Trevor's Birding

We have baby Grey Currawongs in the garden

No Comments »15th December, 2011; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Magpies and Currawongs

Grey Currawong in our garden

Over recent days we’ve had at least two juvenile Grey Currawongs frequenting our garden. They seem to be independent of the parents and are quite happy to poke around trying to find food for themselves.

I find it a bit odd to call them “babies” as they are as big as the adults already, but are still covered in downy feathers and are not all that confident flying. One recently landed on the gutter of our veranda and I was able to approach to about 2 metres away before it flew off in a clumsy way to the nearest tree. They are still to develop the far reaching piping call of the adults, their call still being a guttural squawk.

A few days ago one ventured too close to some juvenile Willie Wagtails just out of the nest. The Willie Wagtail parents swooped the Currawong mercilessly, banging onto the back of the poor bird until it flew away to a safer spot.

Noisy Miners causing problems

No Comments »14th December, 2011; Category: Bird Behaviour

As I wrote here a few days ago I am currently visiting my daughter in Ethiopia and doing some interesting birding on the side. You’ll have to wait until the New Year to see photos of the amazing birds I am seeing.

About a week ago I had an urgent email from a journalist with our daily newspaper “The Advertiser” which is distributed throughout South Australia. She was asking permission to publish one of my bird photos in the Saturday edition. The accompanying article explained how Noisy Miners, a protected Australian native bird, are causing many problems in gardens around our capital city, Adelaide. Many are calling for a cull of this species due to their aggressive nature towards other native bird species, especially small birds like Red-browed Finches.

I didn’t bring my computer with me as I am using my daughter’s. I couldn’t supply the journalist with a high resolution photo for the paper. So I referred her to my son who managed, with some clever lateral thinking and searching, to find the photo on our backup files. The article went ahead featuring my photo.

You can see the photo and read the article here: Scientists want noisy miner cull.

Good birding.

Red wattle bird in Eremophila bush

No Comments »12th December, 2011; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters

Red wattlebird feeding in Eremophila maculata (compact form)

Over the last few months the Eremophila maculata (compact form) bush in our driveway has been covered in bright flowers. It is a stunning picture and we enjoy seeing it in flower for so long. The Red wattlebirds also appreciate the flowers and visit the bush many times each day for a feed.

Other species that enjoy a feed here include the New Holland Honeyeaters, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters and the Singing Honeyeaters. Not to be outdone, the resident Mallee Ringneck Parrots also feed on the flowers. The ringnecks are far less delicate feeders, though, because they enjoy eating the whole flower, not just feasting on the nectar.

Red wattlebird feeding in Eremophila maculata (compact form)

Birding at Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge

No Comments »9th December, 2011; Category: Gulls and Terns, Murray Bridge

Silver Gull, Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge

A few weeks ago went had a family get together. Our son and family were over here for our grandson’s 3rd birthday, and my wife’s sister and niece and her family came down from the mid north of the state. we had a barbecue lunch at home and in the afternoon we went to Sturt Reserve so the children could play on the excellent playground there.

This reserve is popular with locals and visitors. It has plenty of lawn areas for picnics along the banks of the Murray River. After the children had played for a while we all went for a short stroll along the river bank. I had my camera ready – but more for people shots. I wasn’t really taking all that much notice of the birds. I still managed a few good shots as shown here. The Whiskered Terns (see photo below) was a challenged as they constantly flew over the water. I must practise more at photographing birds in flight.

Whiskered Tern, Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge

Little Black Cormorant, Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge

Birding in Africa

No Comments »9th December, 2011; Category: Non-Australian birds

I am currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia visiting our daughter who is teaching here. We are living with her on campus at Bingham Academy, a private school in the capital city.

The grounds of the school are extensive and well planted with native and exotic species. We are delighted to feel almost at home because we’ve found many Australian plants included.

I’ve also been doing quite a deal of birding on the campus. So far I’ve seen about 15 different species and all of them are “lifers”, meaning that it’s the first time I’ve seen each species in my life. Probably the most interesting is the Hooded Vulture which frequents the school oval.

I’ve managed to get some good photos of some of the birds, but I won’t be putting these up on this site until I return home. The internet connection here is rather slow to load photos and I’d rather be out and about birding than sitting here at my daughter’s computer waiting for them to load.

In the meantime, I have scheduled photos and articles to appear here over the next few weeks. The articles were prepared before I left.

Good birding.