Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters
Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater
While having a relaxing breakfast a few mornings ago, several Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters came to drink at the bird bath in our garden. Next thing a baby Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater came along begging to be fed. It was just able to fly and its tail was only half grown. Here is an example of another instance where some birds have nested in our garden and remained unobserved. They are so secretive and sneaky that this happens far too often. Never mind; it was good to see the baby getting around.
I commented to my wife that this was one species I didn’t have a photo of yet; I was wrong. I don’t have many, and the one featured above is probably the best.
Christmas Greetings and a Christmas Bird List
Christmas Greetings to all my readers.
I hope you had a great day. Here in my part of Australia in was 28C (82F), bright sunshine with not a cloud in the sky and a gentle breeze. It does not get much better than that. We had a quiet Christmas with just a few family members for a Christmas lunch. Didn’t do any serious birding and just casually observed or heard a few birds in the garden or on a short drive.
These common birds included:
- House Sparrow
- Common Starling
- Galah
- Common Blackbird
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Magpie Lark
- Little Raven
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Crested Pigeon
- Spotted Turtledove
- Willie Wagtail
- Singing Honeyeater
This is not an amazing list and these species are regularly present in our garden on a daily basis. Overall, I did observe that most birds were rather quiet all day. I guess that many of them were busy celebrating Christmas too.
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:
Rainbow Bee-eaters
No Comments »22nd October, 2007; Category: Garden birds
Rainbow Bee eater
Rainbow Bee-eaters are a delightfully beautiful Australian bird. The “rainbow” part of their name is most appropriate for they seem to display all the colours of the rainbow. They are one member of a large family of bee-eaters across the world.
In Australia they are a migratory bird. In the spring many of them migrate to the southern parts of the country. While here they often breed, their nest being a short burrow in sand or the bank of a river or creek. On our property we have seen them making a nest in the bank of sand along a dirt road.
At this time of the year we are always on the lookout for these beautiful birds. They are one of our favourites. On most occasions we hear their high pitched “purr, purr” calls near the house well before we see them.
Over recent days we have been hearing them briefly – always before we can get outside to see them. I guess they are not hanging around our garden this year, but just passing through. Never mind, the brief encounter reminded us that spring is well and truly here, and that summer cannot be far away.
Further reading:
Home again – and an unexpected visitor
We are home again after 24 days on the road in South Australia, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. I will continue posting articles and photos of my birding experiences over the coming weeks.
Sacred Kingfisher
This morning we had an unexpected visitor to our garden, a beautiful Sacred Kingfisher. While we see this species around Murray Bridge from time to time, it is an infrequent visitor to our garden. When I checked my database records I found out that the last visit was as long ago as 2000, but I have a feeling we have seen it more recently. My records are not quite up to date. A few minutes later I heard a Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo calling, but it had gone before I could get out there to see it. We heard this species calling in many places on our recent holiday, along with several other cuckoo species.