Birds in the heat

New Holland Honeyeaters at our bird bath

Here in South Australia we are experiencing our hottest summer on record. I won’t bore you with the details, but just say that we have had far too many days in the 40s (45C is equal to 113F). During such heatwaves – which can last for several days – our bird population suffers terribly. On these days the resident birds in our garden really appreciate the various bird baths we have placed in suitable locations.

Even on a warm day we get a constant parade of birds visiting the various bird baths in our garden. Our sun room overlooks several of them and this affords me an ideal location to take photos of them. Some birds still visit the water even on quite cold days – but we haven’t had many of those lately.

Probably the most common visitors would have to be the honeyeater species, including:

•  Red Wattlebirds,
• White-plumed honeyeaters,
• New Holland Honeyeaters,
• Brown-headed Honeyeaters 
• Singing Honeyeaters
• Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters

Other regular visitors include:

• Australian Magpies
• White-winged Choughs
• Grey Currawong
• Australian Magpie Larks
• Crested Pigeons
• Spotted Turtledove
• Striated Pardalote
• Spotted Pardalote
• Silvereyes
• House Sparrow
• Common Starling
• Common Blackbird

White-plumed Honeyeater

Male House Sparrow at our bird bath