Trevor's Birding

Black-backed Magpies

1 Comment »7th January, 2009; Category: Magpies and Currawongs

Australian Magpies (Black-backed)

Australian Magpies are widespread throughout the both rural and urban areas. The magpie is one of our most recognised bird species. What many people don’t realise is that there are several distinct sub-species of the Australian Magpie. These were once recognised as distinct species, but more recently have been lumped together as one species. I discuss this issue here. In essence, they are now recognised as one species because they interbreed in the wild. The three races were Black-backed, White-backed and Western Magpies.

While in Sydney recently I managed to get several good photos of the Black-backed race of Magpies. One of these is shown above. The bird on the right is being fed by the adult on the left. The photo was taken in Lane Cove National Park, Sydney.

Birds in the Sydney CBD

6 Comments »6th January, 2009; Category: General

The Rocks area, Sydney

While on our recent holiday in Sydney we went into the CBD on several occasions. One of those occasions was to visit the markets in The Rocks area.

My prime reason for going there was as a tourist, not as a birder. Not matter where I go I have to see what birds are around. That’s just me. I simply cannot ignore the birds. (I’ve even been known to keep a tally of birds seen through the windows at church! Go figure.)

The Rocks area is in the heart of the Sydney CBD, an area rich in history with most buildings being of some historic value. It attracts hoards of tourists and local visitors on a daily basis. Despite the numbers of humans, the bird population flourishes.

Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons) are everywhere. They thrive on food scraps from careless people dropping parts of their lunch in the many eateries in the area. I noticed that some are reluctant to even get out of the way as I walked along.

Silver Gulls likewise are in great numbers and also thrive on human food. Circular Quay with its hundreds of thousands of travellers daily on the ferries on Sydney Harbour is only a few steps away.

Pied Currawongs are also present in the treed areas within The Rocks. This is a species that has adapted to an urban environment and also feeds on human throwaways.

The introduced Common Myna (see photo below) is another species that has become a pest in urban zones and can be found in large numbers throughout Sydney.

Common Myna

Is it a bird? No it’s a butterfly

2 Comments »5th January, 2009; Category: Animals

Dainty Swallowtail Papilio anactus

Last week we had a great family get together for Christmas lunch. We travelled all the way to Sydney – all 1300 kilometres – to be with our son and his wife’s family. It was one of those rare occasions when we all get together.

After a sumptuous lunch we migrated to the back lawn for some games with the children. Most of us just sat around chatting; the large lunch was sitting too heavily.

I had the camera at the ready and taking photos of family. The birds were not the focus for once, and they were generally being rather uncooperative anyway. They must have all been off visiting family for Christmas. At one point we were entranced by a visiting butterfly. It was constantly on the move around the lemon tree.

Checking on the internet later I identified it as a Daity Swallowtail Papilio anactus. Evidently it is quite common in the Sydney region and has a preference for citrus trees.

Birding interrupted

2 Comments »4th January, 2009; Category: Animals

Blue tongue lizard

My son and I were relaxing on the back lawn on Christmas afternoon. We’d had a great family Christmas lunch and were enjoying the time to relax and just talk. Both of us had our cameras at arm’s length after taking plenty of shots of the festivities.

Everyone else had migrated indoors. With the children no longer causing plenty of noise the resident Blue Tongue Lizard decided to join us. Not exactly a top birding event but very satisfying nevertheless. The birds in my son’s garden were being uncooperative anyway, so the interruption was welcome.

Blue Tongue Lizard

Kangaroos and Honeyeaters: a happy arrangement

1 Comment »3rd January, 2009; Category: Animals, Bird Behaviour, Honeyeaters

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Quite often I receive some fascinating accounts about birds from my readers. Often these are left in the comments box and all are able to read them.

On other occasions people use the contact form and this is fine too, but only I get to read them. Some of these are too good to keep to myself.

Kerry is one such reader. By coincidence she lives only a fifteen minute drive from where I live. Her experience of the relationship between kangaroos and honeyeaters is fascinating. I have also seen this kind of behaviour with koalas in Victoria.

Thanks to Kerry for giving me permission to quote her.

Hi Trevor, I have just discovered your site and I absolutely love it!

My husband and I are wildlife carers through Fauna Rescue and we have just recently moved into the area (we are half way between Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend on 120 acres of mallee scrub) so your site is proving very helpful in identifying local species.

One of our favourites is the Brown-headed Honeyeater. We raise orphan kangaroos and we have 2 acres of mallee scrub fenced in to raise the kangaroos (we have western greys and reds). Come late winter, the little Brown-headed Honeyeaters assiduously collect fur from our kangaroos to line their nests and this continues all the way through to December (for refurbishment purposes we assume).

They only ever pluck fur from the western greys and ignore the reds completely. We assume that is because the greys have longer fur than the reds, which are more desert dwelling. The honeyeaters land on the backs of the western greys and pluck fur out until their beaks are completely stuffed and then they fly off. I have seen up to three birds on the back of one roo, busily plucking out fur. The roos don’t mind at all and make no effort to move away or brush the birds off – maybe they like the sensation of being groomed so it is a symbiotic relationship! They are extraordinary little birds.