Scratching around
No Comments »18th July, 2006; Category: Garden birds
As I wander around our little block of mallee scrub near our home I often come across scratchings in the leaf litter or in the dirt. Sometimes these scratchings have been produced by the family of White-Winged Choughs that visit every day or so. Other scratchings are produced by the White-Browed Babblers who also visit frequently. Recently I have observed rabbit scratchings and that is of a little concern as we’ve been free of this introduced pest for many years.
Mulch in the orchard
Last spring I spent many hours weeding and then mulching our many fruit trees in our little orchard. I spread thick layers of pea-straw under and around each tree. This is necessary due to our intensely hot summers. It is an attempt to conserve the moisture in the soil.
Little Critters
This mulch is an ideal breeding ground for worms, beetles, slaters and other little critters. Recently we noticed that some of the mulch had been disturbed.
Blackbirds.
Blame the Common Blackbirds. They are always lurking around in the orchard or in the nearby Hakea bushes. They are always scratching around in the mulch and leaf litter. Yes, blame the blackbirds.
Another Culprit
A few days ago I noticed a single Grey Currawong sneaking into the orchard. I watched from about 40 metres distance as he sauntered casually up to the mulch under an apricot tree. He grabbed a clump of the pea-straw mulch – about 10cm in diameter – in his beak and threw it aside! Ha har! Here is the real culprit. Not once but three or four times he repeated the action, each removed clump revealing a patch of dirt containing plenty of tasty morsels for him to gobble down.
New Species for my Home List
3 Comments »17th July, 2006; Category: Garden birds, Murray Bridge, Nocturnal birds, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars
After living in the same home for over 20 years it is a rare event to add a new bird species to my “home list.” So it was a delight a few days ago when I disturbed a Spotted Nightjar in our little patch of mallee scrub. It flew before I had seen it roosting on the ground. This is not surprising because the spot where it was sitting was covered in leaves and twigs from the surrounding trees. The spots on its wings were diagnostic, and it was not a Brown Falcon as was my first reaction. Too small, wrong colour and the spots – it had to be a Spotted Nightjar.
Spotted Nightjar
A few hours later I did a thorough search of the area where it might have landed, but it was not to be seen. With its amazing camouflage I may well have walked within a metre and not seen it. While it is exciting to have such a species in our little patch, I am concerned about its future if it hangs around. Being ground roosting during the day, it is in danger of being stumbled upon by the neighbour’s cat. This pet does regular patrols through our garden – despite some attempts at discouragement on our part.
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Favourite Birding Spots #1 Home
Over the coming weeks I plan to include posting of some of my favourite birding spots. My all time favourite has to be our own garden, because that is where I spend most of my time. For any new readers of this blog, home is a five acre (2 hectare) block of mainly mallee scrub on the outskirts of Murray Bridge. Our home town is a regional centre in rural South Australia and is about 50 minutes drive to the CBD of Adelaide, our state capital city. Adelaide is 2 hours by plane west of Sydney.
Mallee Scrub, Murray Bridge
We have lived here now for over 20 years and love it. The house is surrounded by mallee scrub as shown in the photo above. Over the years we have also planted many hundreds of trees and shrubs, all of them Australian native plants except for the fruit trees in our orchard and a small rose garden. Because we have so many plants near the house we have a very healthy population of resident birds and many occasional visitors too.
Record Keeping
I am a keeper of lists. That’s just my nature. So birding is a wonderful hobby. I have all sorts of lists of birds. When I bought a bird database for my computer in the early 1990s my birding interest took off after being in limbo for a few years. I have kept a monthly list of birds seen in our garden (or flying overhead) since moving here in late 1984. For while I was keeping a weekly list. All of these lists can be easily accessed on my computer.
Mallee Scrub, Murray Bridge
Resident Species
There are many species that I have recorded as resident species, that is, they are always present in the garden or in the scrub. Over the years I have recorded 112 species in total. Of these some 36 I would regard as resident species, that is, they are always present or they frequently fly overhead. Those marked with an asterisk are introduced species.
The resident species include:
- Straw-Necked Ibis
- Black-Shouldered Kite
- Nankeen Kestrel
- Brown Falcon
- Collared Sparrowhawk
- Black Kite
- Rock Dove*
- Spotted Turtledove*
- Crested Pigeon
- Galah
- Mallee Ringneck
- Purple Crowned Lorikeet
- Welcome Swallow
- Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike
- Common Blackbird*
- Willie Wagtail
- Grey Shrike-Thrush
- White-Browed Babbler
- Yellow Rumped Thornbill
- Weebill
- Spotted Pardalote
- Striated Pardalote
- Singing Honeyeater
- White Plumed Honeyeater
- Brown Headed Honayeater
- Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Magpie Lark
- White-Winged Chough
- Grey Butcherbird
- Australian Magpie
- Grey Currawong
- Little Raven
- Common Starling*
- House Sparrow*
There are many more species that are occasional visitors or seasonal visitors. For example, The Rainbow Bee-eater is only present in the spring and summer, and not every year. There is yet another group of birds that I would regard as vagrants; I’ve only recorded them on one or two occasions. A classic example of this is a single Australian Pelican flying high overhead. They are very common along the River Murray some 5km away, but not where we live.
Eastern Rosella
On our visit last week to the Wittunga Botanic Gardens in the Adelaide Hills, I observed quite an interesting range of birds in the gardens and near the lake. There were plenty of Pacific Black Ducks and Wood Ducks, all clamoring for a piece of the action if any people came along – whether or not they looked like have a picnic. Ducks are ever hopeful of some food handouts.
I saw Eurasian Coots and Dusky Moorhens on the water and two Little Pied Cormorants perching on dead branches sticking out over the water of the lake. Two – perhaps a pair – of Masked Lapwings patrolled sections of the lawned areas used by picnickers. Welcome Swallows swooped low over the water and nearby bushy area. The trees were abuzz with Rainbow Lorikeets in a feeding frenzy. I also saw several Musk Lorikeets, a smaller parrot than the Rainbows but just as noisy. As for the larger parrot species I noticed several Galahs feeding on the lawns while a single Corella, I presume it was a Little Corella, flew overhead at one stage. I didn’t get a close enough look to be certain.
Eastern Rosella
One species I was delighted to be able to see and photograph was the Eastern Rosella. In South Australia this species is mainly confined to the South East region of the state and to parts of the suburbs of Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills. The above photo shows up its brilliant colours. This is one occasion when I didn’t have to chase the bird in question, as it seemed happy to pose for me on the edge of the path.
Two days after taking the above photo, I was surprised to see a single Eastern Rosella at the Murraylands Homes for the Aged in Murray Bridge. I was there visiting my mother-in-law. This is the first time I have recorded this species anywhere near here. My closest other sightings are at least 60km to the west. By its behaviour it could well have been an escapee from someone’s aviary.
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A Quick Visit – Grey Fantail
A Grey Fantail paid us a quick visit yesterday.
I have been on the lookout for this over recent weeks. I even thought I heard one in the garden on several occasions, but every time I go out to check, it is nowhere to been seen. Yesterday was almost the same. I glimpsed it briefly in the garden through the lounge room door. By the time I’d gathered my camera, it had disappeared. The photo below was taken a few weeks ago at the Pangarinda Arboretum. It’s not a good photo as it doesn’t show its face. This should be a relatively easy bird to photograph, but I’ll have to be patient with this one.
Grey Fantail
Grey Fantails are reasonably common and widespread in the Murray Bridge area. They are also common and widespread throughout much of Australia. It always delights us when one or two come to visit our garden. Strangely, I have never recorded this species breeding in our garden. This is despite them being resident just up the road from us.
Its cousin, the Rufous Fantail would have to be one of my favourite Australian birds. Unfortunately, this species lives a long way from our home.