Such a birdy day, yesterday!
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos were about in the morning, as they often are, and
a party of 30-40 Plum-headed Finches spent much of the day here, feeding in
the uncut grass and bathing in the rock pool, as they have been doing for a
few days.
But we had some unexpected visitors too. Two Glossy Black Cockatoos came by
in the afternoon - didn't stop, just passing through, and a female
Red-capped Robin materialised at the rock pool, the first of the red robins
to appear here in this new season. She stayed for a good bathe, much
appreciated by Trevor Ford who happened to be on the verandah with his
camera gear all set up and pointing at the right spot, having previously
been focused on the Plumheads.
The highlight of a local trip around the valley on Saturday was a pair of
Black Falcons at Lake Dyer. Our first sight of them was as they stood
together on an exposed limb of a big dead tree. After a short and to the
point copulation, each wandered off in a different direction, havocing the
pigeons that live on the dam wall as they went.
Fan-tailed Cuckoos have been calling, and I've been seeing occasional
Bronze-cuckoos - Horsfield's, Shining and Little on Saturday. The Little
Bronze-cuckoo was in Redwood Park on the Toowoomba escarpment, where both
Spectacled and Black-faced Monarchs were lingering, along with Cicadabird
and Varied Triller.
Autumn is an enjoyable time of year hereabouts, as the birds rearrange
themselves around Australia and we enjoy the spin-off on gentle mornings
like this one. Grey Fantails have been turning up in numbers over the last
week or so, and are a very welcome, busy, addition to the garden.
Mistletoebirds are also particularly busy just now, darting around to
harvest the black berries on the weedy nightshades that I haven't tidied out
of the garden beds.
I have been watching two Speckled Warblers and two Variegated Fairywrens
drinking and dipping in and out of a bird bath as I write, but they have
just been dispersed by the dramatic arrival of a big and brassy male Golden
Whistler, who is now standing in resplendent sole occupation!
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at www.abberton.org
email:
ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111
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