Trevor's Birding

We have baby Willie Wagtails in a nest

5 Comments »9th November, 2011; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Flycatchers

Willie Wagtails in the nest

I had suspected that our resident pair of Willie Wagtails have been nesting somewhere in our mallee scrub but hadn’t been able to locate the nest. They can be very sneaky and secretive about the whole affair.

Then a few days ago I was cleaning up in an area of the scrub not frequented all that often and I was attacked by the adults. Not that they actually hit or bit me; they just made it quite obvious by their scotching calls and close swooping over my head that I was not welcome.

Sure enough – three fluffy chicks were over filling a totally inadequate nest. The photo above shows their home almost bursting at the seams.

I took the photo a few weeks ago and the chicks have now fledged and are making their presence known around the garden, demanding food from a harried set of parents struggling to keep up with their insistent calling for food.

The next question is: will the parents nest again once this brood is off their hands… er… beaks and feeding themselves independently?

The photo of some fledged Willie Wagtails was taken a few years ago at the same location.

Further reading:

Baby Willie Wagtails just out of their nest and being fed.

The Rainbow Beeeaters have arrived

16 Comments »6th November, 2011; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Migratory birds, Nests

Rainbow Bee-eater

Over the last few weeks the Rainbow Bee-eaters have be flying around our garden and mallee scrub. During the winter months they head north to warmer parts of the country, and every spring they head south for spring and summer.

It is always a delight when we hear them arrive. It’s a sure sign that spring has arrived. Almost every day for the last few weeks we’ve heard them around, or seen them overhead. Perhaps this year they will nest on our property like they did some years ago?

I find their nesting habit to be quite unusual. They make a short 30 – 40cm tunnel in a sandy spot and then construct a small nesting hollow at the end of the tunnel where they lay the eggs. Sometimes the burrow into the side of a road cutting, or the bank of a creek or river, providing the dirt is not too hard or compacted. I remember being fascinated by these birds as a child growing up on a farm in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. That fascination has remained to this day.

Rainbow Bee-eater

Black-tailed Native-hens at Clare

5 Comments »3rd November, 2011; Category: Clare, Waterbirds

Black-tailed Native Hens, Clare, SA

A few days ago I was asked by a local courier company to deliver several urgent parcels to Clare in the mid-north of South Australia. I do the occasional emergency run for this company and enjoy getting paid to go for lovely drives in the country. The wine growing region of the Clare Valley is just over 2 hours drive from my home.

After delivering the parcels I wandered over the road to the well patronised local bakery to get some lunch. I then drove to the lake on the north eastern edge of town next to the Clare Country Club. This lake is a five minute walk from my daughter’s home and about the same from where we used to live many years ago. I couldn’t visit my daughter; she’s currently teaching in Ethiopia.

While I ate my delicious Cornish pasty I did a spot of birding, including some photography. The rest of day was mine so I could take as long as I wished getting home again. The first species to show was a large flock of abut 60 Black-tailed Native Hens, shown in the photos above and below. I haven’t seen that many together in one spot for quite a while.

Black-tailed Native Hens, Clare, SA

Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos

1 Comment »31st October, 2011; Category: Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Cuckoos, Garden birds, Migratory birds

Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo

Over recent weeks we have heard one or two Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos calling from various vantage points on our property or nearby; their call usually carries well over a hundred metres. On one occasion I saw two in the tree shown in the photos here. One was chasing the other so I suspect that mating was imminent. The tree in question is about 40 metres from our back varanda.

Most of the various cuckoos in Australia are like the true cuckoos of Europe except for their call. They are parasitic breeders, laying their eggs in the nests of a wide range of host parents who then incubate the eggs, hatch and raise the young. In many cases the cuckoo will dispose of the host bird’s eggs, or the cuckoo chick will hatch first and remove the eggs or young as the hatch.

We also get the Pallid Cuckoo and the Fan-tailed Cuckoo in our area most spring times but I haven’t heard either of them yet this year. On only one occasion we had a Shining Bronze-cuckoo in our garden, and it is possible to have the Black-eared Cuckoo here too, but I’ve yet to record that species on our block of land.

related articles:

Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo

A flock of Red-rumped Parrots

2 Comments »29th October, 2011; Category: Bush birds, Parrots and Lorikeets

Red-rumped Parrots, Lake Hattah

Sydney Trip June 2011

After lunch on the last day of our trip home from Sydney we drove around the Nature Drive in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. This drive follows the shore of Lake Hattah and several other lakes. Part way along I spotted a flock of about 20 Red-rumped Parrots. They flew from the grass where they had been feeding and perched in one of the trees near the road.

While it is not a brilliant photo it does illustrate the beautiful green and yellow colours of the male birds.