Bird Word: Cryptic
- Cryptic: something that is hidden. A bird may have cryptic colours or markings that help it to hide from predators in its preferred habitat. A bird’s behaviour may also be cryptic, meaning it acts in ways to prevent it being seen by other species.
Some birds are incredibly hard to see. Their cryptic markings or colour makes them almost impossible to see in their natural habitat. They don’t do this to make it hard for birders to see them. They do it to hide from predators like hawks and eagles. Musk Lorikeets are mainly green in colour and they blend in beautifully with the foliage of the eucalypt trees in which they feed.
Musk Lorikeet
Other birds use cryptic behaviour to hide from their enemies. Some wrens can be incredibly hard to find; you can hear them in the bushes all around but they won’t show themselves. Sometimes I have been almost driven to dispair at not being able to see a White-Browed Scrub-Wren. Many other small birds are the same and defy you to ever find them as they skulk in the grass tussocks or in the shrubby undergrowth of a forest.
Spotted Nightjar
One species that combines both cryptic markings and behaviour is the Spotted Nightjar, shown in the photo above. Being related to the owl family of birds it is nocturnal. During the day it roosts on the ground, very quiet, very still and perfectly camouflaged in the grass, sticks and sand on which it is sleeping.
Bird Word: Diagnostic
Yellow Rumped Thornbill
Diagnostic: a feature of a bird that helps to distinguish it from other species being observed. It can refer to plumage colour, size, shape, behaviour or call. For example, the call of a Laughing Kookaburra is diagnostic; no other species of kingfisher sounds like it except perhaps the similar Blue-Winged Kookaburra. The colour of a Blackbird distinguishes it from a Grey Shrike Thrush. The size of a pelican sets it apart from a tern or gull. The beak of a thornbill is slender compared with a finch.
Zebra Finch
Bird Murder in the Garden
A few days ago I glanced at the bird bath just outside our sun room. An Australian Magpie was busily dismembering a baby bird in full view of the house. There wasn’t much of it left so I couldn’t tell what the magpie had captured for its lunch.
Many species have been breeding in recent weeks so I guess that they are easy pickings. I guess this is the natural state of things – survival and all that. Still – it was a rather grizzly sight. The bird in question then scurried under a nearby bush to “finish off” his lunch out of my view.
I didn’t take a photo – so you’ve been spared the gory details!
Related articles:
- Why do baby birds disappear? An article I wrote recently in response to a reader’s question.
- Babies, the birds and the bees – about birds breeding in our garden.
- Baby Magpie – magpies breeding in out garden.
Birds in the heat
Juvenile Striated Pardalote
Over the last three days we have had a severe burst of extremely hot days. On Friday the temperature reached 45C (113F) under our front veranda. It was no better on Saturday when it again reached 45C. Yesterday was a little “cooler” as it only reached 40C (104F). Much cooler weather moved through the state last night and today’s forecast is for 22C (72F). What a contrast!
Juvenile Striated Pardalote
Probably the most frequent visitors to our garden bird baths were the pardalotes, both the Striated (as shown in the photos) and the Spotted. At times there were five or six of them. When I took the hose to replenish the water supply, several of them waited politely not more than a metre away. Pity I didn’t have the camera on me. The above photos were taken a few minutes later. I sat in the shade of the veranda, but the oppressive heat in the wind was too much and I retreated to air-conditioned comfort after about five minutes.
All during the heat there was a constant parade of birds taking advantage of the water I supplied. These include:
- Striated Pardalote
- Spotted Pardalote
- House Sparrow
- Red Wattlebird
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Brown Headed Honeyeater
- White Plumed Honeyeater
- Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater
- Singing Honeyeater
- Crested Pigeon
- Spotted Turtledove
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Magpie Lark
- Willie Wagtail
Despite the oppressive heat we had very few bushfires in South Australia over the last few days, in stark contrast to the situation in Victoria (click here and here).
You are welcome little swallow
Welcome Swallow
On a recent birding trip we saw several Welcome Swallows sitting on a barbed wire fence quite close to the road. I didn’t even have to get out of the car for these shots. I like this kind of photography.
It was a very windy day and these swallows were sheltering from the cold blasts of the wind. This spot was just behind an acacia (wattle) bush on the side of the road. Normally you see them gliding in the air for insects. At rest, they tend to head for power lines or phone lines but these were absent on this stretch of road. So they used the next best thing, a fence behind a bush.
Welcome Swallow