Happy Second Birthday
6 Comments »3rd September, 2007; Category: General
Today marks the second birthday of this blog about birds and birding. It has been an interesting journey. I look forward to another great year of birding and blogging about birds and birding.
A growing blog
This blog has grown from a few dozen tentative readers in the first few months (mainly friends and family) through to nearly 29,000 visitors in 2006. Up to the end of August this year the site had received about 70,000 visitors for the year to date averaging over 300 per day. The graph in my statistics shows no sign of slowing down and it still continues its upward movement.
Dusky Woodswallow
Thank you readers
Thank you to all my regular loyal visitors and readers. Thank you also to all those who take the trouble to leave a comment or to ask a question. Developing this site as a birding community is one of the aims I have in posting articles almost every day. I hope you continue to visit and participate. Any day now this blog will pass the 600 article mark. I have many more interesting articles planned for coming weeks and months. What I cannot plan for is the many wonderful sightings of birds I know will come over the next year or so, and I will just have to share them with my readers.
Special links:
I often include links to other articles and provide further reading links. As a Birthday Special I have links below to highlights from the last two years:
- Great Birding Moments
- How to be a birder – some hints
- Archives – a complete listing of all articles on this blog
- Common Blackbirds – the most popular article with the most comments
- Do Blackbirds Swoop – aggressive bird behaviour – another very popular article
- Great Birding Moments – Crested Pigeon – many comments on this one too.
A bounty of birds in the garden plus one reptile
The bird life in our garden seems to have moved up a few notches in the activity levels in recent days. With the extended period of dry, warmer weather – more spring-like than winter despite what the calendar says – birds are becoming quite active. I haven’t taken the time to explore through all the trees and bushes around to see what is nesting, but I am sure that there is plenty of it happening already around here, and plenty more to come.
On top of that we are having visits from a few species we only see occasionally. For example, yesterday morning when we arrived home from visiting friends, we were delighted as we walked from the car to the house. A Peaceful Dove was calling in the trees by the driveway. This species is not resident in our garden but is a very welcome visitor from time to time.
Peaceful Dove, Cleland Wildlife Park
Next we heard some White-browed Babblers calling from the scrub along with a Mistletoebird calling persistently in the trees.
A solitary Nankeen Kestrel flew overhead and both Yellow-rumped and Striated Pardalotes were heard calling as they fed in the trees. A few minutes later two Pacific Black Ducks flew off startled from the swimming pool (it is still too early to clean Le Swamp). At the back of the house two Blackbirds were feeding in the company of several Crested Pigeons and Common Starlings.
Crested Pigeon
A surprising visitor yesterday was an Adelaide Rosella. These are more common in the Adelaide Hills further west from Murray Bridge. A small group of up to four birds has been seen over recent weeks. Later I heard several Weebills feeding in the trees along with a small family of Yellow-rumped Thornbills.
And the reptile?
The most surprising sighting of the last 48 hours was a half grown Brown Snake sunning itself in the driveway. It was probably about 75cm long and still had the features and markings of a juvenile. I guess it is coming into its second summer this year.
Normally we do not see too many snakes around our property even in the heat of summer, and those we do see we always give them a wide berth. I am not keen on chasing after even a small one like that seen yesterday; it can still turn on one and inflict a deadly bite. What amazed me was the fact that it is August – still winter according to our calendar. In December through February we always walk cautiously around the garden and scrub. I guess we should always be vigilant.
Birding in Loxton, South Australia
6 Comments »19th August, 2007; Category: General
On my trip to Loxton last Monday I made time for a little birding along the river front near the caravan park. I only had about a half hour late in the afternoon. Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia is about three hours by road north east of Adelaide.
Australian Pelican, River Murray, Loxton
The visit was rushed and not very productive as far as birds were concerned. I did manage to get the above photo of an Australian Pelican cruising the shallows near where I parked. Other birds seen in the vicinity include:
- Australian Wood Duck
- Pacific Black Duck
- Little Raven
- Galah
- Yellow Rosella
- Little Corella
- Little Black Cormorant
- Silver Gull
- Unidentified Tern (possibly Gull-Billed Tern)
- Crested Pigeon
- Rock Dove
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Magpie Lark
- White Plumed Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Noisy Miner
- House Sparrow
- Common Starling
- Welcome Swallow
- Striated Pardalote
- Wren (heard – possibly a Superb Blue)
River Murray at Loxton, South Australia
This photo shows the low level of water in the Murray River at present. The reeds in the middle right of the photo are normally quite green and in the water. The whole river system needs several years of above average rainfall and snowfalls in the catchment areas to replenish the water to its normal levels.
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
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.
Bird Word: Lifer
- Lifer: the first ever time that a birder sees a species of bird it is called a “lifer” or a “tick”.
When you are new to the world of birding and birdwatching, nearly every bird you see is a “lifer” or a new tick in your bird note book or field guide. As the years go by it becomes increasingly hard to find new birds to add to your list. To overcome this there are several courses of action:
- Take a holiday in a different part of the country. For example, when I go to Queensland I am sure I will have no trouble adding some 50 or more lifers to my life list. This is because I’ve never been there and there are quite a few birds best seen there (or are not seen anywhere else in Australia).
- Take a holiday in another country. When I went to Nepal in 2005 it was my first overseas trip (see my blog called Trevor’s Travels) so almost every bird I saw was a lifer. Great stuff.
- Enjoy the common birds. I take delight in even the most common of birds that surround my house and which I see every day. I get to know the regulars in my garden and my ears are easily tuned in to anything unusual or different.
- Give up. Start another hobby like stamp collecting… no – that’s not an option.
- Check out other words and terms about birds and birding by going to my Glossary of Bird Words.
- See also another article on this topic here.
Crested Pigeon