Little Ravens nesting
Little Raven
During my recent stay in bed with the flu I had a good view through the window of a part of our garden. In the fog of my illness I was pleased to be able to view a few birds that flew past the window, or those that settled in the bushes or trees within view.
On several occasions I noticed two very industrious Little Ravens at work. They were busy pulling fine strips of bark off the trucks of several bushes and trees. As they stuffed their beaks full of bark they looked as if they had suddenly grown a handlebar mustache!
With this beak full of bark they flew off over the road. Nesting?? I wonder. I haven’t recovered enough from the flu to go searching for the nest in the cold, wintery and showery weather we are having. It’s quite possible, however, for it is about now that many of our birds start building nests ready for the spring.
Little Raven
Birding while in bed
I’m recovering from a severe bout of influenza. Worst I’ve had in many years – possibly worst ever. I spent the best part of 9 days mostly in bed.
Fortunately our bedroom window over looks the garden. As I reposed in my sick bed, head aching, sneezing every few minutes, blowing my nose every minute or two (I went through about 6 boxes of tissues – 200 to the box) I was able to occasionally glimpse the bird life outside.
The White-winged Choughs are frequent garden visitors – usually daily. They didn’t disappoint me. It always amuses me the way the strut their way down the driveway looking for all the world like they own the place.
The resident Willie Wagtails are always busy searching out some tasty morsel amongst the plants in the garden. They were regular visitors come to cheer me up.
Several times during my illness the local gang of White-browed Babblers came on sorties through the undergrowth, their calls sometimes making me think we’d been invaded by a pack of meowing cats.
The local Little Ravens are quite vocal at present and are also frequent visitors. Two of them were acting suspiciously, pulling bark from the trunk of a Melaleuca bush. They then flew off purposefully across the road. I wonder if they are making a nest? I haven’t been well enough to check them out.
New Holland Honeyeaters are the most obvious birds in our garden, both in numbers and in noise levels. Even through the cold, wintery, showery weather they are constantly on the go, feeding, flying around and generally bossing around anything that dares to come near.
The resident family of Australian Magpies has been rather quiet recently. They are still around but I think this is just the calm before the breeding storm. Once they start nesting the Territory Wars begin in earnest.
Our resident pair of Grey Shrike-thrushes are usually quiet and reserved, going about their daily activities with little fuss. On a few occasions while I was sick they would come near to the window and delight me with their rich melodious call. It is enough to cheer even the sickest person.
Most days we have either two or four Mallee Ringneck parrots in the garden. Two of them are constantly checking out a hollow in a tree near the shed. We live in hope that someday they will deem it suitable for nesting. So far this has not happened.
This is just a small sample of the many birds found daily in our garden. My recent enforced stay in bed made me realise how rich the bird life was around here, something I sometimes take for granted.
Happy birding – wherever you are.
Mallee Ringneck Parrot
Birds and window strikes
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
I was working in my home office last week when I heard a sudden bang on the glass about a metre from where I sat. I immediately grabbed the camera and headed out into the garden. There on the garden bed was a little Silvereye, obviously quite stunned but alive. I was able to take a series of close up photos while it recovered. Within a few minutes it had flown off again.
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Window strikes by birds is a constant problem around the world. Home windows, office blocks and anywhere glass is used in buildings create a potential hazard for flying birds. At certain times of the day or light conditions the reflections of the surrounding area – sky, garden, forest – give flying birds the false impression that they can fly straight ahead.
In reality, they fly straight into the glass which is acting like a huge mirror. I have read about various techniques for preventing bird strikes on windows but haven’t yet come across a foolproof way of preventing it.
Luckily for this little fellow, he survived.
Many don’t.
Further reading:
Click on any image to enlarge the photo.
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Silvereye, Murray Bridge, South Australia
Magpie bathing antics
Yesterday I was reading while sitting in the sun on our back veranda. I love sunny autumn days in South Australia.
After a few minutes I was interrupted by a young Australian Magpie attempting to have a bath. The veranda is only a few months old and I still haven’t connected the down pipe from the roof to the rainwater tank. My wife has put a tub underneath the outlet to catch dew and rain so we can then use the water to keep the garden alive. With the recent rain this tub was full of water.
This young magpie tried every method he could think of to have a bath, but the water is about 30cm (12″) deep. He ended up vigorously swishing his head in the water which ended up splashing all over him. But that wasn’t enough.
He tried stepping down into the tub but ended up just flopping into deep water most ungracefully. Several attempts later he gave up and flew off to preen. It’s one of those amusing incidents where you wished you had a video camera in your hand at that very moment. Sorry – no video. You’ll just have to be content with a still photo instead.
Australian Magpie
Strange Willie Wagtail
On our walk this morning we saw a very active Willie Wagtail, flitting around in the early morning sun gathering his breakfast.
As we approached I noticed something different. It didn’t look normal. As it flew past quite close to us I realised that it had no tail. In fact, it looked quite dumpy, not at all like a Willie Wagtail. It still managed some nifty aerobatics as it gathered its morning food.
Needless to say I didn’t have a camera with me, so below is a photo of a normal looking Willie Wagtail.
PS: Should I have called it a Willie Wag???
Willie Wagtail