Home again – and an unexpected visitor
We are home again after 24 days on the road in South Australia, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. I will continue posting articles and photos of my birding experiences over the coming weeks.
Sacred Kingfisher
This morning we had an unexpected visitor to our garden, a beautiful Sacred Kingfisher. While we see this species around Murray Bridge from time to time, it is an infrequent visitor to our garden. When I checked my database records I found out that the last visit was as long ago as 2000, but I have a feeling we have seen it more recently. My records are not quite up to date. A few minutes later I heard a Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo calling, but it had gone before I could get out there to see it. We heard this species calling in many places on our recent holiday, along with several other cuckoo species.
Laughing Kookaburras
Laughing Kookaburra
We had a delight a few nights ago. Just on sunset we had two Laughing Kookaburras come to visit our garden. We would not have been aware of their presence but for their raucous calling quite close to the house.
Laughing Kookaburras are not a resident species in our garden but they are occasional visitors, and most welcome visitors at that. This species is widespread in small numbers in our district, especially along the River Murray (5km to the east) and the throughout the Mt Lofty Ranges (40 – 60 km to the west).
I didn’t get a photo of these special visitors to our garden. They didn’t stay long enough. It was probably too dark for a good shot anyway. The photo shown above was taken last year in the Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney.
Something to Laugh About
Several weeks ago my wife and I were talking to a friend about the birds in our garden. We were asked if Laughing Kookaburras ever came to visit our garden. Yes, they do from time to time, but when we thought about it, we realised it has been quite a few months – perhaps over a year even – since the last visit.
So it was a delight when one came to pay a short visit a few days ago. The downside was that I happened to be in Adelaide for a conference at the time, so I missed it. So I didn’t get a photo.
The photo below was taken at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney earlier this year. It was not in an aviary; it was a free flying bird.
Laughing Kookaburra
Laughing Kookaburras
One of Australia’s best known birds is the Kookaburra. There are two species of Kookaburra, the Blue Winged Kookaburra of northern Australia and the Laughing Kookaburra of eastern and southern Australia. The latter is an introduced species in the southern parts of Western Australia. Kookaburras are members of a world-wide family of birds known as kingfishers.
Kookaburras in our garden
Some friends of ours visited us earlier this week. At lunch time we were watching the parade of birds visiting our bird barh. Pam asked, “Do you ever have kookaburras here?” Yes we do – but they are only occasional visitors to our garden. Pity about that because their call is so typically Aussie that we’d love to have them here all the time. They are common along the River Murray which is only about 5km from our place.
Kookaburras at dawn
By contrast, when we stay with our daughter in the Clare Valley in the mid north of South Australia we have often been woken early by the laughter of the resident kookaburra sitting on the television antenna. On second thoughts – the kookaburra’s call may be lovely, romantic and so Australian – but being woken at dawn every day may become tedious.
Cheeky Kookaburra
I have heard of some people having very tame kookaburras in their garden, usually as a result of feeding them. Many years ago while camping in Western Australia I was amazed at the cheek of one of the locals. I had seen a kookaburra sitting on a branch of a nearby tree and thought no more about it. I busied myself cooking our barbecue lunch. A slight turn of my back and – whoosh – down swooped said kookaburra who then flew off with one of our sausages straight off the hot plate. How rude. I hope he enjoyed it. I’m sure he did – I’m an excellent cook!