Rainbow Lorikeets

RAINBOW LORIKEETS

Seeing pairs of birds together, many birds pair for life, reminds me so much of those contented husbands and wives, we see, shopping, sitting in coffee shops or driving out on Sunday afternoons. 

 

Last weekend, this pair were enjoying the sunshine  behind the Kilmore race-course.  

 

 

Collared Sparrowhawk

COLLARED SPARROWHAWK Accipitercirrocephalus

I was out for a walk this morning. It was cold  and overcast but birds were all busy in the trees and around the hospital reservoir.


I arrived home to see a pile of  feathers all over the  ground next to my letterbox. I immediately blamed the local cats although, we rarely see cats wandering anymore.








On second thought, I blamed the Boo-book owl which spends most of its days sleeping in a tree next to our garden shed.

My daughter who has adopted the owl as her own, insisted that 'Orpheus would not kill anything!'


Sure!


I went inside and was met by my wife, who had photographed the whole affair.




She pointed out the culprit, standing in the long grass across the road, sparrow in its claws.


A young collared Sparrowhawk.



I had seen another of these birds amongst the timber on Monument Hill about an hour earlier.

 I have rarely seen these sparrowhawks around the neighbourhood, but today, two.

And the second bird was living up to its name.

Golden Whistler

GOLDEN WHISTLER Pachycephala pectoralis

 

There were plenty of bird voices amongst the bushes, small wattles, furze bushes and cassinia, at Kilmore East. The sun was bright and birds were busy.
















I could hear the Golden Whistlers calling to each other and they were very intent on their conversation.















Very preoccupied, because they did not mind me moving closer to where they were sitting in the low branches of a dead wattle, maybe twenty metres apart.












The golden coloured male was bobbing his head as he called, watching carefully the brown streaked mate over the way.

.

Their song is very loud, with both birds taking part in the debate.  Their calls, very easy to identify,  carry well through the trees and bushes, adding a sparkle to the sunny morning.

Butcher Birds

BUTCHER BIRD Cracticus torquatus






This young Butcher Bird and another, I assume to be its mother, sat calling and calling to another bird, fifty metres or more away.

The younger bird shown in the top photograph, is lighter in colour than the adult. It sat on a branch adjacent to the adult, watching and listening carefully, very attentive to what was being said and done.










It is interesting to note that my last photographs of the singing Butcher birds were taken a year ago within a few days, and in the same spot as last year, along the train line at Kilmore East.






 


It could be the same bird with her young from 2018.  Was she calling to the same mate?