Tawny Frogmouth keeps us awake
No Comments »24th December, 2013; Category: Bird Behaviour, Kingfishers, Nocturnal birds, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars, Parrots and Lorikeets
Tawny Frogmouth
My wife and I are currently staying in Sydney with our son and his family. We are having great fun playing with our two grandchildren age 5 and 2.5. We will be here until Christmas.
Because of the configuration of the house, the spare bedroom is at the back of the house, next to some large bushes and near to some large street trees. Up until recent days the Laughing Kookaburras have woken us before 5am; one morning it was 4:33am. As first light filters through the trees the hundreds of locally resident Rainbow Lorikeets start up their screeching as they fly from tree to tree.
Because of those two noisy resident species we treasure every second of sleep we can get, especially when the grandchildren usually knock on our door well before 7am. So it was a little disconcerting to have a Tawny Frogmouth doing the overnight shift, calling just outside our bedroom window! Fortunately, the call was soft enough not to keep me awake.
Tawny Frogmouth
A beautiful guest at breakfast
2 Comments »1st November, 2013; Category: Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Camera, Garden birds, Kingfishers, Migratory birds, Photos
Sacred Kingfisher
We had a very pleasant encounter while having breakfast this morning. I was focussed on completing the daily crossword in the newspaper when my wife excitedly drew my attention to the Sacred Kingfisher just outside the window of the sun room where we often eat our meals.
My bird records are not completely up to date, but we are certain it has been several years since we had seen one in our garden, making the sighting just that little bit extra special. I had preciously taken a few photos of this species but rarely at such close quarters. This was about 5 metres away and he couldn’t see us through the glass due to the early morning reflections.
I raced to the office to get my camera – yes – even at my age I can still raise a trot, albeit a modest one. For the next 15 minutes the kingfisher posed in a number of ways for my camera. The results speak for themselves.
In between taking photos we were able to observe some of its unique behaviours. As it sat almost motionless on a dead branch – typical perching behaviour – it would gently bob its tail. It would then turn its head slightly, usually peering intently at the ground. During the 15 minutes it stayed the bird dived like an arrow to the ground to catch its prey. We couldn’t see clearly what it was eating but this species eats beetles, grubs, cockroaches, small lizards like geckos and an assortment of small insects.
This species usually gives away its presence in the bush by its far-reaching ki-ki-ki-ki call. On this occasion it was silent throughout the 15 minutes.
The Sacred Kingfisher is found over much of Australia. They are migratory, moving south to breed in the summer months. Other kingfisher species in the region where I live in South Australia include the very similar Red-backed Kingfisher and the well-known Laughing Kookaburra.
This is just a sample of the best photos I took – out of 36 all together.
I was so inspired by this event that I went and wrote a poem about the encounter. You can read the poem here.
Sacred Kingfisher
Sacred Kingfisher
Sacred Kingfisher
Waking up with the birds in Narrandera
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Sydney Road Trip May 2010
On our recent trip to stay with family in Sydney we stayed one night in a motel in the town of Narrandera. It was on the southern edge of town, near the intersection of the Sturt and Newell Highways. Though a little noisy with the sounds of trucks, we still had a good night’s sleep.
At dawn the next morning I was woken by the wonderful sound of a Laughing Kookaburra nearby. It’s a wonderful way to wake up. The morning was crisp and cool and slightly foggy. Sadly I didn’t have time to add many more species to my list before we headed off towards Sydney straight after breakfast.
I never did see the kookaburra that woke me – so I’ve included a photo of one I saw in Lane Cove National Park on our last visit some 18 months earlier.
A Laughing Kookaburra comes to lunch
4 Comments »8th January, 2009; Category: Kingfishers
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Several days after Christmas last year we had a family picnic at Lane Cove National Park. It was a hot and humid day and the bird life was rather quiet. My son often comes here with his camera looking for birds to photograph. I did manage a modest list for the day, but this was not my main objective. I wanted photographs of species I don’t see at home in Murray Bridge.
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
After a long walk along the river we came back in time for lunch – hot, tired and not a little sweaty. As we were eating this friendly Laughing Kookaburra joined us. He flew on to a branch only five metres from our picnic table, eying off any food he might snatch in a moment of human inattention. Had he succeeded he would have tasted some of our delicious Christmas lunch leftovers.
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Interrupted by a Kookaburra
I was sitting in my first lecture for the year this afternoon thoroughly enjoying what I was hearing.
Oh – sorry – regular readers are probably puzzled by that statement. I decided to go back to full time study this year to gain my Master of Arts in Creative Writing. (For more details click here.) I am not sure of the wisdom of studying full time when I’ve just celebrated my 60th birthday a few months ago. Consequently, posts on my three blogs will have to be less often and somewhat erratic.
Back to my topic – the lecturer stopped, looked out the window and said, “That’s a kookaburra calling. How interesting. I thought there would be nowhere for it to perch with all the [feral] pigeons we have on campus.” Indeed. The building is very old and there are many nooks suitable for the Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons) to roost and nest. Their droppings are an obvious eyesore around the campus.
Laughing Kookaburra
Near the student car park (strange calling myself a student after all my years of teaching) I also observed the native species of Crested Pigeons in great numbers. They were busily feeding on the grass of the rapidly drying oval and grassed areas. The only other species I observed today was the Noisy Miner; they are in almost plague proportions in that suburb. The day I enrolled I also observed dozens of Rainbow Lorikeets feeding in the trees near the car park.
Noisy Miner
Click on any photo to enlarge the image.
Rainbow Lorikeet