Trevor's Birding

Birds for Australia Day

2 Comments »26th January, 2015; Category: Birds, Bush birds, Garden birds, Murray Bridge

Galah

Today is our national – Australia Day, celebrating the arrival of the first European settlers in this wonderful country of ours. This day conjures up all kinds of feeling and images and the celebration of this event has grown in strength in recent decades. When I was growing up the day was reasonably low key, but in more recent years that has ramped up.

Throughout Australia it is celebrated by many ways, from family barbecues in the backyard, in a park, at the beach or out bush – such as a national park. Impromptu games of cricket or tennis are almost mandatory, as are gatherings in huge numbers to watch our national teams and players striving on the tennis court or on the cricket oval. This summer sports fanatics are further blessed with the soccer Asian Cup matches being played in our country.

I prefer a much more sedate endeavour: birding.

At the time of writing this a few days before the event, I have yet to decide where I will go birding. The weather looks like being kind to me, so I might venture out into some nearby patch of scrub, or perhaps somewhere along the nearby River Murray, or even venture a little further to a beach. Or I might just stay home and bird on our patch.

Meanwhile I will show off some photos of well-known and beautiful Australian birds for the enjoyment of my readers.

Happy Australia Day to all of my readers.

Male Australian King Parrot

Sacred Kingfisher

Laughing Kookaburra

A little night time visitor

No Comments »24th January, 2015; Category: Garden birds, Nocturnal birds, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars, Parrots and Lorikeets

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Last night we were watching television with the lounge door open; it was a pleasant summer’s night. During a particularly quiet segment of the show we were watching we suddenly heard the churring call of our “resident” Australian Owlet-nightjar.

“He’s still around,’ we both cried out.

Now I need to clarify a few points here:

I use the word “our” loosely. It is a wild bird in the natural environment so we do not own it.
I am not sure if this particular bird is actually a resident on our 5 acre property. We do hear it often enough to think that it is here most days, but have no proof of that.
I have no idea if it is a male or female – to call it “he” is more of a generic term.

Over recent months we have not heard this bird calling many times at all, so it was delightful to hear the call last night. I like to think that it is quite contented living around here most of the time.

A few years ago one bird – perhaps the same one – took up occupation of a significant hollow in one of our mallee trees in our back yard. Amusingly, during the cool winter months it would emerge from the hollow every morning around 11am and sun itself in the opening of the hollow, call a few times and then retreat to sleep until evening. Sometimes we would even hear it calling again as it went out feeding during the night., being mostly a nocturnal species. It was on one of those occasions that I was able to sneak up closer for a photo (shown above).

Over the last two summers the hollow has come under the “ownership” of a pair of Mallee Ringneck parrots who have successfully added to their family each time. Lately they have been busy feeding two very persistent young ones which have recently fledged.

Further reading:

Great birding moments #35 Female Superb Fairy-wren

1 Comment »22nd January, 2015; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Great Birding Moments, Wrens

Female Superb Fairy-wren

I have a confession to make.

I have just informed my wife that I insist on doing the clothes washing.

Reluctantly she has agreed to my request. My reason is simple; many times in recent years I have had some wonderful birding experiences while hanging out the washing on the clothes line – or bringing in the dry clothes. My eyes are always gazing upwards when doing this easy household chore and I have seen some great birds during this activity. Perhaps the most stunning was seeing a Peregrine falcon at top speed heading for what I think were some pigeons. Whoosh!

Adding to the birding dimension is the fact that our clothes-line is surrounded by trees and low to medium Australian Native plants (see me wife’s site here), so there is always some bird activity all around me. Distractions are common!

My latest Great Birding Moment happened yesterday while taking in the washing. I had almost finished and a female Superb Fairy-wren landed on the clothes-line next to me. As it cheerily chattered to me I could have reached out and patted it. It stayed there calling quietly to me for nearly a minute – a whole magical minute!

How wonderful.

I felt so privileged – and truly blessed.

Good birding.

Further reading:

Great Birding Moments #1-35 The above article is one of a series of articles along a similar theme.

Male Superb Fairy-wren

Back to birding

No Comments »10th January, 2015; Category: Garden birds, Thornbills

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Happy New Year readers.

First, an apology.

Sorry that I haven’t posted on this site much in recent months, not because I have lost interest or opportunities. Life has been a little rough in recent times with a number of health issues. Some of these have been dealt with and I am hopeful that things are improving. I hope to get out to do more birding and photography in the coming months, so stay tuned.

A few days ago I had a close encounter with several Yellow-rumped thornbills. I didn’t have the camera with me at the time, so the photo above was taken some time ago. On this occasion I was looking over the fence around our swimming pool watching the water coming from the filter as I was backwashing it. It was quite a hot day and three thornbills were attracted to the water gathering nearby.

One of the birds landed on the fence less than a metre from me, while the others hopped around on the ground less than two metres away. I love close encounters with the birds we have in our garden. Some of them can be quite confiding and can come very close. It is moments like this one that that makes me sometimes think that I should carry my camera with me on all occasions when in the garden.

Good birding.

Happy Christmas and good birding

No Comments »24th December, 2014; Category: Parrots and Lorikeets

Musk Lorikeets

I hope that all of my readers have a safe, wonderful and joyous Christmas.

I will be spending the day quietly at home with immediate family, probably reading some books I received for my birthday recently and trying not to eat too much while still enjoying the occasion. The day here in South Australia promises to be quite pleasant – not too hot and not too cold. We are in the middle of summer, and we’ve already had many hot days.

Birds and hot days

Speaking of hot days – don’t forget to give the birds in your garden a treat for Christmas. Replenish the water in their bird baths and they will have a great day too. Seeing all the birds coming for a drink or a bathe is an added bonus if the bird bath is easily seen from the house.

Looking ahead

Apologies to all of my regular readers. I haven’t posted much here recently and over the course of the year. I have had many challenges regarding my health but in cooperation with my doctor we are gradually getting on top of these issues. I am planning a great year of sharing my bird photos and my birding experiences in the New Year. I also have some exciting developments to share here on this site.

Happy Christmas – and Happy Birding.

Adelaide Rosella

Sacred Kingfisher