Trevor's Birding

New bird found in Nepal

No Comments »13th February, 2008; Category: Birds in the News, Non-Australian birds

In January 2006 I spent nearly four weeks in Nepal. Part of this time was spent on a trek towards Mt Everest. After that I visited Chitwan National Park. The remainder of the time was spent in and around Kathmandu. While I didn’t deliberately visit Nepal to go birding, I did get quite a nice list of new birds to add to my life list. I was pleased to actually see a number of “target birds” (i.e. birds I really wanted to see). One I especially enjoyed seeing was the Himalayan Monal.

Himalayan Monal, Nepal

More recently I was intrigued to read that a new bird has recently been found in Nepal. You can read about it here. It is a sub-species of the Rufous-vented Prinia. This new bird will be known as the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia.

Further reading:

Trevor’s Travels – read all about my adventures in Nepal on my Travel Blog.

Near the village of Monjo, Nepal

Corellas with a death wish

No Comments »11th February, 2008; Category: Bird Behaviour, Parrots and Lorikeets

Last Friday evening I needed to drive the 25 kilometres across to Tailem Bend, south east of Murray Bridge in South Australia. As I crossed the Swanport Bridge I noticed a flock of Little Corellas settling down to roost in a row of tall eucalypt trees next to the river and near the bridge. It was dusk and getting dark quickly. Despite that I was able to quickly assess as I drove by that the flock numbered at least 500 individual birds. They were all congregated in three or four trees and they made the trees look as though they were covered in snow.

I regularly travel this route at least once a week. Over recent months I have noticed some of corellas sitting on the lights over the bridge. These tend to fly around quite a deal and almost seem to be playing “chicken” with the passing cars, trucks and buses. From the heaps of feathers regularly seen on the bridge some of them obviously come off second best.

I do not have a photo of a Little Corella in my collection. This is surprising as they are quite common in our district. I’ve never seen one land in our garden or on nearby trees though occasionally a flock will fly over. I must wander down to the river and get a few photos. In the meantime I will have to make do with a photo of a very similar species, the Long-billed Corella.

Long Billed Corellas

I and the Bird #68

No Comments »9th February, 2008; Category: Carnivals, I and the Bird

Regular readers of this blog about birds will know that I often promote the bird carnival called I and the Bird. In fact, you may recall that I was the host last time around.

The latest edition has just been published and can be found over at Biological Ramblings. There you will find plenty of links that will take you to some wonderful sites about birds – and get you out of those winter blues (or the summer sizzles here down under).

As usual, my contribution to the carnival is there because this time I remembered – and in plenty of time too.

Australian Owlet-nightjar does exist

12 Comments »8th February, 2008; Category: Bird Behaviour, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars

The Australian Owlet-nightjar DOES exist*.

This enigmatic little owl-like bird can be so frustrating. I have heard it calling many times in many places. It often calls at night from somewhere in our garden – but I’ve spent fruitless hours looking for glimpse of one. My only really good sighting occurred a few years ago in my neighbour’s garden. You can read about that here.

Finally I tracked down where our resident bird was roosting. It has taken up residence in the hollow of a tree branch about thirty metres from my office window. Almost every morning at about 10:30am this bird sits in the entrance of the hollow and will gives its chirr-chirr call once or twice before disappearing back into the hollow.

In the last week it has taken to calling once during the afternoon as well just on dark. On one occasion I was able to sneak outside, slowly aim the camera around the corner of the house and take a photo of it sitting in the entrance way. The photo below is not brilliant, but it is the best I’ve managed so far. I have thought of setting up a hide much nearer – in the form of a car with just a peep hole for the camera. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

* John Tongue – please take note.

Australian Owlet-nightjar

New species for our bird bath

2 Comments »6th February, 2008; Category: Bird baths, Garden birds

Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike

We have several bird baths in our garden. These are placed where we can see the bird baths from the house, usually in rooms where we spend quite a deal of time. We delight in watching the birds come to drink, especially on those hot summer days like we’ve been having this year. We also enjoy watching the birds bathing and squabbling over the water.

Over the last few years I have kept an unofficial list of the species that have visited to bird baths, either to bathe or to drink. A few days ago we noticed that a single Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike came to drink. This is the first time we have noticed this species drinking there. This species is more often seen flying overhead on its way somewhere else. We are pleased that this one decided to stop long enough for a drink. Even better – it stopped long enough to pose for my camera.

Further reading

Bird baths – more articles on this subject from my archives.
Time for a bath – a complete list of species – both birds and other creatures – that have visited our bird baths.