Rainbow Bee-eaters
2 Comments »30th September, 2006; Category: General
Every spring we look forward to the return of one of our favourite Australian birds, the Rainbow Bee-eaters. They usually arrive sometime in October – this year they are a little earlier than normal by a few weeks.
No photos yet
Today we heard several calling when we were working out in my wife’s Australian native plant nursery. We didn’t see them but it was great to hear their calls. I am sure we will get great views over the coming months as they hawk for bees and other insects in our garden. There is a wild bee-hive in a tree hollow and it’s like a smorgasbord laid on for them. I haven’t yet taken a photo of these spectacularly coloured birds, so stay tuned. UPDATE: I now have a good photo – see below.
Nesting habits
They have often nested in the vicinity of our property. The last time was in the sand bank on the side of the road running down one side of our place. They make a 30-40cm nesting hollow in the sand. As a child I was fascinated that these birds made a little tunnel for the nest.
Further reading:
Rainbow Bee eater
Eagles v Swans
No Comments »30th September, 2006; Category: General
The West Coast Football Club from Perth has just a few moments ago beaten the Sydney Football Club in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League for 2006 by one point. The final quarter was one of the most exciting periods I play I have ever seen.
What has this to do with birding?
The West Coast team are known as the Eagles.
The Sydney team is known as the Swans.
My favourite team, the local Adelaide Crows, were beaten last week by the Eagles, also by a small margin.
I and the Bird #33
The latest edition of I and the Bird (#33) has been posted over at a site called Don’t Mess with Taxes. At first glance it seems a strange site to be hosting a carnival about birds, but Kay Bell, the host of this week’s carnival, is an avid birder.
You will find plenty a great sites to visit with lots of interesting reading. Of course, my contribution is there, and is one of only two from Australia.
Links:
- Don’t Mess with Taxes – the host of this week’s I and the bird carnival.
Bird strike at Adelaide Airport
Breaking News
I heard on local radio a few minutes ago that a plane taking off this morning from Adelaide Airport had to make an emergency landing a few minutes after take-off. The report stated that the plane had hit a flock of Galahs. The plane landed safely and no-one was hurt. How much damage there was to the engine was not stated. No mention of how many galahs died in the strike.
Bird strikes on planes have been a perpetual problem since planes took to the air. Many thousands – perhaps millions – of birds have been killed in this way. Most major airports have programmes in place to deal with this threat to airline safety. These attempts at restricting bird numbers at airports have met with varied amounts of success.
I guess that a Galah going through a jet engine has the potential to do a great deal of damage, especially to the poor Galah. When flying one has to put such things out of one’s mind. No use dwelling on the “what ifs.”
I suppose it has happened though I’ve never heard of a plane hitting a Pelican. These large birds would do considerable damage to a plane. Pelicans are known to fly at very high altitudes here in Australia, up to 3000 metres and more.
Even more worrying would be to hit an emu. Now – I know what you are thinking – emus don’t fly. Correct. Many of our country bush airstrips have the potential to have these large solid birds running across the runway on take-off or landing. Hitting an emu in a small plane could be nasty – for the plane. Most emus are so tough they’d probably just give a shake of the feathers and keep on running!
I wouldn’t like to put it to the test though.
Update:
Apparently there have been no less than three incidents involving planes and EMUS in recent years. For an article about bird strikes on planes in Australia click here.
Little Ravens breeding
1 Comment »15th September, 2006; Category: General
Little Raven
Little Ravens are very common birds around our home. On occasions there can be twenty or more nearby. They are also frequent visitors to our property, a five acre block on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia. We often observe them strutting through the mallee scrub surrounding our house looking for a snack.
In recent weeks the ravens have been very active and very noisy. Earlier this week we saw several young ravens. Their movements were very clumsy and they were being visited by the parents to feed them.
I never did find the nest.
And I didn’t get a photo of the juveniles.
The photo above is of two adults and was taken some time ago.
Related article: