Galahs nesting
1 Comment »9th August, 2009; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Nests, Parrots and Lorikeets, Plants
Galahs at a hollow
Over the last few weeks several Galahs have been hanging around a hollow in one of our mallee trees near our house. This is the largest tree on our property and is probably well over a hundred years old-maybe several hundred. Only mature age mallee trees have trunks the size of this one. And only mature mallee trees develop branches large enough to create hollows.
Over recent years this hollow hosted a wild bee colony, but that seems to have moved on. Over the last two to three years Galahs have investigated this hollow on many occasions but none has nested in it. One pair even diligently went about enlarging the hollow but with no nesting taking place.
I can’t be sure whether this is the same pair or a new pair trying it on for size. They certainly seem very interested and hang around there off and on for several hours every day. They even chase off other interested tenants, so they must be quite serious about it.
I’ll keep you posted on any developments on the home front.
Little Ravens nesting
Little Raven
During my recent stay in bed with the flu I had a good view through the window of a part of our garden. In the fog of my illness I was pleased to be able to view a few birds that flew past the window, or those that settled in the bushes or trees within view.
On several occasions I noticed two very industrious Little Ravens at work. They were busy pulling fine strips of bark off the trucks of several bushes and trees. As they stuffed their beaks full of bark they looked as if they had suddenly grown a handlebar mustache!
With this beak full of bark they flew off over the road. Nesting?? I wonder. I haven’t recovered enough from the flu to go searching for the nest in the cold, wintery and showery weather we are having. It’s quite possible, however, for it is about now that many of our birds start building nests ready for the spring.
Little Raven
Masked Lapwings nesting in Adelaide CBD
2 Comments »25th October, 2008; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Birds in the News, Birds on Television, Lapwings, Nests
This is one article I should have written ages ago. I’ve been busy.
Quite a few weeks ago now there was a special item on the television news here in South Australia showing a pair of Masked Lapwings nesting on the median strip of one of Adelaide’s busiest thoroughfares.
This pair had made their nest on a triangular piece of lawn at the intersection of North Terrace (6 lanes), West Terrace (8 lanes) and Port Road (6 lanes), arguably one of the busiest parts of the Adelaide CBD. This median strip would have to be no more than half a tennis court in size and would have tens of thousands of cars, trucks buses and bikes going past only a few metres away every day of the week.
Amazing.
It was in exactly the same spot about ten years ago that saw a pair of Lapwings escorting two little balls of fluff with legs. I hope they are able to run the gauntlet of all that traffic and survive. It can be relatively quiet around 3am I suppose – if you run during changes in the lights.
Masked Lapwing
Crested Pigeon nesting
Crested Pigeon
About three weeks ago I was walking the estate. (We live on a five acre block on the edge of town.)
As I passed a row of Hakea francisiana bushes I checked thoroughly for any bird nests. These bushes, which are about four metres high, often host pigeon or honeyeater families.
Sure enough, a Crested Pigeon was sitting on a nest. I quietly crept away, knowing how easily pigeons can be disturbed from their nests. Sadly, when I checked back last week, the nest was abandoned. Even sadder was the half grown chick hanging from a fork in a branch. It was dead.
Hakea francisiana
Something must have disturbed this young chick which then tried to escape, only to hang itself. The culprit could have been an Australian Magpie (they are feeding young at present), a Grey Currawong ( who will take young from a nest to feed its own), a Brown Falcon (which has been harassing the local birds recently) or even a Little Raven.
On another sad note, today when working in the scrub I found the wing of an adult Crested Pigeon. There was no evidence of who had taken this poor creature.
Nature in the raw can seem so cruel. But then – I could name a few humans who are not exactly innocent of cruelty.
Red Wattlebird nesting?
Red Wattlebird
While having breakfast a few days ago my wife and I were fascinated by the antics of two of our resident Red Wattlebirds (a species of honeyeater). They were cavorting around in the melaleuca bushes a few metres from our sun room.
Now – don’t get me wrong. When I say ‘cavorting’ I do not mean that they were up to any hanky-panky. THAT obviously had already happened, I’d say.
This pair was busily swinging on twigs trying to break them off the bush. Every time one came off they would then fly directly to a eucalypt tree about forty metres away.
Ah-ha – nest building thinks I. Reasonably logical conclusion, I thought. So after breakfast I wandered casually over to said tree to investigate.
What? No nest! I was perplexed. I could find nothing. Mmm… perhaps they are quite clever at disguising the nest in the outer foliage. Not sure what they were up to if they weren’t nest building.
UPDATE: I went and had another look just now. Clever birds. It was there all the time, not in the tree where they were flying, but in the two metre high bush under the tree. Very sneaky.
Red Wattlebird