Saturday, March 29, 2008

Silvereye rescued





Today this little Silvereye flew into our window and fell to the ground. His eyes were closed but he was still breathing, so we picked him up and placed him in the garden. He sat, eyes closed, for about 20 minutes. All the time one of his mates was calling in the nearby tree. Finally he opened his eyes and took a few more minutes to recover while I took some photos. Then he flew off and joined his mate.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Birds records for Wilyabrup, Western Australia




For the last 3 years I have been doing some bird atlas surveys and sending my records through to the Australian Bird Atlas database. The Atlas is a great resource maintained by Birds Australia.

The area I am surveying is one where land clearing and the establishment of vineyards is having an effect on the birds. Tourist development around this area has been modest to date, but the nearby Cape Clairault winery has a plan (2008) to establish 60 cottages in this vicinity.

Here's my list of 54 species to date.

White Faced Heron
Australasian Grebe
Pacific Black Duck
Grey Teal
Wood Duck
Little Pied Cormorant

White Ibis
Black Fronted Dotterel

Common Bronzewing Pigeon
Australian Ringneck (28)
Red Capped Parrot
Elegant Parrot
Western Rosella
While Tailed Black Cockatoo Baudin's
Red tailed Black Cockatoo
Galah
Kookaburra
Sacred Kingfisher
Red Wattlebird
New
Holland Honeyeater
White Naped Honeyeater
Singing Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater

Western Spinebill
Australian Raven
Magpie
Grey Butcherbird
Magpie Lark
Black Faced Cuckoo-Shrike
Grey Shrike Thrush
Richard's Pipit
Willie Wagtail
Grey Fantail
Shining Bronze Cuckoo
Inland Thornbill
Yellow Rumped Thornbill

Western Thornbill
Weebill
Golden Whistler

Western Gerygone
Striated Pardalote
Silvereye
Splendid Fairywren
Red Winged Fairywrens
Scarlet Robin
White Breasted Robin
Western Yellow Robin
Dusky Woodswallow
Tree Martin
Australian Hobby
Peregrine Falcon
Wedgetail Eagle
Boobook Owl
Tawny Frogmouth

Friday, March 21, 2008

Photos of the Bali Bird Walk









Sunday, March 9, 2008

Bali Bird Walk



A highlight of our trip to Bali was the Bali Bird Walk. These walks take place several times a week and start at Beggar’s Bush on the main Udud to Campuhan road. The trail takes you off road behind the hustle and bustle of Ubud town, into the surrounding rice paddies. The Lonely Planet Bali guide mentions these walks, which cost about A$35.

Bali Bird Club (BBC) was started by Bali bird watcher and butterfly enthusiast Victor Mason

We headed off road and into the paddyfields with our very knowledgeable guide, Sumadi. Having grown up in a rice farming family Sumadi has great local knowledge of the lifestyle and wildlife.

As well as being a bird walk, the BBC walk provides an insight into the life in the rice paddies. I noticed there were few young people working in the paddies and most were old men. Sadly the rice paddies around Ubud are disappearing, as tourism expands and rice farmers take the easy money offered by land developers. Most young people prefer to work in tourism rather than choosing the hard life of the rice farmer.

Sumadi pointed out all the plants along the way which all serve a purpose: ginger, tumeric lemongrass, citronella and cloves. The rice paddy must be continually be flushed with water and Sumadi explained the complex network of levels and the maps that exist to show who owns what. The continuous water flow is critical for the paddy at the lower terrace.

All the bird species we saw were birds of the rice paddies. Javan Pond-Herons and Cattle Egrets are common, feeding on the many frogs and insects. The rice eating species such as the Scaly-breasted Munia and Javan Munia, gather in flocks around the grain and are not favoured by the farmers. We also saw many colourful butterflies, insects and a snake

The walk finished with a beautiful lunch at Murni's Warung on the main road. While there the heavens opened and we were treated with a massive tropical downpour that lasted several hours. The nearby Campuhan River was still roaring the next day.

In all we saw 20 species:

Javan Pond-Heron
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
White-breasted Waterhen
Wood Sandpiper
Spotted Dove
Plaintive Cuckoo
White bellied Swiftlet
Javan Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Pacific Swallow
Striated Swallow
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Pied Bushchat
Zitting Cisticola
Bar-winged Prinia
Olive-backed Sunbird
Javan Munia
Scaly-breasted Munia
Tree Sparrow