Monday 30 November 2009

Little Corella

When the Little Corella comes to your area you soon realise just how much noise they make and how much they can eat. We have a wattle tree not far from us and within a week all the seed was gone from the tree and the mess left behind of all the leaves and empty seed pods on the ground. They found our bird feeder one day and lucky for us they have not come back to it. One flock numbered 30 birds.

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Little Corella (Cacatua gymnopis)

Bird on a wire (in this case 3)

Sunday 22 November 2009

Cockatiel

Although I am not a fan of birds in cages these belong to our son who when younger bred them.
This is not a naturally occurring colour as the body is normally grey.
As it has been too hot to go out of late and no sign of rain we will have to make do with what comes to our yard instead.
We are participating in a programme to monitor the Grey-crowned Babbler, lucky for us they are regular visitors to our garden. We have 8 here at present, because of the heat they enjoy our bird bath. Between the Rainbow Lorikeets, Grey-crowned Babbler, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner and Little Friarbird all taking turns no wonder we had to fill it 4 times today.

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Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus)

Monday 16 November 2009

Figbird

This pair of adult and immature male Figbirds were checking out the Silky Oak flowers. Female and immature Figbirds are sometimes mistaken for an Olive-backed Oriole as both have streaked underparts.
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Figbird (Sphecotheres viridis)

Sunday 8 November 2009

Olive-backed Oriole

Our Silky Oak has been a hive of activity this season with many birds coming to feed on its flowers. Among these were a pair of Olive-backed Orioles. I have also added a video of the call of the Oriole. It sounds just like its name, "oriole". Other birds you may hear are Magpie Lark, Torresian Crow, Rainbow Lorikeet, Common Koel and Figbird.

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Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus)









Thursday 5 November 2009

Down by the River.

Decided to do something different this time and go down to the Mary River which is only a stones throw away to see what species of fish we could find there. We have not done this for a long while, only someone forgot to take the bait for the traps with him, not me by the way. Just as well I took the camera for I was able to get photos of some of the wildlife that hangs out around the banks of the river.

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Blue Skimmer (Male) (Orthetrum caledonicum)



Blue Skimmer (Male) (Orthetrum caledonicum)



Black-headed Skimmer (Male) (Crocothemis nigrifrons)



Twinspot Hunter (Austroepigomphus melaleucae)



Scarlet Percher (Diplacodes haematodes)



Water Spider (Dolomedes sp)



Kreffts River Turtle (Emydura krefftii)



Black-fronted Dotterel (Charadrius melanops)



Black-fronted Dotterel (Charadrius melanops)

Monday 2 November 2009

Birds in Black

Just a few of our "Black" Birds. Torresian Crow, Spangled Drongo and Common Koel. Have also added a short video of the Koel calling in our Silky Oak tree. I apologise for any car noise in the video as we are close to a road. Calls of the Rainbow Lorikeet, Magpie-lark and Spotted Turtle-dove may also be heard as well.

Click on photos to enlarge.



Torresian Crow (Corvus orru)



Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus)


Common Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)