It was a good autumn here for migrants.
We had an ornatus race Striated Pardalote at Abberton early in May, the first one I?ve seen in Queensland, and southern and western birds continued turning up throughout the month, including White-plumed Honeyeaters, Western Gerygone, Rose Robin, and earlier in the month two Australian Pratincoles.
A female Scarlet Robin arrived earlier this week, and was still here this-afternoon - bird 208 for the house list.
My first bird of the winter was a big brightly-coloured Brown Goshawk, which glided into the jacaranda tree closest to the house just on cue as I stepped outside yesterday morning.
The first two days of June have been ideal, in terms of both the weather and the abundance of birds around the garden. As we sat outside for a while yesterday morning, small birds were constantly coming and going around us, fly-catching from the branches of trees, gleaning their way through the canopy, foraging on the garden floor, or visiting bird baths. Around thirty species came into view in the hour or so we sat there.
A pair of Speckled Warblers were working their way together through leaf litter and along garden paths, with the male bird from time to time delivering a morsel to the female. Just a couple of metres from the Speckled Warblers, two Striated Pardalotes emerged from a nest hole right alongside our car shed, one which they have used many times over the years, before heading out into the surrounding trees, where a flock of Varied Sittellas were hunting all over the trunks and branches.
What a great time of year for birding!
I?ve just updated the Abberton website with 21 new photos, all from around the garden. To get direct to the "Latest Photographs" page, go to http://www.abberton.org/birds2007.htm
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
(27º 34' 21" S; 152º 08' 21" E)
Visit our website at
http://www.abberton.org
