Bird trouble in the garden
Collared Sparrowhawk
I was outside enjoying breakfast and the newspaper this morning when the birds in the bushes in our garden erupted in noise and confusion. The New Holland Honeyeaters suddenly began screeching and smaller birds like the House Sparrows went scurrying for cover. The resident Common Starlings headed off rapidly into the mallee scrub and the Red Wattlebirds were carrying on noisily.
Seconds later a juvenile Collared Sparrowhawk came swooping into the garden and landed in a tree in our back yard. The other birds kept up their noise and harassment until the sparrowhawk reluctantly flew off through the scrub.
After that, life in the garden returned to its former calmness.
And I returned to my paper.
Related article:
Black Kite at Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Black Kite, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Last spring my son and his family came over to South Australia for a short holiday. During that time we all went to the local open range Monarto Zoo. This zoo is a part of the Adelaide Zoological Gardens and we like visiting on a regular basis, especially seeing it is a ten minute drive from home here in Murray Bridge. Being Life Members we also like to get value from our tickets.
On this visit last year the weather was beautiful with plenty of sunshine and a pleasant breeze. The bird life was also very cooperative.
I took the above photo of a Black Kite soaring low overhead as we went on one of the walking trails in the zoo. It came low and also slowly enough to get a reasonable photo.
Black Kites are widespread and common in the Murraylands region. Quite often – almost daily – we have one or two glide quietly over our house. In other parts of the town I have also seen small flocks of up to about five soaring near each other. Several years ago I saw about fifty on the ground or gliding low overhead near a small abattoirs on the eastern edge of town.
Further reading:
- A visit to Monarto Zoo
- A visit to Monarto Zoo – with comments on the birds
- Ostriches in South Australia
- Birds of Monarto Zoological Park
Emus swimming
Over the weekend I had a comments from a reader about Emus. He had observed a group of Emus entering the water at Coffin Bay on the west coast of South Australia. Michael said he had seen 6 Emus swimming in sea water there.
This brought to mind an article about Emus swimming I wrote several years ago. As a result I have completely updated that post, now with photos and links to more articles about Emus.
You can read the article here: Do Emus Swim?
Crested Pigeons, Botanic Park, Adelaide
8 Comments »13th March, 2010; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, General, Murray Bridge, Pigeons and Doves
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are one of my favourite birds. We have a number resident in our garden and they have even nested several times within a few metres of our house. When the breeding season has been successful I have seen up to 35 Crested Pigeons sitting on the power lines running past our property. Elsewhere in Murray Bridge I have even seen about 60 in a loose flock sitting on power lines along the road.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are widespread throughout Australia except for the driest parts of the inland, southern Victoria and they are absent from Tasmania. They are also largely absent from the northern most parts of Australia. This distribution is changing and some Crested Pigeons can be found in the Melbourne region, for example, something that was rare as recent as a decade ago.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
Crested Pigeons are ground feeders and can often be seen feeding in parks in loose flocks numbering in the dozens. This is the case in Botanic Park between the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and the Adelaide Zoo where the photos on this post were taken.
Crested Pigeon, Botanic Park, Adelaide
The birds in these photos were busy displaying to one another, more interested in breeding than in my wife and I having afternoon tea in beautiful park on a lovely spring afternoon.
Further reading:
- Crested Pigeon nesting
- Crested Pigeons by the dozens
- Birds in the garden plus one reptile
- A panic of pigeons
- Crested Pigeons as pet birds (one of my most popular articles)
- A crested Pigeon caught by surprise
Botanic Park, Adelaide
Malleefowl painting, Pinnaroo Primary School
Mural on classroom, Pinnaroo Primary School
As I was driving past the Pinnaroo Primary School recently I spotted a lovely mural painted on the wall of a classroom. The mural illustrates various aspects of the local farming activities and the environment. I’ve shown it in the photo above – click on it to enlarge.
From a birding viewpoint I was pleased to see the Malleefowl shown prominently as a part of the painting. Pinnaroo is in the heart of mallee country in South Australia.
The Malleefowl is an amazing bird unique to this part of the world and is classified as a vulnerable species in Australia. It is about 55-61cm in size (like a smallish turkey) and quietly feeds on seeds and berries in the mallee scrub, or on wheat seeds in farming areas.
The male Malleefowl builds a rather odd nest. It is a mound of dirt, leaves, sticks and bark and can be from 2 to 5 metres in diameter and up to 1.5 metres high. He will work this mound like a compost heap over the summer months, the rotting vegetation and sunlight heating up the mound. Over many months the female lays about 5 to 30 eggs in tunnels in the mound which are then covered over. The heat inside the mound is kept at almost exactly 33C throughout the incubation period which can last many months. On hatching, the young struggle through the dirt of the mound before running off through the scrub, independent from the beginning.
This species can be found nesting within 20km of my home, yet I’ve only ever seen one in the wild on a handful of occasions. One memorable occasion occurred a few years ago when I saw 6 birds in a period of 10 minutes. You can read about that encounter in an article called What kind of a duck was that? (Click here)
Below I have also included photos of two Malleefowl nests I have found in different parts of South Australia.
Malleefowl featured on a mural on classroom, Pinnaroo Primary School
Malleefowl nest, Gluepot Reserve near Waikerie, South Australia
Malleefowl nest, Ferries McDonald Conservation Park, South Australia