Archive for August, 2014

Bush Stone-curlew at the Australian Reptile Park

Bush Stone-curlew

Bush Stone-curlew

As I was meandering through the aviary section on our recent family visit to the Australian Reptile Park north of Sydney, I managed to get this interesting photo of a Bush Stone-curlew.

This individual is obviously quite relaxed near humans, with hundreds passing by its aviary on a daily basis. It fact, its pose almost suggests it is being curious about what I was doing, and came very close to investigate.

Or was it deliberately posing in a provocative way to get my attention?

Further reading:

You can see more photos and read more about this species by clicking on these related articles:

Southern Boobooks at the Australian Reptile Park

Southern Boobook owls at Australian Reptile Park

Southern Boobook owls at Australian Reptile Park

Over the last week or so I have been sharing photos of birds taken during a recent family visit to the Australian Reptile Park near Gosford north of Sydney.

This series continues today with the photo above of two Southern Boobook owls roosting in their aviary. Boobooks are widely spread in Australia and are a well-known species because of their “boo-book” call ringing through the bushland and even in suburban gardens.

We recently had one calling near our home in Murray Bridge, South Australia. You can read about that here.

Pigeons and doves

Crested pigeon

Crested pigeon

I went for a walk of The Estate this afternoon.

When I say “The Estate”, please understand that we only own a 5 acre (2 hectare) block.

As I passed along the neighbour’s fence, I glanced over into the area in front of their house. On the grass I saw six birds feeding on the grass: 2 Crested pigeons, 2 Spotted Turtledoves and 2 Peaceful doves, all within about 2 or 3 metres of each other.

This is the first time I’ve seen all 3 species feeding in such close proximity to each other.

Note: I didn’t have my camera with me, so the photos shown today were taken on another occasion.

Spotted Turtledove

Spotted Turtledove

 

Peaceful Dove

Peaceful Dove