Great Birding Moments # 26 Red Browed Finch
Red Browed Finch
The Red Browed Finch is one of many beautiful species of finch found in Australia. It is always a delight to find a group of finches feeding on the grass, drinking from a pond or bird bath or visiting one’s garden. This species is found along the east coast through to much of Victoria and south eastern South Australia.
Red Browed Finch
Locally, we do not have them here in Murray Bridge but they are widespread in the nearby Adelaide Hills and part of the Adelaide metropolitan area. My most recent sighting of this delightful species was on a visit to the Cleland Wildlife Park. As I was about to enter one of the walk through aviaries I was entranced by a large group, perhaps as many as 30, Red Brows coming to a feeding tray. There was much excitement, because the feeding tray had just been replenished by the keeper.
On entering the aviary there were many more inside the cage. These were also quite used to people visiting their home so is was quite easy to take some good photos.
Related articles:
- Cleland Wildlife Park – photos of a visit to this lovely place in the Adelaide Hills.
Update: this photo above – and many other photos featured on this site – can now be purchased on a range of merchandise such as T-shirts, aprons, wall plaques, clocks and mugs. Go to my Trevor’s Photos site here.
Live Osprey Web Cam
The keepers at the Calgary Zoo have a pair of Osprey nesting on a platform on a pole in the grounds of the zoo. This is the 13th time the Ospreys have successfully nested there. The keepers have recently installed a live web cam so that we can watch the rearing of their young. From what I can gather two of the three egs have already hatched.
To view the action click here – but remember to take into account time zone differences!
To look at the Calgary Zoo Web page click here
A Visit to Monarto Zoo
We had my wife’s ten year old niece staying with us over the weekend. On the holiday Monday we decided to take her to the local open range zoo at Monarto. This zoo is about a ten minute drive from our home in Murray Bridge, South Australia.
Near the entrance gates I saw two Peaceful Doves sitting on a fence. Two Common Bronzewing Pigeons flew over the road a little further on. As we waited in line to pay at the gate I observed a Red Wattlebird and several Australian Magpies. Thoughout our visit I saw many more magpies. In the car park I saw two Grey Currawongs and Mallee Ringneck Parrot near the Meerkat enclosure.
We only had a ten minute wait before our tour bus left. Unlike some open range zoos where you drive yourself, this zoo has a regular guided bus tour through the park. On busy days like Monday the buses often leave every ten or fifteen minutes. The tour takes about 80 minutes and covers a large part of the zoo property.
During the tour I saw Galahs, Magpie Larks, Masked Lapwings, Willie Wagtails and Little Ravens. Several times we saw flocks of White Winged Choughs. Rocky Gully Creek flows through the middle of the park. For most of the year this is a dry creek bed but seeing we have had some rain recently sections of it have some pools at present. In the largest pool I saw Pacific Black Ducks, Wood Ducks and several Black Fronted Dotterels. Welcome Swallows swoooped low over the water.
After our bus tour we went for a walk along the self-guided walking trail called the Emu Trail. We saw no emus, but had good views of Yellow Rumped Thornbills and a Grey Fantail. Two Adelaide Rosellas flew quickly past and we had fleeting glimpses of a Singing Honeyeater.
There were three highlights of the visit as far as I was concerned. I saw a female Red Capped Robin, a species I hadn’t recorded before in the park. The second was seeing the 30+ playful Painted African Dogs cavorting happily all around the bus. The third highlight was the two new “baby” giraffes, one born two days ago and the other three days ago. At over two metres high at birth “baby” seems almost inappropriate.
Mallee Fowl – the Incubator Bird
Malleefowl, Innes National Park Visitor Centre
In yesterday’s post I highlighted seeing six Mallee Fowl in a ten minute period one exciting day last year. This almost doubled the total number of this species I had seen in over thirty years of birding. Previous to that eventful day I had seen seven individual birds on five different occasions. (On two of these occasions I saw two birds at the same time.)
Mallee Fowl – Leipoa ocellata
Other names for the Mallee Fowl include Lowan, Incubator Bird and Malleehen. It looks like a smallish turkey and ranges in size from 55 to 61 centimetres in length. It is sparsely distributed throughout south western Western Australia, southern parts of South Australia, northern Victoria and south western New South Wales where suitable habitat remains.
Habitat
The Mallee Fowl has a preference for mallee scrub and eucalypt woodland habitats. Over the last century large tracts of this type of habitat have been cleared for cereal production and sheep grazing. The Mallee Fowl has been slow to adapt to these changes and is now extinct in some regions of its former range, and highly endangered in other areas. The widespread occurrence of the introduced fox has also had a devastating impact on the population.
Malleefowl nest, Ferries McDonald Conservation Park, South Australia
Nesting
Perhaps the most unusual feature of this species is its nesting habits. The Mallee Fowl is one of three mound nesting species in Australia. The male makes a nesting mound of earth, leaves, twigs and bark from nearby trees and bushes. These he scrapes together into a cone shaped mound. The rotting vegetation causes the mound temperature to rise, just like in a compost heap.
Eggs
The male maintains the internal temperature at about 33 degrees C while eggs are in the mound. The male excavates a hole each time the female comes to lay an egg, usually at intervals of 2 to 14 days. During the breeding season, which stretches from September to April, the female can lay anything from 5 to 33 eggs. Once laid, the male refills the hole and continues to monitor the temperature of the mound on a daily basis.
Malleefowl nest, Gluepot Reserve near Waikerie, South Australia
Nest Mounds
The mound can vary in size from about 2 to 5 metres in diameter and up to 1.5 metres high. In my searches through Ferries-McDonald Conservation Park some 20km SW of where I live I have found seven of these mounds, some still in active use. I have even sat quietly for many hours near a nest hoping to see the birds – to no avail. Finding the nests seems easier than finding the birds!
Chicks
When the chicks eventually hatch – often after more than 7 weeks – they struggle through the sand of the mound to the surface. This struggle can take hours. They then run off rapidly into the surrounding bush. They are not tended by the adults at all but are left to fend for themselves. The chicks can fly a few hours after hatching.
Amazing Bird
The Mallee Fowl is indeed an amazing bird in its habits and nesting methods. Its status is a major concern. The local zoo, Monarto Zoological Park used to have a special recovery programme. The keepers were given special permission to remove eggs from mounds in the district and incubate these eggs artificially. The chicks were raised by hand and released back into the wild. Some were fitted with radio transmitters and tracked. Most were taken by foxes within days of their release. Farmers in the district often have a baiting programme to kill the foxes (because they kill their lambs) but there are so many the Mallee Fowl is still extremely vulnerable.
I haven’t heard in recent years whether the zoo is still pursuing this breeding and conservation programme. There is currently no information in the conservation section of the zoo’s web page.
UPDATE: this article was updated with photos on 14th October 2011.
This article was updated on October 3rd 2015.
Birds of Monarto Zoological Park, Murray Bridge
Yesterday I wrote about the birds contained in the collection of the Adelaide Zoo. The birds of Monarto Zoological Park are a totally different matter. This park is of the open range type of zoo – in fact, it is a park – not a zoo in the traditional sense. It is a place we visit often, for two reasons. It is only a few kilometres – about a ten minute drive – from our home. Secondly, I am a Life Member – so it only costs me the petrol to get in.
Visitor Centre
Upon entering the grounds of the zoo at Monarto, one has to drive several kilometres to the car park next to the Visitor Centre. This facility contains an information centre, shop and a wonderful restaurant. From here one is able to go for guided walks through the mallee scrubland that forms a very important part of the local habitat. Some of this scrubland is old growth mallee, something that is quite rare in these parts.
Bus Tours
Most visitors to Monarto Zoo book into one of the Bus Tours of the park. Each tour has a volunteer guide on board. Each specially trained guide is a mine of information about the birds and animals of the park. The tours usually take about an hour and they take one through different “habitats” of the park with great views of the animals up close. For example, one gets excellent views of giraffe, zebra, lions, cheetah, painted dogs and a range of other animals from around the world.
Birds of Monarto Zoo
Adelaide Zoo’s strength is in its vast collection of birds in aviaries. Monarto Zoo is quite different. There is a small enclosure with some Mallee Fowl in it. This is part of their breeding programme for this endangered species. They also have a large enclosure some several hectares in size for their ostriches. All other birds are free ranging, that is, they are part of the natural environment. Watching for birds while on the guided walks or the bus tour is therefore very rewarding; one never knows what one is going to see.
My Bird List
The most obvious bird in the park is the Emu. One is easily able to get good views of this species in many parts of the zoo. Australian Magpies, Galahs, Little Ravens, Masked Lapwings and Red Wattlebirds and Welcome Swallows are also very common. Along the watercourses (which often dry up in summer) I have seen Pacific Black Duck, Black Fronted Dotterels and Magpie Larks.
Scrubland Birds
In the mallee scrubland it is easy to see Singing Honeyeaters, White Plumed Honeyeaters, Spiney Cheeked Honeyeaters, Crested Pigeons, Rufous and Golden Whistlers, Grey Shrike Thrush, Willie Wagtails and Yellow Rumped Thornbills. Striated and Yellow Rumped Pardalotes can been heard calling from the trees all around. On several occasions I have even recorded Flame Robins and Peaceful Doves. Common Bronzewing Pigeons can also been seen and families of White Winged Choughs and White Browed Babblers are very conspicuous.
Parrots
I’ve already mentioned the most common parrot in the park, the Galah. Other species present include Purple Crowned Lorikeets, Red Rumped Parrot and Mallee Ringnecks. Adelaide Rosellas, Cockateil and Budgerigars do occur in the district but I haven’t personally recorded them inside the park boundaries. The same could be said of Elegant Parrots, a species I have seen only a few kilometres south of the park.
Birds of Prey
The only bird of prey I have recorded is the Brown Falcon. It is quite possible to see many other species that are common in the district. These include Wedge Tailed Eagles, Black Shouldered Kite, Nankeen Kestral, Australian Hobby, Black Kite, Little Eagle, Spotted Harrier, Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk. Barn Owls, Boobook Owls and Tawny Frogmouths are all present nearby and probably occur in the park too.
This is just a sample of what can be seen within the boundaries of the park. A full list would probably reach a hundred or more different species. Some, like the Rainbow Bee-eater, are seasonal (summer) visitors while others are occasional visitors.