Guest Speaker at Mannum
Calothamnus flower
Yesterday I had the delight of being the guest speaker at the Mannum Garden Club. The small river port of Mannum is less than an easy half hour drive from my home. Like Murray Bridge, it is situated on the banks of the River Murray here in South Australia.
I should add that the speaking duties were actually shared with my wife. Almost exactly three years ago I spoke to the group about Australian birds, so this was an invite back to this very friendly group. I modified my talk this time around, talking about how to attract birds to our gardens, in particular native species. Because my wife accompanied me – and shared in the talk – I tapped into her expertise in the area of native Australian plants. We focussed on those species we knew would grow well in the area, and which would attract our birds. We made a good speaking team and were well received.
And the chats over morning tea were engaging – made even more pleasant by the lavish good old country style cooked cakes and biscuits.
I have another talk about birds coming up at the end of June to another group here in Murray Bridge, and just a short while ago had a call from the president of the local bird club, asking me to speak again at their meeting in two weeks’ time.
Offer: I’m getting to be quite in demand as a guest speaker. Book me up while I still have vacancies in my diary. I’ll even travel interstate if a plane ticket is included in the deal!
Photos:
Instead of photos of birds today, I thought I treat my readers to some of the flower photos I showed the group yesterday. Enjoy.
Further reading:
- Mannum South Australia – official website of this wonderful holiday destination
- Mallee Native Plant Nursery – link to my wife’s site about Australian native plants.
Banksia flower
Callistomen flower ("Bottlebrush")
Red-browed Finch, Victor Harbor
Red-browed Finch, Victor Harbor
Earlier this year we stayed with friends in Victor Harbor on the south coast of South Australia. While we were there they took us to look at his sister’s extensive garden. While the others were having a good look around at the various plants, I found myself a seat near a bird feeder next to the house.
It wasn’t long before several Red-browed Finches came along for a snack. This sighting was a delight for me as we don’t have finches regularly in our garden and certainly not this lovely species. We occasionally will play host to Diamond Firetail Finches and I’ve also recorded Zebra Finches a few times.
Further reading:
Red-browed Finch, Victor Harbor
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater up close
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater is a resident breeding bird species in our garden. We see them every day as they go about feeding and especially enjoy their visits to our bird baths. The above photo was taken quite close to one of the bird baths. I also enjoy hearing their mournful call because it reminds me of my children. Both are now adults, but when they were quite young they renamed this bird the “yoo-hoo” bird, imitating its call. The name has stuck.
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters are found over large areas of Australia, primarily the drier inland woodlands and scrubs. It is absent from Tasmania, the northern tropical regions and the extreme south western and south eastern Australia.
Related articles and photos:
A brief visitor – Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo
I was out in our garden yesterday when I saw one of our resident Willie Wagtails chasing a bird I didn’t recognise at first. When it eventually sat still enough and I could get a reasonable look at it, I realised that it was a Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo.
Nothing unusual about that. We often hear them calling in the spring time and sometimes during the summer too. Sometimes they stay around for a few days and at other times they are just passing through.
What is unusual about this sighting is the timing. Most of this species has already flown north for the winter by the end of March, or even earlier. This individual was either a little tardy in its migration, or it was lulled into staying by our warm start to autumn. On the other hand, some individuals of many of our cuckoo species here in Australia are known to occasionally “over winter”. This means that they don’t migrate to northern Australia but prefer to stay and enjoy our brisk winter. Probably saves quite an effort in flying all that way, too.
Sadly, I don’t have a photo of this species yet, and it had flown off before I could fetch the camera from in the house. Despite that, it was a nice sighting at this time of the year.
Good birding.
Let’s all have a bird shower
Shower time in the bird bath
The birds in our garden really enjoy bathing in the bird baths we have provided. On warm days there is a constant stream of birds representing many species coming to drink and bathe. Sometimes it is not unusual to have 10 – 15 birds bathing, or waiting to bathe.
The New Holland Honeyeaters shown in this series of photos are perhaps the most demonstrative of all the species. They will often come in numbers, screeching out to family and friends to come and join them while the water goes in all directions. In fact, on hot days I need to replenish the water at least once a day, sometimes more.
In this series of photos I have captured more than just birds having a bath. The water sprays every where, creating a sort of ‘bird shower’ effect. The solitary Common Starling manages to keep its composure in the midst of all the chaos around him.
Click on any image to enlarge.
Shower time in the bird bath
Shower time in the bird bath
Shower time in the bird bath