Trevor's Birding

Fork-tailed Swifts overhead

No Comments »27th March, 2013; Category: Bird Behaviour

I have written in recent days about the hot weather we are having. As I write this a cool change is on the way, and storm clouds are gathering. So far the clouds have promised much – and delivered nothing in the way of refreshing rain. Still, the promise of cooler weather over the coming week is reassuring.

A little while ago I was having a coffee while doing some reading. I looked up to think about what I was reading and suddenly got all excited by what I saw out through the window.

SWIFTS.

I grabbed my binoculars and raced outside. About 6 Fork-tailed Swifts (Pacific Swifts) were swooping at great speed across the cloudy sky, following the storm front as is their habit. Within minutes they were gone, so there was no time to try for a photo – they were too high up and moving too fast anyway, so I’m not disappointed. You can see a photo taken by someone else here.

On checking my records this is a new species for my home block list. Previously I had seen Needle-tailed swifts on one occasion. Two swift sighting here in nearly thirty years. No wonder I was excited.

Australian Magpies at the bird bath

1 Comment »26th March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Garden birds, Magpies and Currawongs

Australian Magpies

We have quite a few resident Australian Magpies in our garden and on our five acre property. Every year we watch out for nest building time to see which tree they will use; sometimes they refurbish an old nest.

In the hot weather anything up to 6 or 7 of them gather under the shade of our back veranda, often crouching under the easy chairs we have there for extra coolness. The sun in the open on hot days can be as high as 50C or more, while under the veranda it can be 10 degrees cooler – which is still very hot!

Our bird baths are also very popular with all species. Most smaller birds tend to fly off when the magpies occupy the cooling water.

In the photos shown today, the bird on the left is a juvenile, possibly a female. The one on the right is a mature male.

Australian Magpies

Yellow Thornbills at our bird bath

No Comments »22nd March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Thornbills

Yellow Thornbill

The most common thornbill species in our garden is the Yellow-rumped Thornbill. This is a resident breeding species and we see small flocks of up to 20 almost every day. If we searched our whole property we would probably see them every day.

Less common is the Yellow Thornbill shown in today’s photos. This species, also known as the Little Thornbill, is a regular visitor. On a recent hot day a small flock came hesitatingly to our bird bath. Some of the larger birds such as the honeyeaters can be quite bossy and this makes this tiny visitor nervous and flighty, so I was pleased to get a series of close up photos.

As an added bonus, I managed to catch one of them landing but still in flight – check out the last photo below.

Yellow Thornbill

White Plumed Honeyeater comes for a bath

2 Comments »14th March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters

White Plumed and New Holland Honeyeaters

Over recent days I have been writing about and showing photos of various birds coming to visit our birdbath. Usually the New Holland Honeyeaters dominate proceedings, making a terrible din and splashing water everywhere.

On this occasion a solitary White Plumed Honeyeater forced its way in , running the gauntlet of the mob. I am not sure what it is doing in the photo below. Almost seems like it has landed awkwardly. It’s probably just flapping its wings and I caught it in an unusual pose.

White Plumed and New Holland Honeyeaters

Singing Honeyeater at the birdbath

No Comments »12th March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Garden birds, Honeyeaters

Singing Honeyeater

Yesterday I wrote about New Holland Honeyeaters bathing in our bird bath (click here to view that post).

While the New Hollands are by far the most frequent and noisiest of the visitors to the bird bath, many other species also come to bathe or drink during our hot spells in summer. The New Holland Honeyeaters may come individually, but they are more prone to come in a flock of a dozen or more. The result is usually very noisy – and water sprays everywhere.

By way of contrast, the Singing Honeyeater shown in today’s photo quite often comes alone, or at most, two. They tend to be far more solitary birds in our garden. They often wait a short distance away while other species drink, then slip in quietly to drink when calmness returns.