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Little Ravens breeding

1 Comment »15th September, 2006; Category: General
Little Raven

Little Raven

Little Ravens are very common birds around our home. On occasions there can be twenty or more nearby. They are also frequent visitors to our property, a five acre block on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia. We often observe them strutting through the mallee scrub surrounding our house looking for a snack.
In recent weeks the ravens have been very active and very noisy. Earlier this week we saw several young ravens. Their movements were very clumsy and they were being visited by the parents to feed them.

I never did find the nest.

And I didn’t get a photo of the juveniles.

The photo above is of two adults and was taken some time ago.

Related article:

What is a Twitcher?

3 Comments »15th September, 2006; Category: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions about Birding #3

What is a “twitcher”?

Someone who is prepared to travel great distances or go to great effort or expense in order to see birds, often just a single bird, that they have never seen before so that it can be marked on their list of birds seen (called a “tick” or “lifer”). The word ‘twitcher’ might have originated from their propensity to develop a nervous twitch until the rare or desired bird has been ticked off their list.

In Australia, probably the most famous “twitcher” is Sean Dooley who went on a twitch for a full year in an attempt to record the most species in Australia in a calendar year. His amazing exploits are celebrated in his book called “The Big Twitch.”

Yellow Plumed Honeyeater

Yellow Plumed Honeyeater

I and the Bird #32

No Comments »14th September, 2006; Category: Carnivals

The latest edition of I and the Bird Carnival has been posted over at Sand Creek Almanac. Well done Deb on collating all of the submissions.

Lots to look at, plenty of reading and some great links.

Links:

Grey Butcherbird

2 Comments »14th September, 2006; Category: Garden birds
Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

The Grey Butcherbird is a widespread species found throughout many parts of Australia. It has the general shape similar to a magpie but the colouring is quite different. I love hearing the rich, deep melodic call of this species.

We often hear the calls of the butcherbird in the distance when we are out in the garden. It doesn’t actually come into our garden all that often. Yesterday was an exception. I had the camera handy and was able to get the photo above before it flew off. It certainly looks as if it is a juvenile Grey Butcherbird, as it hasn’t yet developed the darker black feathers of the adult.

The photo below is of an adult. This was taken while camping at Gluepot Bird Reserve about twelve months ago.

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

Red Wattlebirds breeding

2 Comments »14th September, 2006; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters

Spring must be here.

Birds are nesting or have young everywhere.

Yesterday I wrote about the resident New Holland Honeyeaters nesting in our garden quite close to our house. Today it is the turn of another species of honeyeater, the Red Wattlebird. Over the last week or so I have been watching their nest near the driveway. This one was some 4 metres up in a mallee tree; the New Holland Honeyeater’s nest was less than a metre above the ground.

Newly fledged Red Wattlebird

Newly fledged Red Wattlebird

The baby wattlebirds have been chirping from the nest for some days. Today they ventured out of the nest for the first time. They are not yet confident flyers but they make up for this with their incessant chirping. This is to attract the parents to the spot to which they have awkwardly fluttered.

Related articles:

Red Wattlebird

Red Wattlebird

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