Baby Magpie learns to fly – sort of
33 Comments »3rd October, 2008; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Magpies and Currawongs
Australian Magpie (juvenile)
Our resident family of Australian Magpies has been busy feeding two babies in the nest over recent weeks. The mother bird has been bringing tasty meals to the young ones who put up a great begging performance if she is too slow about it.
Meanwhile the male patrols the territory, seeing off any intruders – like the Brown Falcon who came visiting recently. (Details of that incident will follow tomorrow.)
Australian Magpie (juvenile)
Last week one of the babies decided to test out his wings. He left the nest – not at all gracefully and very hesitatingly. It was all downhill and into the wind until he came to the pear tree in the orchard, where he decided to cling to a branch for all he was worth.
I was watching this all happen from the verandah where we were having a well earned cuppa. I raced inside for the camera. Over the next five minutes I was able to carefully creep right up to about three metres away without disturbing the little fellow – still clinging desperately to the branch where he landed.
Australian Magpie
I quickly retreated, but not before mother bird came investigating to see if I was behaving myself. Soon she was happy to resume looking for the next tasty morsel to feed junior.
Later I was watching from the house. The baby had moved to another tree. He decided the fly down to where the mother bird was searching for food. The flight was okay – it was the landing that undid him. He landed on his face. Some techniques obviously need a little practice.
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Australian Magpie
White Winged Choughs nesting
White Winged Chough carrying nesting material
Earlier this week I was aware of plenty of noise in the garden coming from the local family of White Winged Choughs. About five or six of them were regularly flying into the garden from next door and then parading around. I noticed several of them collecting tufts of drying grass from the mowing I had done the week before (see photo above).
They were obviously then heading off next door to a tree about fifty metres away. It took only a few seconds for me to locate the partially built mud nest.
As I returned from looking at the nest I disturbed two more near our tank – where there is a slow leak. Ah ha – so that’s where they are gathering the mud for the nest. It has been a busy few days for the family. I look forward to the time when the babies are being fed. There will be a constant flow of traffic feeding them.
Welcome Swallows
Welcome Swallow
Yesterday afternoon we were sitting in the lovely spring sunshine on our front verandah. We were enjoying the beautiful day while having a cuppa. As we sat there two Welcome Swallows flew in under the verandah and just over our heads. This was a delightful little event that thrilled us, mainly because they came so close – perhaps a metre or less over our heads.
I’ve seen Welcome Swallows do this kind of thing in many other places, but this is the first time we’ve seen it on our verandah. In fact, we do not see this species all that often over our garden. This is strange, because the species is very common in our immediate district. At times I have seen loose flocks of several hundred near or over the nearby river. At other times I have seen 50 – 100 resting on nearby power lines. For some reason they do not want to visit our place.
I know that they make a mess when they make their mud nest under a verandah or the eaves of a house, but it would be lovely if they thought our place was a suitable nesting site. I’d probably even be happy to clean up the mess they made.
Spring time birding – where are the cuckoos?
Spring is here at last in Australia. Not sure about the rest of the country, but here in South Australia we are looking forward to some slightly warmer days in the coming weeks and months. August this year has been the second coldest August on record. It has also been reasonably wet – not record breaking, mind you, but a very acceptable change from recent years of drought. As for the cold weather – it was only a few months ago in March that we were complaining about a record heat wave.
A few days ago I reported that the resident Australian Magpies were not only nesting, they were now feeding young in the nest. A few days ago I noticed the Common Starlings also feeding young in the nest (we can really do without that, of course). The local Common Blackbirds are behaving as if they have a nest somewhere, as are several species of Honeyeater. I just don’t have the time to check out all of the bushes and trees on our five acre block. The Skylarks are still calling as are the Rufous Songlarks.
Notable for their absence so far this year are all of the Cuckoos. Neither my wife nor I have heard a single Cuckoo of any description. That is most noteworthy as we have usually heard at least the Horsfields Bronze-Cuckoos by now.
Curious.
I’d welcome comments from my Australian readers. Have you heard and/or seen any Cuckoos recently in your part of the country?
How much can a koala bear?
For those of my readers with access to today’s Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, there is an amusing sequence of photos of a ‘crow’ (probably a LIttle Raven) harassing a koala.
I’ve seen this type of thing with other species, including an Australian Magpie. On another occasion I witnessed a honeyeater pulling out tufts of fur from a sleeping koala, obviously to line a nest.
The photos have been posted here, but the link may not work after a few days – I’m not sure how long such items remain on the site.