Lake Gwelup Nankeen Night Heron

These birds frequent many of the lakes around Perth. Despite the name, Nankeen Night Heron, they are often seen during the day. This one held its pose while I zoomed in for a close-up. Thanks Heron.

Lake Gwelup Tawny Frogmouth

At Lake Gwelup today there were two Tawny frogmouths, one sitting on a nest and this one perched close by.
 

Bush Stone curlew

Bush stone curlew

Bush stone curlew

Bush stone curlew

This is a bird with character. The Bush Stone Curlew, photos taken at the Perth Zoo in the wonderful bird enclosure.

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?
 

Again the Sacred Kingfisher

 

Sacred kingfisher visits our garden

 

Sacred Kingfishers are no longer as common in Perth as they once were. In the 1980s I used to see them at Lake Gwelup. More recently I've heard them calling from the Karrinyup Lakes Golf Course. This week a juvenile Sacred Kingfisher visited our garden, ate a few insects, and perched for some time in the Grevillea until being chased away by a Red Wattlebird.

Pink-eared ducks at Lake Claremont

Pink-eared ducks

The Pink-eared duck gets its name from the pink patch behind the eye. They have become a sort of emblem for Lake Claremont in Perth's western suburbs. They are reasonably common there and easy to photograph.

Expert skulker the night heron

Nankeen night heron

These night herons are so well camouflaged among the paperbarks it is hard to spot them. There were several today on the BirdLife walk around Lake Joondalup. Despite the name, night herons are found during the day when they hunt for frogs, insects and fish.

Australian white ibis

Australian white ibis at Lake Gwelup

Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) never used to be seen in Perth. Apparently, they turned up here in the 1950s. I can recall being very excited when seeing them for the first time soaring high over South Perth near the Zoo. This was in the 1980s. Later, I travelled to Sydney and was horrified to find a White ibis picking through a rubbish bin in a city park, the Domain. These days they are common all around Perth and gather in large flocks, gazing on open parklands.

At dusk you can see them returning to their roosts, flying in a characteristic V-shaped formation, much like the Canada geese.

Their normal food is invertebrates, such as locusts or mollusks. Unfortunately, the ibis has taken a liking to human scraps.


There are three ibis species in Perth

The White ibis  also known as the Sacred ibis

Another large ibis common around the city, the Straw-necked ibis

The Glossy ibis, a smaller ibis, which is less common in Perth

Brown-winged kingfisher Langkawi

Brown-winged kingfisher

 

 

 

 

There are eight species of kingfishers in Langkawi, some of which migrate in from other areas, spending just a few months on the island. I managed to see four species of kingfishers:

Brown-winged kingfisher (Halcyon amauroptera)
Collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)
Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)

From my experience, the White-throated kingfisher was the most common. It managed to pop up on most of my bird watching outings. It has a habit of sitting on the telegraph lines, watching the surroundings. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the White-throated.

This photo of the rarer Brown-winged kingfisher was taken on my first day, right before my zoom lense froze.

Langkawi birds

Great hornbills at Gunung Raya, Langkawi

I have just spent a holiday in the wonderful island of Langkawi, off the northwest coast of Malaysia. While there, I took two bird-watching excursions with two different companies. One was with a well-established group called, JungleWalla (love the name!) I had an expert guide, Elis, plus a driver and one other bird spotter.

Another trip was booked through our hotel with a new group called Darulaman Sanctuary Langkawi. Fendi was my knowledgeable guide and an enthusiastic birder. He helped me capture this photo of the Great Hornbill. It's taken though a telescope using my mobile camera. The light rain that was falling at the time adds to the mystical effect, I think.

Together, we visited several spots around the island. We started at a low-tide estuary where the kingfishers hang out. Unfortunately, at this point my zoom decided to pack it in. As it happened, I had a better time without a camera, just watching through my binoculars.

On both trips we went up Gunung Raya, which, at 880 metres, is the main mountain in Langkawi. Hornbills and forest birds can be seen here. Along the way, we saw macaque monkeys and spectacled monkeys. Another good spot was an open field and a mangrove wetland near the airport.

Over the following days I did a few walks on my own around the Laman Padi, just off the main street of Jalan Pantai Chenang. The rice paddy revealed a few more birds to add to the list.

Over several days I spotted a total of 42 species, including many so called “lifers”

Lesser whistling duck
Black crowned night heron
Little heron
Cattle egret
Intermediate egret
Little egret
Pond heron
Brahminy kite
White bellied sea eagle
Crested goshawk
Red wattled lapwing
Common sandpiper
Wood sandpiper
Peaceful dove
Spotted dove
Swift
Brown winged kingfisher
Collared kingfisher
Common kingfisher
White throated kingfisher
Dollar bird
Great hornbill
Oriental pied hornbill
Golden bellied gerygone
Black naped oriole
White throated fantail
House crow
Brown shrike
Tiger shrike
Brown throated sunbird
Scaly breasted munia
White headed munia
Eurasian tree sparrow
Paddyfield pipit
Baya weaver
Common myna
Hill myna
Asian glossy starling
Asian brown flycatcher
Yellow vented bulbul
Pacific swallow
Rufous bellied swallow

Thanks to my wonderful guides. I hope to come back to Langkawi again!

Photo helps ID this bird

An immature red capped parrot, taken near Dunsborough, WA

Sometimes a photo helps identify a bird.  My first impression of this was that it was an immature red-capped parrot, but then I noticed it was with a group of Western rosellas, so I wondered. Luckily I managed to take this (very poor) photo before it flew off. The extra long bill, long tail and other markings match the illustration of an immature RCP in my Slater's Field Guide.

Ospreys are back at Whitfords

two adults on the nest

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Despite yesterdays punishing winds, with gust of 90kmph recorded in the vicinity of this nest, the ospreys survived. This years two adult birds have been present on the same nest as last year. I'll be keeping an eye on progress and posting reports as the story unfolds. Last year they raised one juvenile.

Kookaburra sits ...

Kookaburra sitting in an old gum tree at Star Swamp, Perth

These birds were introduced to Perth over 100 years ago and because of that are still somewhat maligned by many bird watchers. However, I think after 100 years it should be time to embrace them and consider them locals. There are always a few kookaburras around in any Perth bush or parkland where you have tall gum trees. The WA kookaburras were originally released from the Perth Zoo and gradually expanded their territory to include most of Western Australia's South West.

The kookaburra is from the kingfisher family and  the largest kingfisher in the world. They prey on mice, insects, lizards and small reptiles. Although a kingfisher this bird doesn't  tend to go for fish, unless you have an pond with some juicy goldfish swimming around!

Purple swamphens at Herdsman's Lake

Purple swamp-hen

Purple swamp-hens at Herdsman's Lake in Perth today, shining in the afternoon sun

Purple swamp-hen

Red wattlebird, juvenile

Red wattle birds breed most years in our neighbourhood. This photo of a juvenile was taken a few years ago.

Rainbow Bee-eaters at Lake Gwelup

Ospreys at Whitfords

Male osprey brings in a fish

I'm monitoring the osprey nest at Whitfords Nodes Beach Park near Hillarys in Perth. The nest is on top of the mobile phone tower there.

Last Sunday the male osprey flew up to the tower with a fish in his talons, and later brought the fish up to the female at the nest. The female then proceeded to feed one juvenile, which you can see in this photo. The juvenile is on the left, female in the middle and male osprey on the right, watching the proceedings.

Three ospreys at the nest, juvenile on the left

This juvenile is already quite advanced in growth and there may be more than one juvenile. It's quite hard to get a good photo with all the mobile tower contraptions obscuring the view.

Another shot of the osprey wrestling with a fish.

osprey with fish

Reed warblers at Lake Monger

Australian Reed Warbler

There are plenty of reed-warblers calling loudly at Lake Monger at this time of year, but getting a photograph is another matter. They move very quickly in and out of the reeds, so you just have to keep snapping and hope for the best. This turned out better than I expected but I had several photos of just reeds!

Reed warblers are found on most Perth lakes.

This photo was taken today on a BirdLife WA excursion at Lake Monger from the bird viewing platform at the north side of the lake.

Butcherbirds in the bird bath

We frequently see and hear a couple of Grey butcherbirds around the neighbourhood.

They come and go over the seasons and often sit on the fence and entertain us with their beautiful caroling. Very occasionally in summer they come into the bird baths.

This photo was taken a few summers ago.