Crimson Rosellas

CRIMSON ROSELLA Platycercus elegans elegans

 The Crimson Rosellas love the cotoneaster fruit on the bushes at our gate.



I think they wait every year for the autumn, just so they can feast on the ripening  fruit.

The fruit and the birds are the same colour, beautiful to see. 

 

White-winged Chough

WHITE-WINGED CHOUGH Corcorax melanorhamphos

We always know that autumn is under way and winter is approaching when the choughs return to the area.

 One rarely sees a lone chough, they are very social animals, with a strong sense of family. They gather together on a tree branch so closely that it is difficult to see where one bird starts and one finishes.

 
They hunt together on the ground, turning over grass, branches and litter, looking for whatever there is to eat,  invertebrates, seeds corms and tubers. When disturbed they will all fly off together to a branch, whistling and calling on the way.

When excited the eyes becomes engorged with blood and become bright red. This makes the birds become very demon like.

 

There is so much of interest about these birds. Their social units are very strong and all work together to bring up the new young. There are even stories of choughs 'kidnapping' birds from other clans so that they can assist with the chores of the group. Some say these kidnapped young are never fully accepted into the group but are treated like the 'step sisters' of our fairy tales. Is this is a form of animal slavery? 

Does it really happen?

 

There is some fascinating reading in Gisela Kaplan's book, Bird Minds about choughs and other Australian birds. It is published by CSIRO Publishing. It is well worth reading.

 

 

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Scarlet Robins

SCARLET ROBINS  Petroica milticolour

Kilmore is in lock-down due to the Corona virus, as are all other parts of the world. We are allowed out of our houses only for a)  work, b) shopping, c) exercise, and d) medical appointments.  

 

 

 

 

 

There is much debate  regarding definitions of exercise, work and shopping. I think I am able to walk in my neighbourhood as long as I am walking alone or with just one other.  

  

 

 

 

Therefore I can walk in the bush adjacent to my house with my camera on my back. The walk is for exercise and the camera for whatever I see on my journey.

There were a number of Scarlet Robins about today.  They seem to favour the hill tops, with taller trees an less undergrowth than the flatter areas covered with wattles and cassinia scrub. 

 

There are a number of other robin varieties in the area, today, just the Scarlet Robins.

They vary in colour from brilliant, brilliant scarlet to a much milder, almost orange-red. It is the males which stand out so well. The females, whilst having a pink to red chest are much duller in colour. However they are quite beautiful, with brown, black, white  and pale red markings.

 

 

The birds do not seem concerned about corona virus.  They only worry about bird flu.

 

Australian Darter

Australian Darter, female

AUSTRALIAN DARTER Anhinga novaehollandia

 

It was a cool, overcast morning in Kilmore today. We have had very heavy rain over the last few days, almost 90mm. A  number homes have been filled with water and creeks have risen well over the normally low levels. The wind today was very cool, 9 to 10 degrees.

Australian Darter,  male

This did not stop the cormorants and darters sitting on logs and tree branches, trying to catch a little of the drying sunlight.












 

There were  group of Little Black Cormorants sitting high in the branches of trees. Down lower, just above the water level there was a family of Australian Daters, doing the same.


There were males and females in the group. The males have a rust coloured patch on the lower neck, above a dark chest and body. The females are less distinctly marked with white or buff underbody parts.

Both have long thin necks which taper to a small head  and a very fine, pointed bill.

They are often seen, with just their long thin necks protruding above the water. They can look like snakes swimming through the water.