Birding around Gisborne, Victoria
Crimson Rosella, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra
On our holiday earlier this year we stayed for several days with friends in Gisborne, north of Melbourne. I didn’t deliberately go our birding while there but we did go for several drives in the district and I’ll write about those in coming days.
Instead, I took note of those species I saw or heard around the garden and on a walk we did one evening. I was quite surprised by the numbers of Common Mynas now present in Gisborne. I can’t recall ever seeing so many on previous visits. On one occasion there must have been at least 30 sitting on a neighbour’s roof and fence. That is too many!
The town still has large numbers of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Long Billed Corellas. Several times I heard a small flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flying over. Crimson Rosellas (photo) are also quite common in the area, but I can’t recall seeing or hearing any lorikeets or Galahs on this visit. They must have been around, but I didn’t record any this time.
The common garden birds, apart from the mynas, included House Sparrows, Common Blackbirds, Australian Magpies, Red Wattlebirds and New Holland Honeyeaters. Interestingly, the Mynas seem to have replaced the Common Starling.
I also saw a small flock of thornbills moving through the garden. None would give me a good enough look to positively ID them. They might have been Little Thornbills, but I can’t be sure.
Almost a non birding day
On the road leaving Mallacoota, Victoria
Our short stay overnight in Mallacoota was far too brief. Early the next morning we headed back to the main highway on our way to Gisborne north of Melbourne. It was one of the longest days on the road for the entire holiday. On the road leading out of the lovely seaside town of Mallacoota I took the above photo of the type of beautiful country we had to drive through.
Along the coast road from Sydney to Melbourne there are few places where you are very far from forests. Part way through the morning I asked my daughter if she’d seen enough trees. She was almost at the point where some open country would have been a pleasant change.
I didn’t see any birds of note on the way out to the highway, except near the locality called Genoa. Near a creek and its associated wetlands I saw the only Swamp Harrier of the trip. I also heard some Bell Miners in the trees there.
By morning tea time we had reached Orbost on the Snowy River. While having my cup of tea I wandered down to the bank of the river but there was little of interest to be seen. I saw several Purple Swamphens and Little Pied Cormorants. I heard a Clamorous Reedwarbler in the reed beds along the river, and a Laughing Kookaburra was calling nearby. I was surprised to hear some Bell Miners because I always associate them with heavily forested areas which is not correct. Their habitat preferences are much broader than that. It’s a species I’m still learning about.
I saw several Grey Fantails, Australian Magpies, various common honeyeaters and some Silvereyes. The only other species of note was a small flock of European Goldfinches, the only time I recorded this species on the trip.
When I wrote the title of this post I thought I’d seen very little on that day. In actual fact I had quite a nice little list even before lunch time. Birding is like that.
Picnic grounds in Orbost on the Snowy River, Victoria
Australian Magpie, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
Australian Magpie, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
A few days ago I wrote about the small group of White-winged Choughs I watched in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. While I was watching them digging around for food and them being most obliging to pose for my camera, the magpie in the photo above came swooping down from a nearby tree and clacked his beak. Not at me – but at the choughs. Seems that they have a little rivalry going on there. Perhaps the magpie was protecting his little patch of the gardens and didn’t want any other birds taking his food supply.
I’ve noticed a similar thing at home here in Murray Bridge, South Australia. Some of the magpies, especially the males, can be very aggressive towards other species. The will fly straight at them, almost hitting them with their wings and giving loud clacking beak noises.
Another thing IÂ noticed about the magpie shown in the photo is that it looks very much like the White-backed race of Australian Magpie. Most of New South Wales has the Black-backed race except the south coast from Bateman’s Bay on towards Victoria. The distribution of the White-backed Magpies might be even broader than this as my observations in this area are quite limited.
I’d be interested in readers’ comments.
Flowers in the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra
Australia Day 2009
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.
Magpies in the heat
Australian Magpie on a hot day
Yesterday we had the hottest day of this summer so far. It reached 45C under our front veranda – that’s 113F for those of you who use that temperature scale.
It was hot.
Very hot.
Apart from needing to go to the Post Office early in the morning I stayed indoors all day. The evaporative air conditioner chugged away nicely from late morning until well into the evening. One aspect of this form of cooling is that you need to keep a few windows partially open to keep the flow of air moving. We often open the sliding door shown in the photo above a few centimetres. It wasn’t long before the resident magpie family found the lovely cool air coming from the house.
Earlier they had been enjoying bathing in the bird bath, but this was even better evidently. At one stage I noticed six birds taking advantage of the cool air. It will be interesting if other species follow suit on the hot days still to come.
Australian Magpies on a hot day