Some Ibis on High
Straw Necked Ibis
Yesterday morning while having a cuppa out in my wife’s native plant nursery I observed a small flock of eleven Ibises flying high above us. The flock consisted of ten White Ibis and one Straw-Necked Ibis. I have frequently observed flocks of several hundreds of Ibises flying over or near the river here in Murray Bridge but we rarely get them flying over our place.
Most of the time they are Straw-Necked Ibis but occasionally there will be a few White Ibis fly over. The Straw-Necked seem to be the more common of the two species here in this part of Australia, in my experience anyway.
I haven’t any really good photos of either species yet which is a little surprising as they are very approachable and can be quite tame. In fact in some of the eastern states of Australia they are a pest species in parks and gardens. They will aggressively approach picnickers and steal food, a somewhat frightening experience for small children. (Some of our bird species can develop aggressive tendencies. For more comments click here.)
The above photo is the best I currently have. It is a special one because it was taken some time ago and is a record of the very first Straw Necked Ibis that we observed to land on our five acre block of land in over twenty years.
Updated Nov 2013.
Thieving Birds
A few days ago we had just pulled out of the driveway on our way to Adelaide when I realised that the windscreen was rather dirty. I activated the wipers and the resultant screeching brought me to a quick halt. My wife alighted and she discovered that the left hand wiper blade was missing!
On my return home I went to the spot where the car had been parked. Sure enough, there on the ground was the missing blade. The Little Ravens had been fussing around on the mirror adjacent the wiper for several days. They are my chief suspects at this point, but I have no conclusive evidence.
Over recent months I have observed the following species fussing around the cars, and the mirror in particular: Little Ravens, Australian Magpies, Grey Shrike-Thrush, Willie Wagtail, Magpie Lark and Red Wattlebird. All are suspects, but my money would be on the ravens.
How the bird in question got the rubber wiper blade out beats me. It was hard enough getting it on in the first place. (I replaced both blades a few months ago.)
And why didn’t the bird in question at least have the decency to use the blade in its nest?
UPDATE:
I posted this article this morning. I hadn’t used said vehicle for several days. Guess what? The blighters have done it again! Same wiper blade completely removed and left on the ground. The other wiper blade was part way out!
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Road kills
On Friday and Saturday I had occasion to drive to Adelaide. From home to the city takes just under an hour to complete the 75km along the South Eastern Freeway. On the journey Friday I was concerned about the number of road kills I saw involving birds. On Saturday I decided to do a rough count; it was an estimate because I needed to concentrate on driving as well.
Here is a tally of the dead animals I saw on the side of the road:
- Australian Magpies 14
- Common Blackbird 1
- Stumpy Tailed Lizard 2
- Western Grey Kangaroo 1
The magpies have such a high count probably due to the young having recently fledged and not being able to fly out of the way of traffic as quickly, or perhaps not being as traffic savvy as the adults. Whatever the reason, it is sad to see so many animals dead in a relatively short stretch of highway. The sum total Australia-wide must be staggering.
Naturally these figures are only a very poor estimate of the total deaths. What I couldn’t count were the many others injured and unable to fly but not immediately killed. They would probably crawl or flap to a point away from the road to suffer a lingering, painful death.
It is a sad price to pay for the human impact upon the environment.
A Cloud of Kites
I am trying to go for a morning walk every day.
For the good of my health.
Morning walks are very productive birding times here in Australia. Yesterday I saw and heard the usual suspects: honeyeaters, Galahs, Crested Pigeons, Little Ravens, Yellow Rumped Thornbills, House Sparrows and Common Starlings.
From time to time we have the odd Black Kite or two glide silently over head as we work in the garden. Rarely more than two but sometimes three or four can be seen at the one time. I was taken a bit by surprise to count a loose flock of 22 Black Kites circling at a spot nearby. This is unusual around here, though on one occasion a few years ago I did see at least 50 in one location. I assumed that there was a dead animal lying somewhere nearby, or perhaps a rubbish dump in the vicinity.
My experience with this species in Australia is for single birds or up to 3 or 4 together. I understand that they can congregate in large numbers elsewhere in Australia and in other parts of the world. On my visit to Thailand and Nepal last December-January I saw small flocks only. It seemed to be the main raptor in Kathmandu.
There probably isn’t a collective noun for Black Kites so I’ve made one up. A “Cloud of Kites” sounds good to me – it is perhaps an act of apt alliteration and acidic assonance? Kites are not mentioned in the Wikipedia entry on collective nouns for birds.
New Holland Honeyeater v House Sparrow
Some time ago I wrote about bird aggression in the garden. On that occasion there was a dispute between our resident Willie Wagtail and a New Holland Honeyeater.
The New Holland Honeyeaters are currently feeding two chicks in a nest in our garden quite close to our house. They are constantly busy feeding their offspring.
Several days ago I noticed that a female House Sparrow ventured into the Melaleuca bush where the nest is located. The New Holland Honeyeater sent it off pronto, chasing it vigorously around the garden. Both landed on the ground and the honeyeater confronted the sparrow.
The response from the House Sparrow was something I had never seen this species display before; it raised its tail in a fan-like manner. This bold move seemed to work because the honeyeater backed off and soon resumed tending to its young.
It happened too quickly for me to photograph.
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