Golden Whistlers, Fame Robins, White-eared Honeyeaters

GOLDEN WHISTLER

Late Autumn is here and Winter not far away.

We have had some good rain this week, the first for many months  and the countryside and bush has suddenly turned green. Tiny shoots are carpeting the ground everywhere turning, what last week was dry dusty ground, to a carpet of green.

Today the sun was in and out of the clouds all day, and little birds were in and about the trees and scrub of the Monument Hill.

Male Flame Robin

This White-eared Honey-eater was enjoying a bath in a middle of the track puddle

Male Golden Whistler

Female Yellow Whistler

Red Wattlebird

RED WATTLEBIRD

The Red Wattlebirds are beautiful. With their yellow bellies and their bright red wattles, they stand so straight and tall, like soldiers at attention. They are cheeky and so often seen, it is a little easy to neglect their regal elegance.


 
  

 Described in The Australian Bird Guide as 'Noisy, pugnacious and conspicuous; actively chases smaller birds from food sources by swooping and bill clapping.'

Some also regard their voices as unpleasant; 'a harsh, grating cough or bark' says Michael Morcombe's book. Poor wattlebirds, nobody seems to like them much.








That sounds like the report of an active young boy in his first year at school by a exasperated infant teacher. I liked those lively young boys with 'go' in them at school. Perhaps that is why I like the wattlebirds.






One of my pleasures of early Spring, is to wake in the predawn, to hear  them 'schhhkkkkk, schhkkking, in the trees around our house, like an old man sucking on his false teeth.

Fairy Wren

FAIRY WREN

The fairy wrens are well and truly well out and about.












They are such pretty little birds.  Some people without an eye for beauty, group them under the name of LLBs, Little Brown Birds. They are so small and delicate, so many shades of brown and what beautiful upright tail feathers. And  oh what lovely orange eye makeup.










 

Grey Shrike-thrush

GREY SHRIKE-THRUSH

The shrike thrush is a very common bird around Kilmore. It has a beautiful voice with a huge range of songs. Gisella Kaplan, in her book 'Bird Minds'  describes the  "extraordinary purely tonal and varied song" of the bird. 

 

 

 

 

Michael Morecombe in 'Field Guide To Australian Birds; is even more expansive.  "..a rich and varied repertoire of calls and songs - high, clear and loudly ringing whistles, intermingled with mellow, musical notes and deep rich bubbly sounds."  

This thrush is found over  wide area, from town gardens, farmland where there are trees to forested hills.











The thrush is omnivorous in feeding habits. I see them often scratching amongst leaf litter and under logs, for the insects, small lizards and seeds. They are known to take young nestlings, frogs and mice.




 



This young bird was busy along a very dry creek at Willowmavin this morning. All creeks around Kiomore are dry at the moment.

It has a light band of colour along it's brow, an indication of a young bird. It was very sure of itself, continuing to feed, with just one eye on me.

Silvereyes

SILVEREYES Zosterops lateralis

These pretty little birds are in some places called wax-eyes or white eyes. It is not hard to see why.








 They are itinerant birds moving to the northern end of their patch in the autumn and then back to the south to nest in winter. These are in Kilmore today. I assume that they have arrived from the more northern part of their territories since I haven't seen them here for many, many months.    

My books tell me they are omnivores, eating insects, and large amounts of nectar and fruit. They can be a nuisance to those with fruit trees and orchards.

Brolga

BROLGA Grus rubicunda

 

 

 

I was very pleased to hear that a pair of brolgas had arrived in the district.

 The person who informed me, said that each year a pair, or sometimes two pairs of brolgas, visited a particular area of Willowmavin. One of those pairs was back in the area.

 

 A pleasant walk through some open paddocks on a dry afternoon, showed they were indeed in residence.

The first sighting was from a long distance. Being such large birds it was possible to identify them, even from several hundred metres away. Feathers in the paddock also identified the birds.

 

 

 

First look was last Saturday, today, Wednesday, I was able to get a little closer and get some better photographs. Not perfect but quite nice.

 

 

 

 

 It is a pity that we have only the one pair this year.

 

 

 

Perhaps there might be a nest with young amongst the rushes around the dam, where they were seen this week?  

 Softly, softly!

Gang-Gang Cockatoos

GANG-GANG COCKATOOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning on O'Grady's Road at Kilmore East, a family of gang-gangs was busy in the morning sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The parents were out with their young, encouraging them to practice their flying skills. The parents sat together on a branch watching as the young flew around the group of trees they were perched in. The little ones would fly around around and then through the branches. They would alight on the fence of a set of stockyards, wait a moment and off they would go once again, around and around and then down through the trees.

 

 

After a short while, one of the young flew and sat beside its mother, holding its mouth open, begging for food. The mother obliged several times, whilst the male looked on.

The young, flew off once again around and through the trees.

 

 

Collared Sparrowhawk

SPARROWHAWK Accipiter cirrhocephalus

 

I watched a magpie being pursued by this sparrowhawk a few mornings ago. The bush is quite thick here, plenty of trees and scrubby undergrowth.

I say pursued, because whilst the sparrowhawk was chasing the magpie, neither the magpie nor the sparrowhawk seemed to be very excited by what was happening.
















The hawk appears to be a young bird. Perhaps it was still in a learner stage, it koew what it had to do but wasn't quite confident enough to do the job properly.

The magpie would alight on a tree and the hawk would land a little above the magpie and then just look at it.

The magpie would fly off to a neighbouring tree and the hawk would follow. What then? The hawk didn't know what to do.

Within a short time, both gave the game and flew off in opposite directions.

Red-browed Finches

RED-BROWED FINCHES






Saturday morning was a late summer morning with a feel of autumn in the air.










I am constantly surprised by the difference in bird numbers from one day to another. Some days there is hardly a sound or a movement in the air or on the ground.







The next, activity and movement every which way.

Saturday was busy at the creek crossing on Moore's Lane. The banks of this small, often dry creek, are covered in small wattles and large clumps of prickly gorse bushes. In amongst the bushes there are patches of short grass sheltered from the wind. Lots of sunny, quiet hidey holes, for birds, foxes, rabbits and the horses.

 Horses graze in and around theses clumps, leaving plenty of seed filled droppings.




Yesterday the area were full of red-browed finches, feeding. Groups of a dozen were scratching amongst the grass and droppings. Every now and then, one or more would fly up to sit on top of a gorse bush to see what was going on.



Among the finches, were numbers of fairy wrens and what I think were European Greenfinches.




It was a very pleasant Saturday morning out in the paddocks with the birds.

Where Song Began

Where Song Began

Australia's birds and how they changed the world

Here is a wonderful book with so much information.

A wonderful reference and such an easy and  enjoyable book to read.

 

 

 

Owl Southern Boobook

SOUTHERN BOOBOOK OWL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We  rarely see owls and now I have had three sightings in the last two weeks, in different areas. 

 

On Sunday these two young Boobooks were sitting in a camphor laurel tree outside our bedroom window. 

 

 

 

They sat there all day, eyes shut, or one eye shut,  for most of the time.

 

I assume they are a young pair, recently out of the nest

Ring-tailed Possum

RING-TAILED POSSUM 

Another creature coming out after the warm summer weather.

This ring-tailed possum was sound asleep on a branch, enjoying the early morning sun after a cool night.









Notice the prehensile tail, free of hair at the tip, to enable a good strong grip as he os she moves around the trees.

It is quite unusual to see them about during the day. This fellow, must have had a big night!










There were also plenty of kangaroos about. They have become very cheeky of late, and will simpley move a few paces out of the way when they meet an early morning walker.

Unfortunately they are not so good at moving out of the way of motor cars on the road.

Kangaroos, friends of motor repairers/.