Now it has been established that the Coots and Moorhens were adults and that
I wasn't dreaming, I have had a few inquiries as to where it was happening.
It was 16 km out of Moama N S W over the border from Echuca on Deep Creek
and if anyone is interested in having a look email me and I will give you
exact directions.
It is a dead-end creek that has been cleared of trees and logs to enable the
mooring of dozens of house boats but around the corner it changes into a
typical lagoon with
dead trees and logs in shallow water with lots of weed, they are in the
deeper water where a different weed grows.
I spent the week travelling around the area including Perracoota Forest and
the back roads to Bunallo etc. and sat on a few farm dams in the evening
on the hot days and
a few things stood out including the families of Choughs have increased in
size from 4s and 5s during the drought to 18 and 20 with a couple of
families up to 25 and there
were dozens of groups
Many Eastern Rosellas who seem to stay in their family groups had lots of 5
and 6 young with them when they came down to drink but only saw pairs of
adult Yellow Rosellas
and no young at all ,perhaps they had moved away from where they breed.
Quite a few Eastern X Yellow Rosella young in family groups of 6 to 8 coming
into drink opposite the houseboat.
Down the back roads only saw 2 pair of Blue-bonnets and the worrying thing I
saw five families of Grey-crowned Babblers with the biggest family only 4
and the rest 3 which
is a concern.
Almost ran over a Rainbow Bee-eater coming out of a burrow in the ground, it
wasn't in a bank but on a flat area of sand, very easy for Snake or Goanna
to get a feed.
Where I pulled up in the car was I only 4 mts from the entrance hole and as
I sat there they completely ignored me and kept on feeding the young, I was
close enough to see
what they were feeding the young on and it included May Flies, Dragon Flies
,Bot Flies, different Wasps, three different bees including one with bright
black and yellow stripers.
variety of flying Beetles and some others too small to see.
The interesting thing was the male was a bludger letting the mother do twice
as many trips to the burrow while he sat on a branch on the ground a mt from
the entrance hole.
I watched for quite some time photographing them and then continued on my
way and on the return trip they were nowhere to be seen having done dozens
of trips earlier in
the day trying to fill the seemly insatiable appetite of the young.
Another interesting observation while sitting there was the amount of pairs
of Brown Treecreepers with their young foraging within 50 mt. I counted 18
including young at one stage
must have had a good breeding season.
I didn't see any Superb Parrots in the area where I photographed a pair with
4 young a few years ago that were progressively all taken by a Peregrine
Falcon nesting in the area, local
farmers say they have never seen them in the area since. ( Further West than
normally found nowadays)
Off Topic.
The Cockatoos that were reported to have flown into the windscreen of the
truck that crashed and caught on fire closing the M1 at Nerang Qld
yesterday were 2 Little Corellas that
are part of a large flock that have frequented that bridge for a few years
and it is where I reported on here last year that a pair tried to nest in
the traffic light at the end of the bridge.
There have been several near-misses as they fly over and under the bridge
several times a day.
Barney
Subject: Differrent breeds co-operating
I would just like to point out that I wasn't the only one that saw the Coots
feeding the Moorhens, it went for the full week we were there and was
happening less than ten mts from where we were sitting on the back deck
photographing a Sea-Eagle trying to teach its young one to catch Carp.
I think I have been around long enough to tell the difference between the
breeds having owned part of the Mansfield Swamp at Corop Vic. where
thousands of both breeds nested and only a few clicks down the road from the
Racecourse Lake and Lake Cooper also at Corop where 10 sometimes
20 thousand and over congregate when the lakes have shallow water in them.
Philip and Brian I will send you some photos for you to have a look at and
anyone else that is interested.
barney.
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