Trevor's Birding

Spotted Turtledove nesting

No Comments »16th October, 2010; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Nests, Non-Australian birds, Pigeons and Doves

Spotted Turtledove sitting on a nest

We usually have several Spotted Turtledoves hanging around somewhere in our garden. In the hot weather they are frequent visitors to our bird baths – to see photos click here.

They are also a resident breeding species in our garden here in Murray Bridge, South Australia. Quite often they go about their nesting quite unobtrusively and we never get to see their nests. The latest attempt, however, was several metres from our sun room where we often have our meals. We watched the progress of the nest over several days as the pair flew to the ground, selected suitable sticks and twigs and then flew back to the melaleuca bush.

I was rather cautious approaching the bush for the photo above because doves and pigeons can be very nervous on the nest, often flying off rapidly when approached and either damaging the nest or eggs, or abandoning it entirely.

Since taking this photo a few weeks ago the young have left the nest. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Spotted Turtledove at Adelaide Zoo

Red Wattlebirds with young

2 Comments »15th October, 2010; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters, Nests

Juvenile Red Wattlebird

Red Wattlebirds, a member of the honeyeater family of birds in Australia, is a common bird in our garden in Murray Bridge, South Australia. In fact, this species is a resident breeding bird in our garden. At any one time we probably have 5 – 10 individuals present, possibly more.

In recent weeks they have been a little more aggressive towards other species than normal, and that’s saying something! They can be very bossy at the best of times, especially to smaller birds like pardalotes.

A few days ago I discovered what I had suspected; they have been nesting. While their nest is not all that small, we do have many hundreds of trees and shrubs so it is hard to keep up with what is actually nesting.

I found them feeding two juvenile birds quite close to the house. If you click on the photo you will enlarge the image and be able to see the downy feathers of the young.

Juvenile Red Wattlebird

Little Ravens feeding their young

2 Comments »14th October, 2010; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Ravens and Crows

Juvenile Little Ravens

The common raven around this district is the Little Raven. We sometimes get loose flocks numbering many dozens feeding in nearby paddocks and grassy areas. At times their persistent calling can be quite raucous, especially if they happen to be sitting on the television antenna or in a tree near the house. Sometimes they are bold enough to come quite close to the house, even on to the veranda.

Recently we have witnessed them carrying food to a nest in a tree in the neighbour’s front yard. A few days ago the young left the nest and come over for a visit. I caught two of the youngsters sitting in the grass at the base of one of our bushes. A few moments later by parents came along to feed them, but I didn’t manage to catch them actually feeding the young because they hopped around to the other side of the bush.

Juvenile Little Ravens

Update: This post was updated on July 13th 2015.

New design for this site

3 Comments »13th October, 2010; Category: General

Frequent visitors to this site will notice immediately that it has recently undergone a facelift.

My son does all the web design and maintenance for this and my other sites. You can contact him by going to his business site: Hampel Group.

The picture on the right is a typical pose of yours truly sussing out another exciting bird sighting to share on these pages. I didn’t know that my son had snapped that photo of me.

Happy birding.

Galah, Murray Bridge, South Australia

What’s the time little swallow?

No Comments »11th October, 2010; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Nests, Swallows

Welcome Swallow comes to check out the time

Every few days the local Welcome Swallows come swooping in under our back veranda. I find it very pleasing that they are prepared to come up so close to the house, even when we are sitting outside having a meal, chatting with friends or cooking a BBQ.

On a few occasions they have even landed and I was hoping they would think the area a safe and suitable place to make one of their mud nests and to raise a family. I’d even be prepared to put up with cleaning the mess they often make under the nest with their droppings and so on. So far they haven’t stopped more than a few seconds.

A few days ago, however, one of them decided to check out the time on the clock we have outside. The top of that would certainly make an interesting site for a nest!

I’m sorry that the photo is not brilliant; it was taken at a sharp angle from the lounge room through the sliding glass door that gives access to the back veranda.