Notes to readers of this Blog


NOTES TO READERS OF THIS BLOG

Thank you for dropping by to check out my blog. You will see a lot of other Blogs about birds I follow down the left hand side. I strongly encourage you to check some of these out as well, they are entertaining and I love to see birds from all over the world, I hope you do too.
Cheers,
Richard

Monday 26 December 2011

Cuddly Corellas

Saw these Corellas cuddling in one of the trees beside the river at Murray Bridge:

Welcome Swallows and Sunset at Ranges View Rest Stop, north of Port Augusta, S.A.

We almost made it to Port Augusta on our last part of the drive without stopping but it was clear the kids and dogs needed a bit of a rest. We stopped at the Ranges View Rest Stop and there were a few Welcome Swallows nesting in the eves of the shade structure:



We were also treated to a beautiful sunset across the ranges:

Rainbow Lorikeets (Melbourne)

My in-laws have a bird feeder just outside their balcony. Little Corellas were sitting there when I went to grab the camera, but they had gone and the Rainbow Lorikeets had arrived, and then one flew down to attack the apricot tree:

(click to enlarge photos)






Tuesday 20 December 2011

Is this a juvenile Grey Honeyeater? @DesertlifeAus @Birds_Central

Hi guys, original photo and then a close-up. I could hear chirping like Mark's video but couldn't say 100% that this was the bird that was making the noise, as it kept very much within the shrub:




Sunday 18 December 2011

Whistling Whistlers, Splendid Splendids and others early morning Simpsons Gap

Went for an early morning drive out to Simpsons Gap, one of the most consistent places for getting close-up photos of birds at the moment. I was hoping to see a few different varieties compared to recent visits, but would still be happy with more photos of the regulars as well. Simpsons Gap was quite breezy but the view back from the Gap itself was too good not to take a snap:


There have always been Rufous Whistlers there when I have been, but generally are a bit more elusive than some other species. This morning there were at least three different RWs who came and looked at this RW up close and personal which was fantastic:


One of the more interesting "usual" was a greeny-coloured Splendid Fairy-wren and its more normal blue-purple friends were quite spectacular as well:







There were a few Grey Shrike-thrush around also and there was a funny moment between one of these and a juvenile Yellow-rumped Thornbill. It looked to me as though the Thornbill was asking for something, but I soon realised they were both chasing the same insect and the GST won:

There was also a close encounter with a Diamond Dove:

Willie Wagtail:

either an Inland or a Slaty-backed Thornbill:

a lovely Brown Honeyeater in the early morning sun:


and this morning I have had two different encounters with Sacred Kingfishers. The first was at Simpsons Gap, and it almost looked as though it was sitting in a basket, although it was just the arrangement of the branches it was sitting in:

and the other encounter was when I arrived home, a very noisy SK in our front yard:

Saturday 17 December 2011

Bearded Dragon eats Native Black Wasp, and Dragonfly

We had a lovely visit from a Bearded Dragon in the front yard this morning and then watched as he patiently waited while a Native Black Wasp sat on his head before being eaten!







Gotcha!



Also saw a beautiful blue dragonfly the other day:


Thursday 15 December 2011

Zebra Finches

I was wandering along one of the local roads recently and stumbled across a group of four Zebra Finches hopping along the footpath in front of me, feeding on the grass seeds. The interesting part was the grass seeds they didn't eat. Not sure if the ones they missed were "not cooked" properly yet, or they just preferred the ones they seemed to be targeting:



I was trying really hard not to disturb them, but they decided they were tired of hopping in front of me and flew into a tree in one of the front yards of one of the houses in the street: