Posts Tagged ‘birds’

Stuck on my back as I am, it’s difficult for me to do much IT-related stuff (since that seems to involve an awful lot of delving under the desk to unscrew this or that, insert new CD, or untangle something or other). So it’s back to my species count of which birds we’ve got a-pecking and a-chirping their way through our neighbourhood. Last time, we got to Species 10, so moving right along we have…

Species 11:

Your guess is as good as mine on this one. Naturally, we call it the ‘Eastern Speckled Bird’, but I suspect that to be a misnomer of sorts! Either way, it likes our bottlebrush plants. It also likes our dry-stone wall around the house, because a couple of them have decided to nest in it! Here’s one drawing up at its front door:

That’s just outside the garage, so they are pretty brave creatures, all things considered!

Species 12:

Hmm. We draw another blank. Beautiful it definitely is, but what precisely we’ve got munching its way through the bottlebrushes, we have no idea. (Answers on a postcard …or a comment… if you do). Update: We now think this is a New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae).

Species 13:

If you want birds, plant bottlebrushes! (Or leave a packet of bird seed out each morning and evening!!). Again, we’re not sure about this one. (Update: we now think it’s an Eastern Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris). The beak suggests its a honeyeater of some sort [which if it's a spinebill, it sort-of still is!], but your guess is as good as mine.

Species 14:

Now you’ll have to forgive me this one! I’ve arrowed its head, and it’s tail is sticking out the other side of the wire cage (otherwise known as ‘wallaby protection for plants’). It isn’t exactly the best photograph of these things you’ll ever see, I admit… but it is a real photograph of a Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae). They are very shy, not all that common in these parts… and thus to have one walking through our new garden was pretty special. Especially as it was swiftly followed by another… though that photograph is even worse than this one! The noises these things make are a marvel, since they are expert mimics. This one did a convincing impersonation of a whirring gear mechanism of some sort.

Species 15:

I’m pretty certain this one’s an Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen). Quite vocal, playful and loves his large chunks of bread!

Species 16:

We have dozens of these things around the place, competing with the double-barred finches (see species 9). These are, I think, Red-browed Finches (Neochmia temporalis), sometimes known as red-browed firetails. They’re very cute, very green and like sitting on top of the seed bowl!

Species 17:

These are wonderful! This is a male Superb Fairy Wren (Malurus cyaneus). The females are the same size (i.e., tiny), but much more drab. The males take all the glory with their irridescent blue caps. Male and female alike, however, are forever coming -as this one has- right up to the back window and hopping along the brick work, looking in. The cats go beserk whenever this happens, of course… and I can’t help thinking the wrens know exactly what they’re doing!

I’ll call it quits there. Another session of additional species in due course (and as TOH finally manages to snap them!)

I am not much of a bird watcher. Neither is The Other Half. Together, we tend to name the various species of bird we see as “The Eastern Brown Thing” or the “Western Sydney Yellow Thing” and variations on that theme. Clueless is (mostly) our middle name when it comes to this “twitching” business. Nevertheless, our property has transformed itself in the six years since we moved here so we do now get a bit more practice than was originally the case. When first purchasing the place, I noted frequently how utterly devoid of bird noise the place was: the occasional “cheep” from something a long way off, but that was about it. Happily, through extensive benign neglect, the place has become wooded and bushed out to the point where, lying awake the other night, I think we totted up about 30 different species we have as regular visitors. I’m not sure we’ve photographed every one of them, but I thought it would be interesting (to me, at least!) to collate our records and see where we get to. So here goes for nothing! (Incidentally, if you know more -and more accurately- anything about these fellows, do please chip in a comment to enlighten me!)

Species 1:

That’s the middle of our dam (otherwise known as Lake Aldeburgh). I’ll charitably assume that there’s just one species of duck here in its male and female guises. I don’t know which species of duck it is, so let’s just call it the Western Common Duck.

Species 2:

We’re pretty certain this is a Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata). Very blue, quite small and utterly charming! Also incredibly stupid: we got this close a shot because this particular specimen had just flown into our patio door at full tilt, giving itself the mother of all bird headaches, I would imagine. No permanent harm done, however: five minutes after this was taken, it flew off as if nothing had happened.

Species 3:

This is a Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera),a big, fat pigeon with an insatiable appetite for bird seed intended for the wallabies. We’ve got lots of these who are regulars (sometimes 17 or more). It’s like Trafalgar Square some days!

Species 4:

Not entirely certain about this, but we think that’s a Brown Cuckoo-dove (Macropygia amboinensis). We’ve only seen one of them so far, but that was only recently -so maybe we’ll be seeing more of them soon.

Species 6:

We’re reasonably confident that this is a juvenile Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus). Nice beak, shame about the temperament! These things aren’t called butchers for nothing: they’ll dismember, impale and otherwise prey on lizards, small birds and insects. I suppose they can’t all be sweet and lovely, can they?!

Species 7:

That’s a couple of King Parrots (Alisterus scapularis). We have quite a few of them about the place now, having first seen them turn up to share in the wallabies’ seed feast just a few weeks ago. They now get their own ’seed lollipop’ hung in a tree, as you can see.

Species 8:

Not sure what this one is. The Eastern Yellow Bird we call it. Its favourite pastime appears to be ripping the heck out of our bottlebrushes, which it does rapidly and expertly. Update: We now think this is an example of a Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens).

Species 9:

We have hundreds of these Double-barred Finches (Taeniopygia bichenovii). They’re quite brave: if you walk about the garden as they’re feeding, they might fly off to the nearest tea tree branch and queue up… as they’ve done here. But you don’t have to go far before they consider the coast clear -and then it’s back down to feeding. Indeed, we’ve got a core population now that simply doesn’t care what we do in the garden and have given up flying away at all. Good job we’re not cats, I suppose.

And finally (for this post, anyway):

Species 10:

I’m guessing this is a Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans), but I’m not that sure. Apparently quite common, we’ve only seen a couple of these a few times.