Trevor's Birding

An unwelcome lunch guest

No Comments »10th July, 2014; Category: Bird Behaviour, Gulls and Terns, Ibises

Silver Gull at Darling Harbour Sydney

A few weeks ago we had a family outing to Darling Harbour in Sydney. For morning tea we had visited one of the most wonderful cafes imaginable – see photo below – and then lingered on allowing the grandchildren to play on the playground equipment provided nearby.

As one would expect, the time got away from us and we needed to get lunch too; it would have been too late for the children if we had waited until we had arrived home on the train. So we went to the nearest fast food outlet – you know – the one with the big golden thingies on the roof.

Seeing it was in the middle of the World Cup, all the special hamburgers looked like small footballs. I chose an Argentinean hamburger while my wife choose a Brazil burger. With all the extra spices and sauces they were actually quite delicious.

I guess that the local Silver Gull population thought so too. Quite a gathering of them soon descended upon us where we sat, uninvited and unwelcome guests at our lunch. They didn’t get any.

I was amused earlier in the morning while having a wonderful treat for morning tea that the cafes of the area were frequently playing the calls of presumably a Peregrine falcon. I guess it was an optimistic attempt at scaring away the vast numbers of Silver Gulls, House sparrows, Feral Pigeons (Rock Doves) Noisy Miners and White Ibis which also find the Darling Harbour area quite attractive to visit. I do not think they are tourists. They look too comfortable, just like a local, I’d say.

My indulgence at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe.

Tawny Frogmouth in Artarmon, Sydney

No Comments »5th July, 2014; Category: Garden birds, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars

My wife and I are currently staying with our son and family in Artarmon, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales. Our two grandchildren, ages 5 and nearly 3 are taking an increasing interest in birds, due mainly from my influence. I often have my binoculars out looking at the birds seen in their garden or in nearby parks.

Last week my son was removing some clothes from the clothesline after dark. As he was getting the clothes off, he realised that he was being watched from the top of the clothesline a mere two metres away. From his own observations he instantly recognised it as a Tawny Frogmouth.

The bird stayed on the clothesline as he chatted quietly to it, removing the clothes slowly. As he turned to go inside, the bird silently flew off. He remarked to me how silently it departed.

Two nights ago the bird returned; I am assuming it was the same bird. Again it was perched on top of the clothesline. This time the grandchildren were still awake, so in turn I picked them up and quietly approached the clothesline. Each of them had good views of the bird before it silently flew off into the night.

Wonderful.

I didn’t get a photograph as I was more interested in letting the children see the bird. Below is a photo taken in a friend’s garden in the Adelaide Hills several years ago.

Tawny Frogmouth

Laughing Kookaburra, Artarmon

5 Comments »11th June, 2014; Category: Animals, Garden birds, Kingfishers

Laughing Kookaburra

Over Christmas last year we stayed with family in Artarmon on the north shore in Sydney. Almost every day we heard Laughing Kookaburras somewhere near the house, usually around 4:30am every morning. It was a pleasant wake-up call, albeit a little early.

From time to time my family enjoys seeing a kookaburra visit their back yard, often perching on the clothes line. I guess that they enjoy visiting and picking up for lunch any small skink (a small lizard – see photo below) that is a little tardy in moving to shelter out of sight.

Update Oct 1st 2015: I have recently been talking on the phone with my 7 year old grandson several times a week in recent weeks. He has developed an interest in the local birds (I wonder where he developed that interest?). He has told me that he regularly sees and hears the kookaburras in his garden, in the street where they live and in nearby parks where he goes riding his bike. On enquiring about the resident skinks, he told me that they see many of them every day they are in the garden, but the blue-tongue lizard which used to live under their front steps is no longer there.

For a discussion on the identification of the skink, please read the comments.

Further reading:

A Laughing Kookaburra comes to lunch
Interrupted by a Kookaburra
The skink I referred to is a Common Garden Skink Lampropholis guichenoti

Article updated 1st October 2015.

Common Garden Skink

Laughing Kookaburra

Pesky Musk Lorikeets

No Comments »10th June, 2014; Category: Bird Behaviour, Camera, Garden birds, Parrots and Lorikeets, Photos

Musk Lorikeets

Last Sunday I was in my daughter’s back yard in Clare sitting in lovely winter sunshine. I was intent on the novel I was reading and trying hard not to doze off in the warmth of the sun on my back. A small flock of about a half dozen Musk Lorikeets noisily flew into the neighbour’s almond tree.

I firstly checked them out with the binoculars; I’ve also seen Purple-crowned Lorikeets in this locality. I then grabbed my camera and quietly walked to the fence. Zooming in I could see that they were not going to be easily spooked. The unopened flower buds on the almond tree were obviously good eating. In the next two minutes I managed to get 18 really good photos, some of which I share on this site today.

Musk, Purple-crowned and Rainbow Lorikeets are relatively common and widespread throughout the Mt Lofty Ranges and the mid-north of South Australia, and elsewhere such as the south-east of the state. They can be seen in some places in large numbers, noisily feeding in eucalypt trees in particular.

When they are feeding in the dense canopy of a gum tree (eucalypt) they can be very hard to see, let alone photograph. So seeing them feeding in a tree with little foliage made photography so much easier for me. I wish all birds were so accommodating.

Further reading:

Musk Lorikeet

A colourful visitor to our garden

No Comments »9th June, 2014; Category: Garden birds, Murray Bridge, Parrots and Lorikeets

Adelaide Rosella

Last week while we were having breakfast in our sun room, we had a very colourful visitor. This Adelaide Rosella, a sub-species of the more common Crimson Rosella, came to check out our bird bath. Sadly, I had neglected to top it up over the last week or so and we’d had some windy and sunny days and it was dry. The rosella stayed for only a few moments before flying off.

Adelaide Rosellas are common in the Mt Lofty Ranges some 50km to the west, and through the mid-north of South Australia. Here where I live in Murray Bridge 80km west of Adelaide, they are widespread but not common.

The red on the feathers varies from almost a deep crimson, as in the Crimson Rosella, through to a very washed out orange. Further upstream along the River Murray, another sub-species, the Yellow Rosella is quite common.

Further reading:

Adelaide Rosella