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The Birds of Granite Island, Victor Harbor

8 Comments »10th April, 2007; Category: Good Birding Sites, Gulls and Terns, Seabirds
Granite Island, Victor Harbor

Granite Island, Victor Harbor

Granite Island lies a short distance off the coast from Victor Harbor, South Australia. The island is one of several in Encounter Bay. It is possible to walk the short distance from the town to the island via a wooden causeway. It is also possible to take a ride on the historic horse drawn tram that operates every twenty minutes every day.

Pacific Gull

Pacific Gull

When I checked my birding database I was surprised that I don’t have any records specifically confined to the island. This could just reflect the way I have the database set up. Being an island there are quite a few sea birds one can see on a visit to the island. Just a quick list of the sea birds I have seen – and this is from memory:

  • Little Penguin
  • Silver Gull
  • Pacific Gull
  • Little Pied Cormorant
  • Little Black Cormorant
  • Great Cormorant
  • White-faced Heron
  • Sooty Oystercatcher
  • Pied Oystercatcher
  • Caspian Tern
  • Crested Tern
  • Red-capped Plover
  • Australian Pelican

A few other species of birds can be seen on the island itself. There are a few trees and large expanses of grass on the top of the island. Here I have seen:

  • Australian Magpie
  • Little Raven
  • Masked Lapwing
  • Crested Pigeon
  • Galah
  • Spotted Turtledove
  • Welcome Swallow
  • Willie Wagtail
  • Singing Honeyeater
  • Magpie Lark
  • Common Starling

This is far from an exhaustive list and has been done from memory – a dangerous thing to do.

Little Pied Cormorants on Granite Island

Little Pied Cormorants on Granite Island

Bird Word: Juvenile

No Comments »9th April, 2007; Category: Baby birds, Bird Word, Glossary
  • Juvenile bird: a young fledged bird that has not yet reached sexual maturity.

One has to be careful with juvenile (or immature) birds. It can be tricky identifying them. This is because young birds recently out of the nest sometimes have non-adult plumage. Their colours and feather patterns can vary markedly from the adult plumage and markings. This can be so for as long as a year or more after hatching.

Most good Field Guides will show plumage variations either in the illustrations or explain them in the text – preferably both. Look for these variations when trying to identify a young bird.

Juvenile Striated Pardalote

Juvenile Striated Pardalote

Birding Bloopers #20

2 Comments »8th April, 2007; Category: Birders, Birding bloopers

When I set out to record a few birding bloopers – misidentification of birds – I never realised I would get so many willing contributors. But here we are – up to number 20. There is a standing, open invitation to all my readers to contribute their embarrassing birding moments – or dob in someone else.

This latest contribution comes from Snail – she’s dobbed in someone else. I think this is a classic:

I’m forever mistaking inanimate objects for birds. But here’s one more story where I can point the finger at another (unnamed) party.

We were having a Sunday afternoon picnic in a park in Townsville. One of the people at the next table—a self-proclaimed expert in natural history—announced loudly and confidently, “Hear that sound? It’s a whistling kite.”

We took the squeaky toy from the dog and put it in a bag.

Some things are best left unsaid.

Thanks to Snail from A Snail’s Eye View for this classic birding blooper.

Read more birding bloopers here – some entertaining reading.

White-Bellied Sea-Eagle

White-Bellied Sea-Eagle

Disclaimer: This photo has nothing to do with this article; I just think it’s a nice photo from my photo gallery and I wanted to share it with you.

Good birding sites

No Comments »7th April, 2007; Category: Blogs, Good Birding Sites, Photos

Here is another collection of good birding sites that are worth a visit:

  1. Birding Kuwait – very strong on excellent photos with only minimal text. (Rating 9/10)
  2. Oygarden Birding – about birding in Norway with plenty of photos and some explanatory text. It has two drawbacks in my opinion: the photos only enlarge slightly and the black background makes reading the text difficult (it hurts my eyes). Still worth a visit. Rating 5/10)
  3. African Bird Club – an excellent resource for birding anywhere in Africa. The photo gallery has nearly 7000 photos of over 1500 African bird species. Every African country has a section devoted to it, including a map. There is also a section giving advice on what books and CDs to buy. Rating 9/10.
  4. Brdpics – yes – I spelled it correctly – he has a matching number plate on his car – Bill Schmoker’s Birding Blog from Colorado. Many excellent photos, some cartoons and some amazing animated GIFs of birds. And if you ever suffer from a bad hair day, you won’t want to look at this amazing duck! Worth a good look. Rating 8/10.

Stay tuned for more good birding links in coming weeks.

In the meantime – can you recommend any?

Birds in the News #77

No Comments »6th April, 2007; Category: Birds in the News

The latest edition of the birder’s digest Birds in the News #77 has been published.

It features articles on these topics:

  • The discovery of the fossilized footprints of a road-runner type bird in China.
  • A story from New Zealand about a kiwi chick called Norbit.
  • The incredible distant flying feats of Bar-Tailed Godwits and how they are being tagged and tracked by satellite.
  • Research into declining numbers of Barn Owls.

and much more.

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