About rain and ducks
Late last week we had a beautiful rain. It fell steadily for about 30 hours which it hasn’t done for some time. In fact, it was the best rain we’d had for over seven months. In that 30 hour period we had more rain than the total of the previous four months.
Of course the birds loved the rain too. I was a little surprised to see that some of them still wanted to come to the bird bath for a drink. At least I didn’t have to refill it after the downpour.
The next day I was driving home from an outing. I rounded a corner near our place and had to brake to avoid two Pacific Black Ducks casually waddling over the road. I didn’t have the camera with me, so you will have to be content with one I’d taken on another occasion.
Pacific Black Duck
The Most Dangerous Bird in the World
3 Comments »6th November, 2008; Category: Bird Behaviour
Southern Cassowary, Adelaide Zoo
Most Australians have a healthy respect for our dangerous animals – things like our spiders, snakes, sharks and so on. Even many visitors are warned before entering Australia about the dangers lurking around every corner.
What most people do not realise is that we also have what is considered by many to be the world’s most dangerous bird.
The Southern Cassowary of Papua New Guinea and northern Queensland has caused at least one death. Its sharp claws are razor sharp, it has a propensity to attack with little provocation and is very large. An adult can be from 1.5m – 1.8m (5 – 6 feet) in height so we are not dealing with a little bush bird. For comparison, an Emu is slightly taller (1.5 – 2m) and the Ostrich slightly taller again (1.75 – 2.75m)
There is a very interesting and quite long article about the Southern Cassowary on the Smithsonian website here. It poses the question: ‘Should Cassowaries be fed or feared?’ Personally, if one walked into my garden I’d excitedly photograph it from every window of the house with a view of the visitor, and then ring the local zoo to come and collect it. When it comes to hungry cassowaries I think I’d be wary and just a bit of a chicken. (I will not apologise for those awful puns!)
Related article:
House Sparrows eating berries
House Sparrows are large members of the finch family of birds. As such, they are predominantly seed eaters.
In reality, House Sparrows are far more omnivorous than that. Sure, they do eat a lot of seeds. For this we are grateful at our place, otherwise we might not just be over run with weeds but positively lost in a jungle of undesirables. I had to struggle to find something positive about those pesky little critters that seem to breed like rabbits… actually – our rabbit population is now breeding like sparrows… but that’s a story for another day.
Observing several House Sparrows near our bird bath recently I was interested to see that, after a quick drink, they both went to a nearby bush. This plant happened to be a local species called Enchylaena tomentosa. It is also known by the common name of Ruby Salt Bush. We have a few around on our property but I didn’t think they had any fruit on them at present. The sparrows were quite obviously eating the berries.
I guess the House Sparrows do eat far more than just seeds. According to the record in HANZAB* they eat a wide range of insects, spiders, fruits, grains (cereal crops) and berries such as the Boxthorn and the Ruby Salt Bush. Some have even been observed eating the nectar from a variety of trees and bushes. And we mustn’t forget their scavenging habits of eating food scraps left by humans.
HANZAB also mentions that they can be a pest in vegetable gardens too. Most gardeners will quickly point out that the humble House Sparrow has a definite liking for young seedling plants and poultry lovers will keep the local population booming by supplying a steady gourmet food source in their chook yards.
It seems that the little House Sparrow has rather eclectic tastes.
Further reading:
- House Sparrows – Birds in Backyards site
- Australian Plant Society article on Ruby Salt Bush – with a photo of the plant and berries
- *HANZAB – Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Volume 7
House Sparrow
Masked Lapwings nesting in Adelaide CBD
2 Comments »25th October, 2008; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Birds in the News, Birds on Television, Lapwings, Nests
This is one article I should have written ages ago. I’ve been busy.
Quite a few weeks ago now there was a special item on the television news here in South Australia showing a pair of Masked Lapwings nesting on the median strip of one of Adelaide’s busiest thoroughfares.
This pair had made their nest on a triangular piece of lawn at the intersection of North Terrace (6 lanes), West Terrace (8 lanes) and Port Road (6 lanes), arguably one of the busiest parts of the Adelaide CBD. This median strip would have to be no more than half a tennis court in size and would have tens of thousands of cars, trucks buses and bikes going past only a few metres away every day of the week.
Amazing.
It was in exactly the same spot about ten years ago that saw a pair of Lapwings escorting two little balls of fluff with legs. I hope they are able to run the gauntlet of all that traffic and survive. It can be relatively quiet around 3am I suppose – if you run during changes in the lights.
Masked Lapwing
Honeyeaters and flowers
New Holland Honeyeater
We have several different species of honeyeaters in our garden. The dominant species would have to be the Red Wattlebirds and the New Holland Honeyeaters. The Brown Headed Honeyeaters, Singing Honeyeaters and Spiny Cheeked Honeyeaters are not as numerous, nor are they as bossy.
Several days ago I was amused to see one of our native plants , and Eremophila glabra (prostrate form) shaking rather violently. After a few seconds of this several Red Wattlebirds emerged and flew away. The bush is currently covered in flowers and they were having a feast.
Another plant that is popular is the Eremophila youngii shown in the photo above with an upside down New Holland Honeyeater having a feed. This plant gets attention from the various honeyeaters many times during the day.
Whenever the various Eucalypt trees around our house and garden are in flower, these too get a great deal of attention, as in the photo below with a Red Wattlebird feeding.
Red Wattlebird
A very effective way of attracting our Australian native birds to our gardens is to plant Australian native plants. There are literally hundreds of species to choose from, most of them quite easy to maintain and most have beautiful flowers, an added bonus. Here is a very brief list of some species that will attract birds to your garden:
- Callistemon
- Grevillea
- Correa
- Melaleuca
- Hakea
- Eremophila
- Banksia
For more information about growing appropriate Australian plants check out Mallee Native Plant Nursery.
Callistemon flowers