Trevor's Birding

Birds down by the river

2 Comments »26th April, 2008; Category: Darters and Cormorants, Murray Bridge, Waterbirds

Captain Proud at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

A few days ago we had some business to do in the CBD of our home town, Murray Bridge. We decided to take the makings for morning tea with us. After dealing with the business side of things we headed down to the river and parked in the shade of tree near Sturt Reserve on the banks of the Murray River.

I was able to get a good list of birds while we had our cuppa. There was nothing spectacular of course, just the usual species I would expect.

Captain Proud at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

Probably the most interesting bird seen was a Darter fishing quite close to the bank on our side of the river. Several Crested Pigeons came close to us investigating what we were up to. Three Willie Wagtails fluttered around and near the car. A beautiful Little Eagle soared on high and several Crested Terns patrolled the river looking for a feed.

In all I recorded 22 species, not bad for about forty minutes of birding.

Murray River near Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge

The above photo shows the low level of the water in the Murray River at present. It is about 2 metres below its normal level and this is a direct result of the poor rainfall in the catchment areas in NSW and Victoria. Excessive use by irrigators in the eastern states is not helping the plight of this endangered river system either.

Golden Whistlers in the garden

3 Comments »24th April, 2008; Category: Camera, Flycatchers, Garden birds, Whistlers

Golden Whistler (male)

We are having some lovely autumn weather at present. What a contrast to the severe heat waves of the summer just past. It would be perfect if it rained one day; in fact – we need many days of good soaking rain in our area.

A few days ago I was relaxing in the garden reading a book. My daughter was sitting nearby also enjoying a book. A sudden burst of song a few metres away sent me scurrying for my camera. “Whistler!” I called as I disappeared inside.

Golden Whistler (male)

Emerging with the camera I was pleased to get several reasonable photos of both a male and a female. There was another uncoloured juvenile male hanging around too.

It had been quite a few months since the last visit by this species to our garden.

It was an added delight on a thoroughly delightful day.

Golden Whistler (female)

Bird Word: Ornithology

No Comments »22nd April, 2008; Category: Bird Word, Birders

Ornithology: the serious study of birds, the habits, life cycle, habitats and characteristics of birds, often involving keeping of detailed records and writing articles or books about birdlife.

I guess one could call me an amateur student of ornithology. I do take this hobby quite seriously at times, I have written many articles on this blog about birds, I certainly keep detailed records of my sightings and observations but I haven’t written any books about birds (yet). Nor do I make my living from studying birds.

Footnote:

It has been over six months since I had my last entry in this series of articles about words peculiar to this fascinating hobby of birding. I’ll try to get back to regular postings on this topic in the coming months. Meanwhile – check out the archives here and the Glossary of Bird Words here.

Below is a photo of me taken by my wife. I am pretending to be a serious student of ornithology.

Typical Pose of Husband

Read some of my bird poetry

6 Comments »20th April, 2008; Category: Waterbirds

Many of my readers come here to read about birds and see my photos of Australian birds.

That’s fine – and I appreciate all of my faithful readers and those who leave comments and questions.

What you may not be aware of is that I write for another blog which features more of my writings. Sometimes I feature poems or Haiku about birds.

To read one of my Haiku about birds click here.

To read more of my general poetry click here.

Mistletoebird at bird bath

No Comments »19th April, 2008; Category: Bird baths, Garden birds

I keep a daily eye on the bird baths in our garden. On several other occasions I have written about the visitors to the bird bath and I even have a list of those species to have paid at least one visit.

This morning as I finished my breakfast and was attempting to solve the cryptic crossword (only one word defeated me) I looked up to see a female Mistletoebird drinking from the bird bath. This is an unusual occurrance as I can recall only one other occasion when a male Mistletoebird came to drink.

The photo below shows a male. The female is plain brown with a red patch on the rump.

Mistletoebird