Happy bird-day to my blog
20 Comments »3rd September, 2009; Category: Photos
Australian Pelicans, Mallacoota, Victoria
TODAY MARKS THE FOURTH BIRTHDAY OF THIS BLOG ABOUT AUSTRALIAN BIRDS.
Happy birthday to my blog.
It has just passed the 950th article about Australian birds and is going from strength to strength as far as readership is concerned. Over 600 readers per day, from over 100 countries, and several thousand comments from interested birders worldwide.
Thank you to all of my faithful regular readers. Welcome to all of my new readers.
Thank you also to those who take the time to leave a question or a comment. You are valued. I especially appreciate those who say how much they enjoy this blog.
To celebrate this special occasion I invite readers to leave birthday greetings in the comments section. And while you are here, don’t forget all those other articles reaching back over four years now. Browse through the archives, click on the categories in the side bar or look through the many articles listed in the contents section.
To celebrate I’ve featured some of the best photos from the last year. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Galahs at a hollow
Male Flame Robin, Mt. Macedon, Victoria
Little Penguins, Adelaide Zoo
A Silver Gull eyeing off our lunch
Male Gang-gang Cockatoo, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
Good bird photos
No Comments »11th May, 2009; Category: General
Photography seems to run in the family. My wife takes photos of plants and flowers, I take photos of scenery, birds, animals and flowers, my daughter takes photos of people and places and my son takes photos of scenery, buildings, animals and now has a growing interest in birds.
In recent times he has added some interesting new equipment to his camera gear. This has enabled him to take some great photos. Here are some links to some recent great shots.
- Munro Park – including shots of a White-faced Heron catching a fish.
- Taronga Park Zoo – including a wonderful photo of a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.
- Lane Cove National Park for lunch – this features an amazing photo of a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and another of the back of my head (not together).
Australia Day 2009
2 Comments »26th January, 2009; Category: Garden birds
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Happy Australia Day to all of my readers.
I’ve included a photo today of that iconic Australian bird, the Laughing Kookaburra. It is one of our most recognisable and well loved birds, and its distinctive laughing call is familiar to almost everyone in this country as well as many people who have never been to Australia.
Even though it was a public holiday I didn’t go out birding. It was too hot, reaching 40C (104F) under our veranda this afternoon. Instead I spent some of the morning working on a project on the back veranda until the heat chased me inside to air conditioned comfort. I spent some of the day in front of the television watching South Africa beat Australia in the cricket game here in Adelaide.
The birding all day was rather slow in our garden. The heat does that to the bird life. I’d forgotten to fill the bird bath this morning and so there was little action there. A few Galahs flew over during the cooler part of the evening. Several Little Ravens were calling loudly nearby. The Australian Magpies seemed to be keeping a low profile today – we didn’t even see them. The regular patrol undertaken every day by our local White-winged Choughs never happened, and even the bossy New Holland Honeyeaters seemed subdued. At one stage a small group of Mallee Ringneck parrots flew past noisily, but they didn’t hang around for long.
It does not bode well for the birding over the next week. The forecast is for a heatwave – that is, temperatures over 35CÂ (95F) – for at least the next 5 days and perhaps even a week.
Time to attend to some indoor projects, methinks.
Lizards, lizards, lizards – where are the birds?
No Comments »23rd January, 2009; Category: Animals
Eastern Water Dragon, Lane Cove National Park
While visiting my son and daughter in law in Sydney last Christmas we went for a family picnic to Lane Cove National Park. It had been many years since our last visit here – over 30 years in fact.
Before lunch several of us went for a walk along one of the walking tracks there. I was hoping for a good birding list plus a few good photos of birds.
The day was hot, humid and being around lunch time, rather quiet. I was amazed, however, at the large numbers of lizards in that part of the park. There seemed to be dozens of Eastern Water Dragons, all quite happy to come out and pose for my camera.
Eastern Water Dragon, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Distractions while birding
2 Comments »21st January, 2009; Category: Animals
Lace Monitor lizard in Lane Cove National Park
On our recent trip to Sydney we had a family picnic lunch in the Lane Cove National Park. Before lunch several of us went on a long walk through the park. I was there to get a good list of birds plus the odd photo or two of birds.
As we walked along my daughter spotted a rather large Lace Monitor lizard crossing the track in front of us. It quickly decided to take refuge on the trunk of a nearby tree and was decidely camera shy. Because of the steep terrain I was unable to get around on the side of the tree to get a better view.
It was a nice distraction from the birding that morning.
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