Trevor's Birding

Bird Murder in the Garden

2 Comments »14th December, 2006; Category: Baby birds, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds

A few days ago I glanced at the bird bath just outside our sun room. An Australian Magpie was busily dismembering a baby bird in full view of the house. There wasn’t much of it left so I couldn’t tell what the magpie had captured for its lunch.

Many species have been breeding in recent weeks so I guess that they are easy pickings. I guess this is the natural state of things – survival and all that. Still – it was a rather grizzly sight. The bird in question then scurried under a nearby bush to “finish off” his lunch out of my view.

I didn’t take a photo – so you’ve been spared the gory details!

Related articles:

Why do baby birds disappear? An article I wrote recently in response to a reader’s question.
Babies, the birds and the bees – about birds breeding in our garden.
Baby Magpie – magpies breeding in out garden.

Birding Aus newsgroup

No Comments »13th December, 2006; Category: Birds, General

I have been a contributor to the Australian birding newsgroup Birding-Aus for about nine years now. Over that time I have sent many hundreds of messages for other birders in Australia to read. Some of these have created further comments and feedback – even controversy at times – from other birders.

“Birding-Aus is an information centre for everyone with an interest in Australia’s wild birds, their conservation and behaviour.”

Quoted from the home page.

This is an excellent way of learning more about Australian birds, where they are being seen, news of rare sightings or unusual behaviour. It is also very good for planning places to visit on holidays where one will see certain birds.

From time to time there are even debates about various issues relating to birds and their conservation. Most posts to this newsgroup are archived. These archives are an excellent resource in finding out more about birds and good birding spots. Just follow the links to find the archives.

There is a links section listing links to many websites about birds here in Australia and overseas. Anyone can join the mailing list and receive all of the messages posted each day. Members can also send messages to the group.
Link:

Birding-Aus home page.

Sacred Kingfisher

Bird Word: Crown

2 Comments »12th December, 2006; Category: Bird Word, Glossary

Crown: the top of the head of a bird

This word refers to the top of the head of a bird, so no prizes for guessing that one. With some birds it is called the cap, in others it is called the crown. Similarly, as in the case of the cap, the word crown lends itself to descriptive names for some species.

Australian bird species that have the descriptive word ‘crown’ in their name include:

Chestnut-Crowned Babbler
Grey-Crowned Babbler
Rufous-Crowned Emu-Wren
Purple-Crowned Fairy-Wren
Purple-Crowned Fruit-Dove (Superb Fruit-Dove)
Rose-Crowned Fruit-Dove
Tawny-Crowned Honeyeater
Purple-Crowned Lorikeet

Birds in the heat

12 Comments »11th December, 2006; Category: Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Pardalotes

Juvenile Striated Pardalote

Over the last three days we have had a severe burst of extremely hot days. On Friday the temperature reached 45C (113F) under our front veranda. It was no better on Saturday when it again reached 45C. Yesterday was a little “cooler” as it only reached 40C (104F). Much cooler weather moved through the state last night and today’s forecast is for 22C (72F). What a contrast!

Juvenile Striated Pardalote

Probably the most frequent visitors to our garden bird baths were the pardalotes, both the Striated (as shown in the photos) and the Spotted. At times there were five or six of them. When I took the hose to replenish the water supply, several of them waited politely not more than a metre away. Pity I didn’t have the camera on me. The above photos were taken a few minutes later. I sat in the shade of the veranda, but the oppressive heat in the wind was too much and I retreated to air-conditioned comfort after about five minutes.

All during the heat there was a constant parade of birds taking advantage of the water I supplied. These include:

Striated Pardalote
Spotted Pardalote
House Sparrow
Red Wattlebird
New Holland Honeyeater
Brown Headed Honeyeater
White Plumed Honeyeater
Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater
Singing Honeyeater
Crested Pigeon
Spotted Turtledove
Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie Lark
Willie Wagtail

Despite the oppressive heat we had very few bushfires in South Australia over the last few days, in stark contrast to the situation in Victoria (click here and here).

Great Birding Moments # 26 Red Browed Finch

21 Comments »10th December, 2006; Category: Aviaries, Finches, Great Birding Moments, Zoos

Red Browed Finch

The Red Browed Finch is one of many beautiful species of finch found in Australia. It is always a delight to find a group of finches feeding on the grass, drinking from a pond or bird bath or visiting one’s garden. This species is found along the east coast through to much of Victoria and south eastern South Australia.

Red Browed Finch

Locally, we do not have them here in Murray Bridge but they are widespread in the nearby Adelaide Hills and part of the Adelaide metropolitan area. My most recent sighting of this delightful species was on a visit to the Cleland Wildlife Park. As I was about to enter one of the walk through aviaries I was entranced by a large group, perhaps as many as 30, Red Brows coming to a feeding tray. There was much excitement, because the feeding tray had just been replenished by the keeper.

On entering the aviary there were many more inside the cage. These were also quite used to people visiting their home so is was quite easy to take some good photos.

Related articles:

Cleland Wildlife Park – photos of a visit to this lovely place in the Adelaide Hills.

Update: this photo above – and many other photos featured on this site – can now be purchased on a range of merchandise such as T-shirts, aprons, wall plaques, clocks and mugs. Go to my Trevor’s Photos site here.