Grey Teal

GREY TEAL  Anas gracilis

 

  

 

A pair of grey ducks on the Hospital reservoir this morning. 

 

 

I assume they were a pair but I was not able to see any difference between them.  

 

They are Grey Teal. I am told they are quite common, but I have never oticed them around Kilmore before. 

There have been plenty of Wood Ducks, Black Ducks, Chestnut Teal, Shelducks,even Musk Ducks, but  no GreyTeal. 

How exciting!

Another Cuckoo

 FAN-TAILED CUCKOO Cacomantis flabelliformis

Spring is the time to catch sight of cuckoos and this one is a Fan-tailed Cuckoo.

 

 

It is quite similar to a Brush Cuckoo but the difference can be seen in the broader white barring on the underside of the tail with white spots on the upper parts of the tail.

The Fan-tail also has a vivid yellow eyering.

This bird is a female. The male is more highly coloured on from the chin to the belly. The female's belly is more rufous in clouring.

Cuckoos

 PALLID CUCKOO

 

Spring has finally arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several days ago, I could hear cuckoos calling from the tops of trees along the Dry Creek, just south of Broadford. The call is very distinctive, notes rising semitone by semitone.Hence the common name 'semitone bird'. Its call is repetitive and monotonous, going on and on and on. It is sometimes called the 'brain fever' bird after this constant calling. 

 

 

All Australian cuckoos, except the Pheasant Coucal, which is not found in Victoria, are brood parasites. They lay their eggs in the nests others, leaving these smaller step parents to brood and raise the usually much larger young.

 

I have watched a Yellow Robin, feeding a young, but much larger than itself, cuckoo hatchling. How hard must it be to keep up with an ever hungry youngster of a huge size?

The semitone bird is a Pallid Cuckoo Cacomantis pallidus. Whist it is  reasonably common, it is much more visible in the Spring, during mating time, when its call,from the top of trees or posts,lets us all know to another perch and continue with its song.

 

Great Cormorant

GREAT CORMORANT

This young cormorant had just finished fishing the other morning and was busy drying off, energetically flapping its wings and turning and twisting to catch the sun.

This is a young bird. This can be seen by just the small amount of white colour around the chin, rather than the stronger white colouring of the adult birds

Notice particularly, the strongly hooked bill, the yellow beak and facial skin, and the brilliant green eye colour.

White-throated Treecreeper

WHITE-THROATED TREECREEPER Cormobates leucophaeus

 One of the common bird calls of the Monument Hill, is that of the Treecreepers.

The female treecreeper has an orange spot under her eye

They can be heard over a wide area, the voices carrying a long way. At times they will call from a perch for ten and twenty minutes at a time Like a single high pitched, and very resonant bell, the 'whit, whit, whit, whit', quickly repeated, is easy to recognize. Not being particularly timid, it is possible to follow the sound back to tree from which they are calling.
 




Graeme Chapman has a wonderful collection of bird calls if you are unsure of what is which. This link should take you to the call of our Treecreeper.Graeme Chapman White-throated Treecreeper.

When not perching in one place, they are busy birds, working their way up the trunks of trees, digging under loose hanging bark for insects. In this area it is possible, by sitting quietly and patiently under a likely group of trees, to see a the treecreeper settle on a nearby trunk before making its way up and around the trunk, busily searching for insects as it goes.










 

The male bird has a clear white face and chest

Striated Pardalote

STRIATED PARDALOTE Pardolutus striatus ssp ornatus

 

Nanny's Creek crosses under the Nanny's Creek Road,  the road between Kilmore East and Sugarloaf Creek Road. 

This creek carries just a little water for most of the year, a little more in the wet months, although there is always some water there to attract a population of birds.

 

 

 

At any time of the year, one can be assured of finding pardalotes around and under the bridge. 

During the late Winter and Spring, these birds make use of the abandoned mud nests of fairy martins to raise their own young.

 

Approaching the bridge, the calling of the pardalotes, announces their presence, They call constantly to each other, particularly during their courting times. The  highly pitched 'witta, witta, wittas', sometimes with an upward inflection on the final 'witta' fill the air.

 

 

 

 

The females signal their readiness for mating by calling from a branch, whilst crouching with their heads down and wings extended. 

 

 

 

Whilst pardalotes are known for their nesting in little tunnels scratched into the banks of creeks and cuttings, this community seems to nest exclusively in the mud nests made by fairy martins.  

Do the fairy martins leave their old nests or could it be that the pardalotes push the martins out of their homes and take over?

 

 

Brown-headed Honeyeaters

BROWN-HEADED HENEYEATER Melithreptus brevirostris 

 

 

I was watching a group of these small honeyeaters at Lake Eppalock last week. There, they were very busy feeding amongst a small forest of young red gum saplings. I could not see clearly, but they appeared to be feeding off inswcts on the leaves of the young trees.

 

 

 

They are small birds with beautiful olive backs, a distinctive white band spreads around from the back of the neck, contrasting with the deep brown head. 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst I was watching them feeding on insects, they also feed on nectar and pollen from the flowers on trees.


 

Blue-faced Honyeaters

BLUE-FACED HONEYEATERS Entomyzon cyanotis

There were a number of honeyeaters about this morning.












My neighbour has a beautiful garden and at this time there is a glorious protea in heavy flower.

The big honeyeaters are attracted to feast on these large flowers.

Among this group was a young bird with plenty of cheek. This adolescent bird had a beautiful green-yellow eye ring, unlike the adult birds which have vivid blue patches on the bare skin around the eye.








Despite the name honeyeater, these birds are omnivorous and can be quite aggressive in their hunt for food. They will feed on nectar, fruits, insects, the eggs and young of other birds as well as small reptiles. They can often be seen foraging along bark of trees, tearing off shreds in the search for whatever might be living underneath.

Spotted Pardalote

SPOTTED PARDALOTE Pardalotus punctatus

  A pair of Spotted Pardalotes were among the low shrubs along the Dry Creek, Broadford. They were flying around each other, the male taking time to flutter  his wings and show off his brighter colours to his mate.

 

 

 

 

 

This the male, it is just possible to see the his yellow throat and his white spotted head. The female has yellow spots in the crown and does not have the yellow throat colouring.

 

 

 

White-browed Scrubwren

WHITE-BROWED SCRUBWREN Sericornis frontalis

These scrub wrens are plentiful, yet remain almost unknown to many people.













They have a secretive nature, spending much of their time hidden away in dark places, under logs, amongst fallen branches and amongst the dense branches of small shrubs. They are usually heard before they are seen, as they search for food in heavy undergrowth.










I seem to go a long time without seeing these birds then they reappear and are seen over a wide area.

Australian Swamphen

AUSTRALIAN SWAMPHEN Porphyrio melanotus

 

It is too easy when out walking, to ignore the most common of our birds. It requires an open mind to continue to remain in awe of the beauty and uniqueness of the everyday.

 
These Purple Swamphens or Australasian Swamphens are very common in and around the reservoir in the centre of the Kilmore Golf Course.

 
The wander out on to the fairways and will venture across roads to nearby gardens to feed on grass and other greenery, quite able to also pull out whole reeds from our lake.

It is quite common  to see them climbing through and amongst the low branches of fallen trees as they make their way back to the water.





The male and the female are alike with beautiful regal porphyry   feathers contrasting with  deep red legs and feet.


 
They are timid birds and will fly off if one gets too close, looking very awkward in the air with the long legs trailing behind as they move to safety.





The Swamphens are very vocal with a number of distinctive cries. The voices can be a harsh 'kak,kak,kak' as they call a warning to each other. They will make a sound like like a small dog with an higher pitched squeal at the end, Ka,ka kiiak. They are vocal at night also. I sometimes wonder if these night calls might be warning others of  hunting foxes.

 

Brown Thornbills

BROWN THORNBILLS Acanthiza pusilla

 

 


When there is little movement in the bush, there are always, at least, Thornbills to be seen.












There is a mass of Cassinia shrub growing on the lower parts of the Monumnent Hill in Kilmore. The area has been cleared of pines recently and the area, now opened up to light is covered in young Black Wattles, Blackwood wattles and Cassinia-acuarta.









The Thornbills are very happy playing and feeding in amongst this low lying shrubbery.

I usually only have to sit still for a short while, before a group of eight to a dozen of these little birds, comes by. They pick away at leaves, looking for insects and bugs.







Often there are other birds with them. It is common to see Buff-rumped and Yellow-rumped in the same area, as well as a Grey Fantail, flitting in and around the group.