Honeyeater was very prominent, calling loudly and persistently. Little Ravens often passed overhead, their mournful calls cannot be missed. At one point two of them were in a tree nearby calling in turn, like they were having a conversation. Red Wattlebirds and their harsh ‘kok-karock†calls interrupted the ravens’ talkfest.
Spotted Pardalote with nesting material in beak
Pardalotes
In the moments of quietness after the departure of the noisy ravens the gentle Spotted Pardalotes’ contact calls filled the air around me as they searched the mallee trees for sustenance. The Striated Pardalotes seemed absent today; their far reaching call was noted yesterday. Perhaps they were just being discrete – or shy – today.
Grey Shrike Thrush
The sudden strident whistling of the Grey Shrike Thrush just above my head shattered my dreaming. Its strong melodious voice is far reaching in the mallee woodland around here; often it is the first bird I identify when out walking. Its call is hard to miss. A noisy cloud of pink Galahs squawks overhead, bringing a splash of colour to the drab grey sky. A Magpie adds to the chorus, chortling happily over near the shed.
Choughs
My attention is drawn to a family of nine White Winged Choughs flying secretively and quietly through the garden. Normally their mournful calls can be heard from a distance. Their silence is puzzling.