Up close with the birds in the backyard

They may be fairly common, but some of the birds that come to my backyard have lots of character. Here are some photos I've taken recently.

Magpie-lark

Crested Pigeon

Galah

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

Australian Ringneck

White-plumed Honeyeater

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, and some other local Alice Springs birds photos

Alice Springs experienced a dramatic change in weather on Saturday, it hailed. Very unusual for our area. there was a big build up of clouds and one of the cloud colours was a pinky colour, which I now suspect to have been the hail forming cloud (photo below). One change in the area after the rain was the plethora of birds that have suddenly appeared.

One of these was a beautiful female Red-tailed Black Cockatoo out at Simpsons Gap. There were a lot of other small birds around as well, lots of Thornbills and a first sighting for me this year - a Redthroat. Here are a selection of photos from the weekend.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo 

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill

Mulga Parrot

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

Spotted Dove

White-plumed Honeyeater

Hail Cloud

White-plumed Honeyeaters and Thornbill answers

White-plumed Honeyeaters have been nesting in our back yard, the main focus in the BirdLife Central Australia Branch Newsletter - the Desert Chat and frolicking around the car recently. Andrew Crouch wrote a great article in the Newsletter, and gave a few interesting facts I didn't know before, namely that White-plumed Honeyeaters are also called "Greenies", and the Central Australian birds are a deeper yellow than the southern varieties. (you can e-mail me rjwaring@richardwaring.com.au if you want to be added to our e-mail list for the Branch Newsletter. We should have a website up and running soon and I'll post a link to that on this blog where you will be able to download future editions).

The nesting White-plumed Honeyeaters have been very busy and there are 3 chicks that have hatched and are constantly calling for food. My son Moses has been keeping a close eye on developments there and reports any new developments.

The frolicking around the car experience was completely unexpected. The birds seemed to be trying to get to their own reflections in the car mirror and windows. At one point there were 4 of them all looking at themselves. The camera did come out and I took a few photos.

White-plumed Honeyeater

and as to the Thornbill post - did you pick the odd one out? One of these was not a Central Australian Thornbill at all.

The answers are:

1 Chestnut-rumped Thornbill - apart from the colour of the rump, the key id feature for me is the eye

2 Slaty-backed Thornbill - very similar to the Inland Thornbill, but with less markings around the face and neck

3 Inland Thonbill - probably the most common around Central Australia

4 Yellow-rumped Thornbill - I see these birds on the ground a lot more than the other Thornbills in CA

5 Buff-rumped Thornbill - the furphy in the pack. Check out the range in one of your bird books. this was the one we don't get in Central Australia.

As with most birding I do, sometimes I find even the most commonly seen birds difficult to ID due to their close resemblance to other birds in the area, especially when they are small and in shadows.

The White-plumed Honeyeater and the moth

One thing I love about bird-watching and photography is observing the behaviours of the birds. This is especially true of watching them catching and eating their prey. The White-plumed Honeyeater below took three attempts to get hold of the moth. It was in behind one of the beams under the carport at home. I was alerted to the activity by a small noise in the carport. I think the bird may have hit the tin roof in its desperate attempt to catch its food. The camera was fortunately lying handily nearby and the honeyeater obligingly sat on the railing to eat. I'm not sure if it enjoyed it as it stuck its tongue out at the end :-) Hope you enjoy the photos.

White-plumed Honeyeater with moth