More of the Sacred Kingfisher

This is the last picture of our visiting Sacred Kingfisher in the bird bath. He hasn't been around for a few weeks now. But it's interesting to note that groups of kingfishers have been spotted recently at Lake Claremont. I wonder if the kingfishers are gathering, ready to fly north?
 

Join the Aussie Backyard Bird Count

It's on again. Join the Aussie Backyard Bird Count for one week from 17 to 23 October. It takes just 20 minutes a day. Register here

Last year my most common bird in the Perth Karrinyup region was the introduced Rainbow lorrikeet .
Check the 2015 Aussie Backyard Bird Count results.

Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary

Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary is a re-vegetated urban bush and wetland located just 8kms from the Perth CBD on the Swan River in the suburb of Bayswater. It’s at 31°55'37"S 115°55'37"E in case you are interested in checking it out.

Yesterday morning Birds Australia WA group organised an excursion there. I went along and volunteered to write it up. Here’s my report for the next issue of WA Bird Notes which is the newsletter for WA Birds Australia members.

Spending a glorious winter’s morning at this Bayswater bush and wetland area rewarded fifteen birders with some interesting sightings. The highlight was a group of White-naped Honeyeaters feeding in the flowering eucalypts surrounding the western border of the lake. This was the first recording of the White-naped at this site. All up five species of honeyeater were seen, the others being the Brown, Singing, White-cheeked and New Holland. The vantage point of the bird hide over the wetland provided some excellent views of Pink-eared Ducks. We saw five species of ducks altogether. Setting up nesting boxes has been successful in attracting five duck species to breed in the area. The white plastic nesting boxes themselves are quite ugly, but the ducks are not bothered, so that’s the main thing.



Eric Singleton Bird Reserve is adjacent to the Swan River and has been extensively revegetated. It encompasses a variety of habitats: bush, fresh water wetland and estuarine river. All up we saw a total of 45 species. Other interesting sightings were a Richard’s Pipit, a Black-fronted Dotterel, a Little Grassbird and a distant view of an Osprey, nesting on the top of a mast across the river, near the Ascot racecourse.

Little pied cormorant and glossy ibis

To add to the list I posted recently of birds seen at the fast drying out Lake Gwelup...two more I saw last week were the little pied cormorant and the glossy ibis, both less frequent visitors.

Brown honeyeaters in the garden

These birds come into the bird bath most days. They are tiny little things, about 12mm from head to tail and have a beautiful song.

More birds at Lake Gwelup

Today I spotted a few more birds to add to Tuesday's list at Lake Gwelup:

a pair of black fronted plovers
welcome swallows
pink eared ducks
Australian shelduck
Swamp harrier

The pink eared ducks are quite rare on this lake and they were mightily disturbed by the harrier passing overhead.

Lake Gwelup drying out...birds gathering

Lake Gwelup never used to dry out in the summer, but has done now for the last few years. This means that before the dry, birds gather there and the number of species seen is impressive. Over December 28-9 2010 I have spotted 34 species:

Pacific black duck
Grey teal
Wood duck
Australasian shoveler
Eurasian coot
Black swan
Purple swamp hen
Australasian grebe
Yellow spoonbill
Black winged stilt
White ibis
Straw necked ibis
Great egret
White faced heron
Reed warbler
Laughing turtledove
Spotted turtledove
Western gerygone
Twenty eight
Rainbow lorikeet
Galah
Short billed Corella
Rainbow bee-eater
Sacred kingfisher
Red wattlebird
Singing honeyeater
Brown honeyeater
Yellow rumped thornbill
Magpie lark
Grey butcherbird
Willie wagtail
Rufous whistler
Striated pardalote
Silver eye

Bird bath visitors Feb 15, 2009

Honeyeaters in the bird bath

Starling nestlings in Launceston

Maarten Terwal took this series of amazing photos of a growing family of starlings in Launceston, Tasmania.

Luckily in Perth we never see this introduced species. I had my first really good look at starlings on a recent trip along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria where they appeared in huge flocks along the coastal cliffs.

I also came across them all over Europe, and one memory of the otherwise beautiful Mont Saint Michel was the smell of starling droppings.

Western Australia is doing its best to keep starlings out of the state, but they have already infested some areas of the south coast, around Esperence. The WA Department of Agriculture and Food describes them on the starling watch website:

"Starlings are an extreme threat to Western Australian agriculture, environment and community. They are listed as one of the world's worst invasive alien species. "

Birds Australia is doing its bit to help, with groups of local volunteers.

Help the Orange Bellied Parrots

Orange-bellied Parrots need your help!

There are less than 200 OBPs remaining in the wild, and unlike other critically endangered Australian birds, they don’t have their own sticker series!

The National Recovery Team for OBPs will make the stickers, but we need your help developing some catchy phrases. To rustle up some inspiration, we’re running a competition, with the HANZAB Parrots Volume awarded to the best Open entry, and a field guide and binoculars awarded to the best Under 16’s entry. The OBP Communications Team will judge the entries.

Keep your ideas short and snappy (just like the Hooded Plover sticker example below), and send them to:

Rachel Sims DSE, 8-12 Julia St. Portland , VIC 3285 OR email to Rachel.Sims@dse.vic.gov.au with ‘Sticker’ in the subject line.

Entries close June 20^th 2008, prizes awarded by June 27^th 2008.

THREATENED BIRD NETWORK

tbn@birdsaustralia.com.au

More info on the Birds Australia website

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

Brolgas at Fogg Dam

Fogg Dam is a gem of a place for the wildlife enthusiast and it’s just a short drive south of Darwin.

We were there on October at the end of the dry season when water levels were low. In the dry, the area is a bird watching heaven, when the wetland species come in close to make the most of the last remaining water. You can easily see jacanas, sometimes called the “Jesus birds” that walk on water. Other common species there are egrets, magpie geese, jabirus, and the colourful little rainbow pitas that scurry along the rain forest floor. Brolgas are more illusive, although on our visit we had been told brolgas had been around in the last few days

You can drive across the Fogg dam wall and see birds on either side. We were desperate to get our first look at broglas late in the day, before the light faded. We drove across the dam wall and scanned the horizon. Finally, when we had really given up, there they were, a group of three brolgas, right in front of our noses. We’d missed them before as they all had their heads down and were busily feeding in the mud. It was like an African safari experience as we watched them, just metres away from the car. The birds were so intent on getting grubs from the mud that they ignored us completely. It was worth it putting up with the oppressive heat to see that sight, and we happily then headed back to the air-conditioned comfort of Darwin.