Death of a Galah
Last night I went for a walk in the cool of the evening. It was just on dark when I arrived home. I didn’t go with the intention of doing any birding; it was just a much needed walk to deal with the indulgence of the season. (Actually, I was rather good and didn’t over-indulge over Christmas.)
At one point in the gathering gloom I saw what looked like a Galah. Not your usual pose mind you. This poor Galah was obviously dead and was hanging from a thin dead branch near the top of the tree. There was not enough light to be absolutely certain, but it looked as though this unfortunate bird had accidentally caught its leg in the sharp V-shape junction of two twigs and couldn’t escape. Poor thing.
On reflection, I seem to have some memory of having seen this sort of incident before but I can’t recall the details.
The photo below shows some Galahs in our garden.
Galahs
Rescue of the ten little ducklings
3 Comments »9th December, 2007; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Ducks Geese and Swans, Garden birds
Pacific Black Duck with ten ducklings
From time to time we have Pacific Black Ducks visiting our swimming pool. Sometimes a solitary bird, more often two and sometimes three. They might hang around for a few days and then we won’t see them for weeks or months.
Several years ago we had a mother duck bring about five or six ducklings to the pool. On that occasion we found the ducklings too late. Because they had been in the water and couldn’t get out, they all died, even though we tried to care for them. They probably were far too exhausted or possibly became too cold.
On Friday we had another family of ducks visit the pool. We are in severe water restrictions due to the drought at present and I’ve been reluctant to fill the pool, so the water level was down quite a long way compared to its normal level. I haven’t bothered to begin cleaning it for summer either, but that is another story. Once again I was fearful of losing all ten little ducklings.
My dear wife came to the rescue with a brilliant device for rescuing the ducklings. She found a length of chicken netting with a wooden frame around it. It was about a square metre in size. This was placed like a ramp from the water to the edge of the pool. She then draped an old towel over the netting and anchored the whole thing with several bricks. Within the hour the whole family found the ramp and they were on their way, hopefully down to the river. Now the River Murray is about four kilometres away, so that is a long march for a family of little ducklings. A search of the property later found not sign of them, so I am assuming they are well on their way to safety on the river.
Pacific Black Duck with ten ducklings
Further reading:
One bird that finally sat still – Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Spinebill
2007 Australian Capital Territory trip report #12
The Eastern Spinebill is one of Australia’s more colourful honeyeaters. We do not have this species in our garden in Murray Bridge, so I have to travel up into the Adelaide Hills, or interstate, to see this lovely bird.
It is a relatively common species in its range which extends along the coastal regions of eastern and south eastern Australia, from near Brisbane through to north of Adelaide. Its preferred habitat includes gardens, forests, heathlands and woodlands.
This particular species has caused me some angst over the last two years. Although I’ve seen it quite a few times, I haven’t been able to get any individuals to sit still long enough for me to focus the camera. Until my recent visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens, that is. It’s quite a long drive to find one cooperative bird. Never mind, get it I did. It’s an even longer drive to see its cousin, the Western Spinebill in Western Australia. That one will have to wait a little while to appear in my camera lens.
Click on the image to enlarge the photo.
Further reading:
- To access the archived articles about honeyeaters click here.
- Great birding moments – a list of articles about some of my great experiences in birding.
Close Encounters of the Bird Kind
Red Wattlebird
2007 Australian Capital Territory trip report # 11
In the afternoon of the day we went to visit the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra we had a short break. We’d been walking for hours and we were a little leg weary. We stopped at a convenient picnic table to have a light snack and a drink.
We’d hardly sat down when a Red Wattlebird decided we might be an easy touch for a snack of his own. Like so many birds in Australian parks and picnic grounds, this individual knew that humans meant food. So he came and sat on the table next to us.
He didn’t seem at all threatened by my camera whirring and clicking less than a metre away. It is times like this that I love having a camera in my hand all ready to shoot.
Red Wattlebird
Lunch time visitors
1 Comment »2nd December, 2007; Category: Bird Behaviour, Magpies and Currawongs, Ravens and Crows, Trip reports
Australian Magpie (Black-backed race)
During our visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra earlier this year we took a little time out from our wanderings around the gardens in order to have a picnic lunch. For places where people gather to eat, you can be almost assured of plenty of birds who gather ready to get a handout of food.
On this occasion we were not disappointed. As soon as we sat down we had the company of several Australian Magpies. They were quite bold and would have landed on our picnic table and helped themselves if we hadn’t discouraged them.
White-winged Chough
They were soon joined by a family of White-winged Choughs with their beady red eyes. Again they were quite bold, hopping around our feet and under the table and on the fence a metre behind us.
Australian Raven
A little later on an Australian Raven elegantly walked across the path towards us, checking out why we were getting so much attention. A tiny White-browed Scrubwren joined in the fun, but he was far too quick for my camera.