Learn to recognise bird calls

Laughing Kookaburra

On my writing blog, I recently wrote about the wonderful sounds in the morning when lingering in bed. This article is something of a homage to the calls of birds which can be experienced early in the morning. I am particularly blessed because I live on the outskirts of a town of Murray Bridge in South Australia. I also have fond memories of camping years ago when the birdlife was up close and the dawn chorus was an interesting challenge when trying to identify birds, especially in unfamiliar areas.

Bird environment

I live on a five-acre block of land which has many trees and shrubs and bushes. My surrounding environment is a good place for birds and I have recorded over 100 bird species in the 35 years I have lived here. Many times I have been alerted to something unusual in the garden just by a call which is different.

Bird calls

My advice would be to anyone interested in honing their birding skills is to learn the calls and songs of the common birds in your area. There are apps you can get for your phone which can help you in memorising and identifying birds and I strongly recommend that you get one. I use Morcomb’s Birds of Australia app on my Android phone. There is also an Apple version. This app not only gives the calls of all of our birds, but it also gives detailed notes on behaviour, nesting, distribution and much more information as well. The illustrations should also help in identifying the birds you are seeing.

Birds in Backyards

Birdlife Australia also has a portal called Birds in Backyards which includes a great deal of information to help identify out birds. It also includes MP3 files of bird calls.

Good birding – and happy listening.

Trevor

One of Australia's most beautiful songbirds, the Grey Shrike-thrush
Grey Shrike-thrush, a beautiful songbird

Annoying Noisy Miners

Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

In my last post, I showed photos of some Laughing Kookaburras in the Lane Cove National Park in Sydney. This park is only a short distance from my son’s home, so over the years, I have visited it often. On this occasion, the kookaburras allowed me to come very close to where they were investigating something on the ground. I couldn’t determine what they were so interested in because I was enjoying photographing the birds from a close distance.

A Noisy Miner also joined in the quest for something to eat. They may have spotted some picnic leftovers and were looking for more. Just like the kookaburras, I was able to get close up photos of the miners in their natural environment without disturbing them in any way.

On other visits to this park, the Noisy Miners can be rather annoying. Just like the kookaburras, they are very bold and will come up to humans and even snatch food from the picnic tables when it is left uncovered or unattended. There are plenty of signs in this park warning people not to feed the birds, but that still doesn’t stop the birds snatching human food for themselves.

The Noisy Miner is one of many species of native Australian honeyeaters. It is not to be confused with the very similar Yellow-throated Miner. Their distribution overlaps in parts of Australia. There is yet another species – the Black-eared Miner but that species is endangered and is only found in a few small isolated populations.

The Noisy Miner is an aggressive species and has adapted well to urban environments and introduced plant species. It acts aggressively towards many of our smaller bird species such as finches and wrens, chasing them away from parks and gardens, taking their food and nesting spots. Some people also find that their raucous calling can be annoying at times.

Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

Kookaburras up close

Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

On many other occasions, I have written about my visits to Lane Cove National Park. This beautiful park is close to the Chatswood CBD just a short distance north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. My son and his family live just a few minutes’ drive from the park, so I have taken many opportunities to visit and take photos of the birdlife, the flora and other interesting sights along the Lane Cove River which flows through the park.

Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

On a visit earlier this year, I spent most of one day exploring the park and taking photos of anything that took my attention. At one point I lingered near a picnic table. There are many such tables in the park for the convenience of visitors. Two Laughing Kookaburras were attracted to something on the ground but I couldn’t work out exactly what they were so interested in – perhaps it was a beetle or some other insect. Or the remnants of a picnicker’s lunch.

Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

The two kookaburras kept squabbling over whatever had attracted their attention and consequently I was able to take quite a few closeup photos as shown in today’s post. I was able to get to within a metre or two of the birds so I really didn’t need the wonderful zoom facilities of my camera.

Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

I kept on shooting until they decided to fly off. Visitors need to watch carefully for the kookaburras in this park, especially if they have food on their table or barbecue. On one occasion a kookaburra snatched part of a sandwich from alongside my wife while we were eating lunch.

On another occasion, my grandchildren were stunned when a kookaburra snatched a cooked sausage right off of the hot plate of a barbecue. They certainly are both opportunistic and cheeky.

Please leave any comments about your encounters with kookaburras or close encounters with other bird species.

Happy birding,

Trevor

Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

Australian Wood Ducks in the garden

Australian Wood Duck (male)

Over the many years of writing this blog and sharing my photos of Australian birds, I have often written about the Australian Wood Duck. I love seeing these birds and they are usually quite unafraid of humans, intermingling quite easily.

My most recent encounter with this species was on a visit to the Australian Botanic Gardens in Mount Annan in south-west Sydney. I spent several pleasant hours photographing the native plants in flower. I have posted a few of those photos below.

Australian Wood Duck (male in the foreground, female in the background)

I was not surprised to see a few of this species in the gardens, especially around or near to the lakes which make up an important part of the botanic gardens. Near one of the lakes, there is an extensive area of lawn which many people use for their picnics when visiting the gardens. The various types of ducks can often be seen grazing on the lawn.

Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan, Sydney

The couple of birds shown in today’s photos caught me by surprise. They were right in one of the garden beds. They were actually pecking at some of the leaves of the plants in one of the beds. This species normally eats grasses, herbs and occasionally insects, so I should not have been surprised that they were eating some of the plants making up the botanic gardens.

I guess that they were just sampling the plants in case they were tasty. Or perhaps they just wanted a treat – or a change of diet.

Further reading:

Australian Museum article
Ducks in the Lane Cove National Park.
I was attacked by a duck

Australian Wood Duck (male)
Australian Wood Duck (male)
Australian Wood Duck (female)
Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan

Noisy Miner up close

Noisy Miner, Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan

I am currently staying with my son and family in Sydney. Before arriving at his home I spent a few hours taking photographs and doing some birding in the Australian Botanic Gardens at Mount Annan. These beautiful gardens are situated in the south-west of Sydney. The plants are certainly worth seeing, especially in spring when so many are in full bloom. The birding is also very rewarding.

While I was taking plenty of photos of the many plants in flower (see photos below), I came across a very cooperative Noisy Miner. It was busily feeding on the nectar in one of the plants and was certainly unconcerned that I was barely a metre away, snapping away with my camera. It certainly makes bird photography easy when you get cooperative birds like this one. It is generally a very bold species, quite accustomed to being in contact with humans.

Food

The Noisy Miner is a member of the honeyeater family of birds. They usually feed on nectar which is generally in plentiful supply in our Australian native plants. They will also eat fruit and insects.

Habitat and distribution

Noisy Miners are a common species found throughout eastern Australia from northern Queensland through much of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. They are also present in Tasmania. They are found in open bushland, woodlands and forests. They have adapted well to life in parks and gardens in urban areas, often supplanting our smaller birds species through their aggressive nature. They are bold enough to take on much larger birds like magpies and ravens.

Further reading:

Rainbow Lorikeet in the “Moonlight”

Australian Museum article on the Noisy Miner

Noisy Miner, Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan
Noisy Miner, Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan
Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan
Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan
Grevillea, Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan
Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan