Early morning walk
No Comments »22nd February, 2009; Category: Murray Bridge, Parrots and Lorikeets, Pigeons and Doves, Ravens and Crows
I’m just back from an early morning walk. It was about 15C, crisp fresh, no breeze and cloudless. A perfect morning for a walk.
As I was going along I was aware of several dozen Little Ravens calling nearby. I’ve been aware of many ravens calling near our home over the last week or so. It’s something they tend to do several times a year. They will gather in large numbers, often 30 – 50 or more and commence calling raucously for ten or twenty minutes or more. After a protracted chorus of their calls, especially near the house, one can feel a little annoyed; it can be a penetrating call up close.
Little Raven
I also observed about a dozen Crested Pigeons sitting on the power lines or feeding on the ground. Several of them were giving their elaborate bowing, bobbing and tail fanning display to prospective mates. This species seems to be always breeding around here. Probably why there’s a growing number of them.
We occasionally have lorikeets land to feed in the trees in our garden but more often they just fly over, very rapidly and very noisily. This morning a flock of 10 Purple-crowned Lorikeets went screaming overhead as I walked along, did a 360 turn wheeling around to check me out (or maybe the mallee tree on the side of the road) before streaking off to find another tree in blossom. It’s like having a miniature squadron of fighter jets fly over at close range. The photo below shows a related species, the equally noisy Musk Lorikeet which we also get here from time to time.
Musk Lorikeet
A Picnic at Govett’s Leap
1 Comment »29th January, 2009; Category: Ravens and Crows
Govett's Leap, Blue Mountains, NSW
After our visit to Katoomba we drove on to the small town of Blackheath. We stopped there at a local bakery to buy something delicious to have for afternoon tea. We then drove a few kilometres to a picnic area and lookout known as Govett’s Leap. The most interesting feature of the lookout is the wispy waterfall shown in the photo above. The scene from the lookout is quite spectacular.
From the lookout at Govett's Leap, Blue Mountains, NSW
During our picnic I kept a lookout for birds of this area. This was our first visit but our son had been here before. I heard several treecreepers, probably White-throated Treecreepers, calling in the tall forest trees surrounding us. Like most of the treecreepers, I find that they are more often heard than seen.
I saw a beautiful pair of Australian King Parrots flying through the picnic area. Later additions to my bird list for the visit included several Australian Magpies and Pied Currawongs.
A small family of Australian Ravens decided to try their luck. they came very close to our picnic table looking for some tasty morsel from our afternoon tea. We didn’t oblige. Two of the birds were young ones if their begging calls were anything to go on.
It is a delightful spot and well worth visiting again. Next time I think it would be worth going on one of the walking trails branching out from the picnic grounds. This would give one a better chance of seeing far more birds.
Australian Raven at Govett's Leap picnic ground, NSW
How much can a koala bear?
For those of my readers with access to today’s Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, there is an amusing sequence of photos of a ‘crow’ (probably a LIttle Raven) harassing a koala.
I’ve seen this type of thing with other species, including an Australian Magpie. On another occasion I witnessed a honeyeater pulling out tufts of fur from a sleeping koala, obviously to line a nest.
The photos have been posted here, but the link may not work after a few days – I’m not sure how long such items remain on the site.
Traffic Wise Ravens
Driving home from Adelaide a few days ago I was amused at the tactics of a Little Raven on the road. I was using the South Eastern Freeway from Adelaide and heading home towards Murray Bridge.
This section of the freeway has two lanes each way. In the middle of the two lanes there was a road kill – probably a rabbit. As I approached the Little Raven stopped eating the road kill and took several steps into the right hand lane, waiting for the car in front of me and for my car to pass by in the left hand lane. It waited patiently for a few seconds and then strode back to its lunch and continued eating.
Little Ravens nest building
A few days ago I observed two Little Ravens strutting around our garden. This is not all that unusual; they are often seen looking for morsels to eat. This behaviour, however, was somewhat different.
This pair – I am assuming that they were indeed a pair – were gathering various types of materials from the garden and driveway. This included pieces of bark, bits of string, the odd twig and other things I couldn’t quite make out. After a few minutes of this they both flew off out of view. I didn’t have the time to follow them to see where they were nest building. I have no proof that they were, indeed, nesting – or just gathering different objects for the fun of it. It is about that time of year that they usually start breeding, so their action was not unexpected.
What amused me about the whole episode was their deliberate walk. They casually yet deliberately strode around as if they owned the place. I guess that our garden is really their place – I am the interloper. Their forebears were in occupancy for millennia before I bought the property.
Little Raven
I didn’t have the time or the camera ready to take a photo at the time, so you will have to be content with a photo taken of two Little Ravens (a pair?) sitting in a tree near our house a few years ago.