Hi all
I must confess that my birding highlights for last year, and for every other
year, are the ongoing observations of my own backyard birds!
Whilst it is great to travel around - this year nearly 3 months in central
Australia and the Kimberleys - and of course get lots of ticks and fantastic
sightings of Purple-crowned Fairywrens in camping area at Mornington
Wilderness Camp and more birds than one could cope with whilst camping at
Parrys Creek Farm near Wyndham, it is great to arrive home and see your own
birds 'still there'. And closer to home, walking and camping with Flame
Robins in the alpine areas in December and January.
Whilst Brown Thornbills and White-browed Scrubwrens are here all the time it
is in January, when one is 'bunkered down' because of all the holiday people
crawling over the place, they are most obvious. They have finished nesting
and with the [sometimes] warm weather have time to spend at the bird bath.
Last evening the very tentative young thornbills were joined at the bath by
an even more tentative silvereye. The Grey Fantail, who doesn't like to get
too far away from his mixed group, was happy to twit twit away in the
background.
Grey Butcherbirds are around most of the year however they are seen [and
heard!!] more often when they have fledged young in tow. It seems that
either the number of family groups has increased this year or I am seeing
them more often on 'my patch'. Watching the young butcherbirds trying to
eat coastal bearded-heath Leucopogon parviflorus] berries off the bush is
painful, especially compared to the dexterity of the Red Wattlebirds.
Eventually they work out that knocking the berries to the ground and then
feeding on them there is the way to go.
And the Little Raven fledged young are even more demanding than the Grey
Butcherbird, Red Wattlebird or Australian Magpie young!
Winter time, when the correas are flowering, is when the Eastern Spinebills
and Spiny-cheeked and Singing Honeyeaters are most active. Spiny-cheeked
are always in the area, however are usually heard and not often seen. The
Singings spend most of their year, including nesting, right on the coast
about 300 metres away and are only present in my garden over winter.
Spring sees the arrival of the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. This year I had
two pair and had the added enjoyment of seeing their young feeding in the
garden.
What differences did I notice last year? Red Wattlebirds, whilst having one
or two present throughout the year, did not increase to the numbers seen in
previous years. Maybe this is correlated to the increase in numbers of
Little Ravens and Grey Butcherbirds no doubt feeding on their nestlings.
Grey Shrike-thrush and Golden Whistler, residents for many years, are now
only seen occasionaly. Yellow Thornbills were resident for quite a few
months and at times out numbered the browns. An Australian Magpie pair no
longer regards my lawn as their home base and only visit and Spotted
Turtle-Doves are now not seen everyday.
However the Blackbirds are more obvious. I let them nest as I think their
nestlings are a good food source for the butcherbirds and ravens. I still
have the male blackbird with one white tail feather and one day when I was
gardening he kept very nearby - I don't know whether he was looking for
opportunistic feeding or saying 'this is my territory'.
What upset what? In March a visiting Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike caused the
Brown Thornbills to become very agiatated. Tears were shed in May when a
Bassian Thrush crashed into my lounge room window and did not survive. In
June a Fan-tailed Cuckoo caused the Brown and Yellow Thornbills to be very
agiatated. And in October a Red Wattlebird was seen trying to chase away
[with no result] a visiting Straw-necked Ibis.
And I haven't mentioned 'my' Hooded Plovers, their three fledged young and
the fact that they have successfully nested again on Kooya Beach and
currently have three 10 day old chicks. All on an over peopled and dog
infested beach only 300m from my backyard.
If I hadn't been away for 3 months what else would I have enjoyed!!!
Cheers
Val
Sorrento, Vic
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