Trevor's Birding

Birding on a trip to Loxton

No Comments »18th August, 2007; Category: General

I wrote yesterday about my recent trip to Loxton and the Blue Bonnet Parrots I saw along the way.

Over the years I have become very observant of the various species of birds encountered while I drive. It sharpens my observation skills while at the same time proving to be a very frustrating birding experience. Many a time I’ve wanted to stop and look at something but have been unable due to being in a hurry or some sort of time schedule. There is much too much hurry in this world. We all need to stop and smell the roses – or in this case – look at the birds.

As I drove along early last Monday morning I was enthralled by the drifting fog along the road. Visibility was still quite good so I didn’t need to modify my speed too much, but it heightened my alertness, which is good.

By far the most common bird observed on the two hour journey was the Australian Magpie. These are often seen in twos and threes on the side of the road, on fences or feeding in the nearby paddocks. This journey took me through the transition zone between the White Backed and the Black Backed subspecies (click here for more details). I saw both.

Also very common were the many Little Ravens on the side of the road and in the paddocks. I may well have seen some Australian Ravens too, but I didn’t stop to check them out. White Winged Choughs were also common all along the route. Several times I saw a Noisy Miner fly across the road in front of the car, along with the occasional Red Wattlebird and Singing Honeyeater.

Singing Honeyeater

On one occasion I stopped briefly to have a drink and a bite to eat. I heard several Weebills in the mallee trees nearby, as well as a Brown Songlark a distance away. I was unable to track down where it was before needing to drive off again. Oh – the frustrations of birding to a time schedule!

One of the surprises of the trip was the almost total absence of Willie Wagtails. I’m sure they were there in good numbers; I just didn’t see many. More common were the Red Rumped Parrots and Mallee Ringnecks flying across the road in front of the car. Even the Common Bronzewing Pigeons were more frequently encountered than the Willie Wagtail. Strange.

Another delight was to see a single Grey Butcherbird sitting on the fence near the road. Several times I also saw a Grey Currawong flying along through the trees.

Grey Currawong

Other species observed as I drove along included:

Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike,
Galahs,
Australian Magpie Larks,
House Sparrows,
Common Starlings,
Welcome Swallows,
Crested Pigeons,
Rock Doves,
Nankeen Kestrel
and one Black Shouldered Kite.

That makes quite a nice list of species seen.

Blue Bonnet Parrots

3 Comments »17th August, 2007; Category: Parrots and Lorikeets

Earlier this week I drove to Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia to attend a funeral. Loxton is almost exactly 2 hours drive from here in Murray Bridge. It was like going home because I grew up on a farm in the Loxton district and went to high school there.

The road to Loxton traverses a large portion of the farming area known as the Murray Mallee. This name is derived from the Murray River meandering along to the north and the predominant plant species of the area, the various forms of shrubby eucalypt trees known as mallee trees. Many mallee trees line the roadside verges, along with melaleuca bushes and a wide variety of smaller shrubs and bushes.

At one point alone the road I was delighted to see a pair of Blue Bonnet Parrots fly across the road in front of the car. As I was travelling at about 100kph at the time I couldn’t stop to get a photo. I fact, I do not have a photo of this species in my collection.

Blue Bonnet Parrots

This colourful parrot species has a wide distribution in the drier regions of northern Victoria, western New South Wales and the mallee areas of South Australia and Western Australia. It is common in some areas within its range but in my experience it is uncommon but widespread in most of its range.

Habitat:

The preferred habitat of this species includes open woodland, open mallee, native cypress pines, mulga, acacia and open grasslands.

The bird in captivity:

The Blue Bonnet is a popular cage bird and three subspecies are kept in captivity. The most common is the Yellow Vented Blue Bonnet. Both the Red Vented Blue Bonnet and the Narethra Blue Bonnet are rare in captivity.

Links:

The see several beautiful photos of this lovely species click here.
Mallee trees – for more information about mallee trees read this article.

Bird Word: migration

No Comments »16th August, 2007; Category: Bird Word, Glossary

Migration: the regular seasonal or annual movement of a species from one area to another.

Some birds are resident in an area the year round. For example, the Australian Magpies in our garden are here all the time. They have a territory of several hectares that they defend with great enthusiasm, especially during the nesting season. “Our” magpies would rarely venture more than a few hundred metres from our garden.

Australian Magpie

Other species move around over a much wider home range. The White Winged Choughs around here are not in our garden or even nearby every day. The pass through our property every day or so; some weeks we see them every day while sometimes they may not visit for three or four days. Their movements are not migration; their home range or territory is far larger than the local magpies, perhaps ten or more hectares in size.

White Winged Choughs

Some species we only see in the summer time. Rainbow Bee-eaters are a good example of this. During the cooler winter months they migrate to warmer places in northern Australia. In summer they migrate south and we have recorded them nesting on our property on a few occasions.

Rainbow Bee eater

Click on the photos to enlarge the image.

More explanations of the meanings of wordsÃ‚Â to do with birds can be found in my Glossary of Birding words.

Birds in the News #95

No Comments »15th August, 2007; Category: Birds in the News, Non-Australian birds

The latest edition of Birds in the News # 95 has been posted.

It contains links to many articles about birds in the news this last week. Plenty of good links to interesting blogs and news items about birds.

This edition features a lovely photo of a male Common Nighthawk. I’ve not seen a photo of this species before but it reminds me very much of the Spotted Nightjar of Australia.

Spotted Nightjar

I think I heard a little bird

No Comments »14th August, 2007; Category: Cuckoos, Garden birds

I meant to write about this yesterday but I was away all day.

Early Sunday morning when I was still a little drowsy and very cosy in a warm bed I thought I heard a Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo in the garden. I was still too sleepy and comfortable to go galloping out into the garden in my dressing gown and PJs on a frosty morning to investigate.

We have several species of cuckoos here in Murray Bridge, all of them late winter and spring visitors from the north. Many of the local species such as the honeyeaters, thornbills and other smaller bush birds will be nest building soon. The cuckoos take advantage of this to lay their eggs in a host nest.

It only called the once.

Then again, on reflection, it could have been a Common Starling; they often fool me with their good imitations of other bird calls.

Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a photo of any of the cuckoos to show you. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and get a good shot or two this breeding season.