BIRDS of KILMORE, AUSTRALIA
Flora, Fauna and Geography KILMORE,VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
CONTACT:
05/02/2024
BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE
12/01/2024
KOOKABURRA
Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae
It has one of the most iconic of all bird calls in Australia.
As a child I would watch the Movietone News if I was ever lucky enough to go to 'The Pictures' on a Saturday afternoon. I remember fondly the introduction to each episode featuring the images and voices of the kookaburras. Those of you who are old enough might also remember seeing and hearing them.
They are beautiful birds, despite their rather dumpy bodies and their large heads. Large and dumpy they may seem but wonderfully balanced as they sit quietly and patiently on a tree branch, ever watchful to see what is moving around on the ground below.
Despite their loveliness they are great hunters, swooping to the ground to take small, sometimes large snakes, lizards, mice, small birds, small mammals and insects.
Lucky are the households who have regular visits from a local family of Kookaburras.
03/01/2024
RED WATTLEBIRD
Red Wattlebird Anthochaera
The wattlebirds are such a common bird in the Kilmore area, it is sometimes easy to forget how interesting and beautiful they are.
They are large, noisy, aggressive and like to 'push around' the more placid birds in the area, demanding the best access to the flowering trees.
This time of the year they are very visible as they move from one flowering tree to the next. This group of birds was very busy in a row of Grevillea Robusta, Silky Oak trees, adjacent to the Kilmore Golf course. There were young amongst the group, identifiable by the lack of the red cheek wattles.
Hence their name 'Wattlebird' as opposed to be named after the common wattle trees in our area.
The wattlebirds used to be the first birds we would hear each morning. Quite early, whilst still dark we would hear the 'Quock, quock' sounds of the early risers which became more harsh grating or barking 'hrarrrkkk-a-krak' as they begin the busy time of feeding. Now it is the vagrant Koel who wakes us ant any time of the day or night with its ubiquitous calling
They Wattlebirds beautiful and interesting birds, often maligned for their harsh voices and cheeky aggressiveness, very similar to many of our enthusiastic and cheeky young people with their sometimes harsh voices who can also delight us every day.
28/12/2023
EASTERN KOEL
Eastern Koel Eudynamis orientalis
02/12/2023
NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER
New Holland HoneyeatersPhylidony nigra
beautiful little birds are very visible during the Spring as they feed on the native flowers in gardens and roadsides.
They are a fast and aggressive they fly between trees and shrubs, quick to chase bigger and more powerful birds from what they see as their territory.
They seem to have become much more common in the Kilmore area over the last few years. I can scarcely remember seeing them much until the last ten years.
Perhaps it is the native plants that people are placing in their gardens that provide a more palatable and attractive food
A much better taste for them than roses and camellias source.Despite the name Honeyeater, these birds are also often seen feeding on insects which they take from the air with acrobatic skill.
11/11/2023
PALLID CUCKOO
Palli Cuckoo Cuculus pallidus
Palli Cuckoo Cuculus pallidus
20/09/2023
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis
Of course cuckoos are well known for their habit laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, usually much smaller birds. They will push the eggs of the resident birds from the nest and then lay their own egg to replace those they have ousted. Generally cuckoos lay a single egg in a nest, but can lay multiple eggs across multiple nests.
15/09/2023
NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER
New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaechollandiae
23/08/2023
PARDALOTE STRIATED
Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus
One can always find pardalotes, no matter what the weather be. nor the time of year, at Kilmore East.
There is a colony which lives in, under and around a road bridge between Dry Creek Road and the Wandong-Broadford Road. Under this bridge are mud fairy martin nests and this is where the pardalotes lay their eggs and bring up their young.
At this time they re nesting. Both male and female appear to be feeding the young. One or other will approach the nest, landing on a tree branch five to ten metres out from the nest and chirp. Perhaps this is to make sure everything is clear, perhaps it is an attempt to make the nest site a little obscure for any watcher, or perhaps it is just a way of letting the mate know they are on the way.
Whilst pardalotes are known for living in holes in the banks of creeks, I have only ever seen these in and around the martin nests. No martins in these nests, although they are about the area. Have the pardalotes dislocated the martins? I have no idea where the martins nest now.
At other times of the year the birds appear to be living in the scrubby growth along the creek. As soon as one approaches the site, the birds can be heard chirruping to each other. They are not timid at all about having someone with a camera, standing within a short distance, watching what they are dong. They are often sitting their pairs, often in groups of ten or a dozen.
18/08/2023
BLUE-FACED HONEYEATER
Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis
14/08/2023
LITTLE BROWN BIRDS
Buff rumpedThornbills Acanthiza reguloides
They can be found, hunting amongst the foliage of small trees and shrubs for small insects making much noise as they go, Up and down from scub to the ground, under logs and amongst the grasses and moss, all the while calling to each other..
Lovely things, little brown birds.
10/08/2023
WINTER IN KILMORE
DARTER Anhinga melanogaster
When first seen, this bird was moving through the water. All that could be seen was the long, snake-like head, the body almost totally submerged. A very strange, smaller version of the Loch Ness Monster moving across the water.
I have seen the darters in other places but not often on the Kilmore reservoir. Here we see plenty of cormorants, black and pied, but rarely the darter
This day the lone birdwas sunning itself, drying its wings, on the branches of a tree which had fallen into the water.