Singing Honeyeater at the birdbath
No Comments »12th March, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Bush birds, Garden birds, Honeyeaters
Singing Honeyeater
Yesterday I wrote about New Holland Honeyeaters bathing in our bird bath (click here to view that post).
While the New Hollands are by far the most frequent and noisiest of the visitors to the bird bath, many other species also come to bathe or drink during our hot spells in summer. The New Holland Honeyeaters may come individually, but they are more prone to come in a flock of a dozen or more. The result is usually very noisy – and water sprays everywhere.
By way of contrast, the Singing Honeyeater shown in today’s photo quite often comes alone, or at most, two. They tend to be far more solitary birds in our garden. They often wait a short distance away while other species drink, then slip in quietly to drink when calmness returns.
Hot weather birding
New Holland Honeyeaters having a morning bath
We are currently experiencing another heatwave. Tomorrow is forecast to be the 11th consecutive day over 30C; some of the days – like today – the temperature has reached 40C (104F). During such days I add a bucket of fresh rainwater to the various birdbaths we have in our garden. Several of them are in clear view of where we often sit to eat, or to enjoy some reading. Sometimes I even do my writing there; it gives me a break from my office and I have a different view. The camera is usually ready for action, so on occasions I neglect my writing and attend to some serious bird photography.
During the current heatwave the birds have been coming daily to drink, bathe and generally have a good time. The parade of species is impressive. We sometimes have up to a dozen different species come to drink in a 10 or 15 minute period. Last week I captured a series of photos of about a dozen New Holland Honeyeaters having a great time cooling off in the water. Droplets fly in all directions and some are left looking absolutely drenched.
For more photos like this one click here.
New Holland Honeyeaters having a morning bath
New Holland Honeyeaters having a morning bath
New Holland Honeyeaters having a morning bath
New Holland Honeyeaters having a morning bath
Crested Pigeon up close
No Comments »19th February, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Pigeons and Doves
Crested Pigeon
The Crested Pigeon is a common species in our garden and on our 5 acre block of land in Murray Bridge, South Australia. We see them every day and they seem to be breeding throughout the year. I have found numerous nests over the time we have lived here. They are one of our many resident breeding species.
Individual birds like that shown in today’s photos frequently come to one of our bird baths to drink. Sometimes two or three will come together. During the hot weather of summer, when the temperatures can soar to 35C or above – as high as 46C – many birds come to the water throughout the day, some bathing, some drinking and many doing both.
I managed to get a series of about a dozen good close-up photos of one bird recently. It is times like this that I really appreciate having a 20x zoom facility on my camera.
Crested Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Crested Pigeon
Let’s all have a morning bath
1 Comment »14th February, 2013; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters, Photos, Pigeons and Doves
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath
Earlier this week it was rather warm. On most days we have some birds come to either have a bath, or have a drink. Many do both. Some just sit in the water, especially on very hot days.
On Tuesday of this week I was amazed at the procession of birds coming to drink and bathe. I was having my breakfast and it wasn’t yet very hot. This following is a list of species observed in a ten minute period:
New Holland Honeyeaters – about 12
White-plumed Honeyeaters – 2
Singing Honeyeaters – 2
Red Wattlebirds – 2
Crested Pigeon – 1
Spotted Turtledove – 1
Yellow Thornbill – 1
House sparrow – 10
Common Starling – 6
Australian Magpie Lark – 1
Superb fairy-wren – 3
Other species nearby:
Australian Magpie
White-browed Babblers
Willie Wagtail
The New Holland Honeyeaters caused the greatest kerfuffle; water went absolutely everywhere. I managed to capture this series of photos of one individual getting totally soaked.
Now I’ll have to get a bucket of rainwater and refill the bird bath.
Some of the photos shown here on Trevor’s Birding can now be purchased on tee shirts, coffee mugs, stationary and a large range of other items. Go to Trevor’s Photos site here.
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath
New Holland Honeyeater enjoying our bird bath
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco
No Comments »5th February, 2013; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Non-Australian birds, Photos, Pigeons and Doves
Beautiful walled garden in Rabat, Morocco
On our guided tour of Rabat in Morocco we walked through the interesting walled quarter known as the Kasbah des Oudaias. A part of this quarter was this beautiful garden. In the garden I managed a few hurried photos of a Collared Dove, shown below.
I use the expression “hurried photos” deliberately. The bird was moving around constantly, not stopping for more a a second or two in any one spot, making focussing something of a challenge, even though the bird was quite close. The bird won.
Still, it was nice to add another species to my list of Moroccan birds.
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco