Our wrens are back!
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Our wrens are back!
When I say “our”, I mean the family of Superb Fairy-wrens who have decided to call our garden their home. Ever since we got back from our recent trip to visit family in Sydney we haven’t seen or heard them. That’s nearly a month and we missed not having them around.
This morning, while having breakfast in our sun-room, we saw two of them fussing around in the bushes near the bird bath. Both of them briefly visited the water for a quick drink. One was an uncoloured male and the other a female. Originally we only had two, a male and female. Then last year a third one joined them; we assume that they had nested and the third one was their offspring.
Now where have they been for the last month or so? In fact, thinking about it, we haven’t heard or seen them since well before we left for Sydney about 7 weeks ago. Have they been quietly nesting somewhere? And if they have been breeding, how many in their family group now? I guess time will tell.
Meanwhile we are looking forward to their cheerful trilling as they feed in the garden and nearby mallee scrub. And we also enjoy seeing them hopping and flitting around as we go about our daily tasks.
The photo of a fully coloured male above was taken in our driveway earlier this year.
Diamond Dove, Adelaide Zoo
No Comments »22nd June, 2013; Category: Adelaide Zoo, Aviaries, Bush birds, Garden birds, Murray Bridge, Pigeons and Doves, Zoos
Diamond Dove, Adelaide Zoo
The Diamond Dove is a small, almost dainty dove found across large parts of Australia. It is also easy to keep as an aviary bird and so is popular as a pet bird.
Although we have Peaceful Doves visiting our garden here in Murray Bridge occasionally, we have yet to see or hear a Diamond Dove despite having been observed only a few kilometres from our home. One day we might see this lovely bird.
This individual was photographed through the wire netting of one of the aviaries in the Adelaide Zoo here in South Australia.
Beautiful Mistletoebird
Mistletoebird
One of my favourite birds is the colourful little Mistletoebird, shown in today’s photo. I can’t say it is a resident species in our garden, but it is a frequent visitor. In our district here in Murray Bridge, South Australia, it is a widespread species occurring in small numbers. They are usually only seen singly, occasionally two.
Today my wife and I were working in our garden and a male landed briefly in a nearby Eremophila bush. It stayed only a few seconds before flying off. The male, as shown in the photo, is far more brightly coloured than the female. In the female, the red is a washed out colour and only present under the tail. She also lacks the dark blue-black colour of the male, being mainly plain brown instead.
As I didn’t have my camera with me today, the photo shown above was taken some years ago, also in our garden.
This species has a special place in our records for our home block. Over the 30 years we have lived here we have planted hundreds of trees, shrubs and bushes. The mistletoebird was the first species to make a nest in a tree we had planted. At least – it was the first one we noticed.
Superb Fairy-wrens in our garden
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Over the almost30 years we have lived in our present home we have rarely seen any wrens in our garden, part of a five acre block of fruit trees and mallee scrub with some native Australian plants thrown in for good measure. In most cases these occasional visitors were the locally common Variegated Fairy-wren. There are several thriving families up the hill in a mallee and native pine reserve about a kilometre away.
In other parts of Murray Bridge the Superb Fairy-wren is the common and dominant species. Just over a year ago we came back from an overseas holiday to be greeted with two Superb Fairy-wrens having quite happily taken up residence in our garden in our absence. It was a delightful welcome home present. In the coming months we saw them frequently, much to our continued delight.
Then they went quiet for a few weeks. Mmmm… had they moved on, we wondered?
To our increased delight they now number three: a coloured male and two uncoloured birds. Had they recruited another from nearby, or was the new one an offspring? We’ll never know. In recent days I’ve seen the three of them often, but sadly the male in in eclipse plumage and has lost most of his colour. In fact, he looks decidedly scruffy, not the magnificent colours shown in today’s photos. These shots were taken a few weeks ago. I also managed a good shot of one of the females (or uncoloured male?).
I should explain that all of these photos were taken in our gravel covered driveway. Our garden is far more attractive than it appears in these photos.
Female Superb Fairy-wren
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Male Superb Fairy-wren
Never assume anything about birds
Common Bronzewing pigeon, Mallacoota, eastern Victoria
Of the many things I’ve learned about birds over the years, one principle stands out: never assume anything.
I was out in the garden searching out several birds making a noise near the house. I didn’t get much of a look at them but by their call and the quick look I had of one of them I think they were Yellow (Little) Thornbills.
As they flew off my attention was drawn to a solitary bird perched high in a dead branch of a nearby tree. “Spotted Turtledove” I immediately thought, as they are a common breeding species in our garden. I lifted my binoculars and was delighted to see that the bird in question was actually a Common Bronzewing Pigeon.
This was a good sighting, for although they are a common species in our district, they tend to prefer less populated, thicker scrubby areas. On checking my bird database I found that this was only the 5th record of this species on our block of land. My records go back 28 years, so I was quite pleased I saw this individual.
And to think I’d almost not given it another look.