A flash of colour on a dull winter’s day
Male Variegated Fairy-wren
My wife and I are currently visiting family in Sydney. Yesterday we were free from helping out with the grandchildren for a few hours, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to a few potential birding spots.
One of the places I was keen to revisit after many years was Long Reef Point next to the Long Reef Golf Course, Dee Why north-east of Sydney CBD.
It was a cool, dull, overcast day and the birding was quite slow. Despite this I made quite a nice little list of local resident birds but few photos. While there I realised it was the wrong time of year. Most of the migrant wading birds had long flown north to Asia for our winter. Wise birds.
During our visit, my wife and I sat quietly on a rock at the top of the point reaching out to sea from the mainland. Watching the waves come in can be very good for the soul, and very relaxing. We were pleased that it was a calm day; on windy days one could easily get blown off the cliff onto the beach or rocks below.
As we sat quietly a family of Variegated fairy-wrens came to visit within a few metres of where we sat. Despite the fact that wrens move incredibly quickly, I was able to get several good shots, shown on today’s post. The one below of female is quite delightful. It looks for all the world like she is scolding us for intruding on their territory.
Female Variegated Fairy-wren
Male Variegated Fairy-wren
An unwelcome lunch guest
Silver Gull at Darling Harbour Sydney
A few weeks ago we had a family outing to Darling Harbour in Sydney. For morning tea we had visited one of the most wonderful cafes imaginable – see photo below – and then lingered on allowing the grandchildren to play on the playground equipment provided nearby.
As one would expect, the time got away from us and we needed to get lunch too; it would have been too late for the children if we had waited until we had arrived home on the train. So we went to the nearest fast food outlet – you know – the one with the big golden thingies on the roof.
Seeing it was in the middle of the World Cup, all the special hamburgers looked like small footballs. I chose an Argentinean hamburger while my wife choose a Brazil burger. With all the extra spices and sauces they were actually quite delicious.
I guess that the local Silver Gull population thought so too. Quite a gathering of them soon descended upon us where we sat, uninvited and unwelcome guests at our lunch. They didn’t get any.
I was amused earlier in the morning while having a wonderful treat for morning tea that the cafes of the area were frequently playing the calls of presumably a Peregrine falcon. I guess it was an optimistic attempt at scaring away the vast numbers of Silver Gulls, House sparrows, Feral Pigeons (Rock Doves) Noisy Miners and White Ibis which also find the Darling Harbour area quite attractive to visit. I do not think they are tourists. They look too comfortable, just like a local, I’d say.
My indulgence at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe.
Pesky Musk Lorikeets
No Comments »10th June, 2014; Category: Bird Behaviour, Camera, Garden birds, Parrots and Lorikeets, Photos
Musk Lorikeets
Last Sunday I was in my daughter’s back yard in Clare sitting in lovely winter sunshine. I was intent on the novel I was reading and trying hard not to doze off in the warmth of the sun on my back. A small flock of about a half dozen Musk Lorikeets noisily flew into the neighbour’s almond tree.
I firstly checked them out with the binoculars; I’ve also seen Purple-crowned Lorikeets in this locality. I then grabbed my camera and quietly walked to the fence. Zooming in I could see that they were not going to be easily spooked. The unopened flower buds on the almond tree were obviously good eating. In the next two minutes I managed to get 18 really good photos, some of which I share on this site today.
Musk, Purple-crowned and Rainbow Lorikeets are relatively common and widespread throughout the Mt Lofty Ranges and the mid-north of South Australia, and elsewhere such as the south-east of the state. They can be seen in some places in large numbers, noisily feeding in eucalypt trees in particular.
When they are feeding in the dense canopy of a gum tree (eucalypt) they can be very hard to see, let alone photograph. So seeing them feeding in a tree with little foliage made photography so much easier for me. I wish all birds were so accommodating.
Further reading:
- Purple-crowned Lorikeets at Brown’s Road Monarto
- Purple-crowned Lorikeets
- Rainbow Lorikeets feeding
- Lorikeets and flowering trees
Musk Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
I can’t swim that fast
Little Black Cormorant, Narrung, South Australia
I took this photo at the very end of our boat trip earlier this year. We had travelled across Lake Alexandrina, along the River Murray past Goolwa to the Murray Mouth and through the Coorong.
As we approached the boat ramp next to the Narrung ferry (SE of Adelaide) this lone Little Black Cormorant was waiting for my camera while deciding whether he needed to fly away from our boat, or not. Looking at the mess on the signs, it is obvious that this is a common resting spot for many birds.
Plenty of magpies
I must apologise to my regular readers who like to see regular updates on this site, along with seeing some of the bird photos I’ve taken. Life has been a little rugged lately with illness, busyness and having to give a great deal of assistance to my dear wife. She recently broke a bone in her foot as the result of a fall, though it seems to be improving steadily.
One of the results of the broken bone was our doctor insisting on a bone density test, so this necessitated a trip to Adelaide, an hour’s drive from home. On the way along the South-Eastern freeway near Mt Barker, I was amazed to see a very large gathering of Australian Magpies. It is quite common to see up to about a dozen feeding in a loose flock, but this gathering must have numbered between 50 and 60 – I couldn’t count them accurately while driving at highway speed, nor did I have my camera ready.
They were all feeding in the recently mowed grass on the roadside verge, an area of several tennis courts. Such a large congregation of magpies is, in my experience, quite unusual. I can only surmise that the mower, which was working about a hundred metres further along, had stirred up a feast of insects.
Australian Magpie