Category Archives: Birds
Growing up – juvenile Powerful Owls near Sydney
Two months ago I spotted a family of Powerful Owls in Manly Dam National Park, near Sydney. Last week I spotted two of them again in the same area of bush. Given their fluffiness, I think these are the two juveniles of the family.
This is what the scene looked like without my camera’s powerful 60x zoom. If you look carefully, you can just make out the two owl-shaped dots in the centre of the picture:
Below is a closer view. It seems to be usual for one bird to be awake and vigilant while the other sleeps:
In this video, the awake owl blinks a slow, wise blink and wiggles its head from side to side in that endearing yet terrifying manner they have. A little later, the call of a passing Currawong attracts the owl’s attention:
Common name: Powerful Owl
Scientific name: Ninox strenua
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 25 November 2018 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Tiny bugs – planthoppers or leafhoppers or something Hemipterous
Two odd little bugs have paid a visit to my house, one just recently and the other last year. They’re not birds (well, duh) but every now and then I like this blog to include interesting creatures that birds may come across.
Here’s the first bug. It was a reasonable size, a bit smaller than the fingernail on my little finger:
Pretty! A knowledgeable friend told me it’s a “true bug”, which is actually a classification of a set of bugs rather than a character reference. True bugs belong to the huge order of Hemiptera.
The bug was on a wooden wall, and spent quite a bit of time around a patch of white stuff with a hump in the middle of it. Perhaps a clutch of eggs? I didn’t see whether the bug spewed out the white stuff, but it did spend time wiggling its abdomen above it.
Here’s another picture of the same bug:
Evidently cicadas are Hemiptera too, though the cicadas around here are much bigger that this little critter. I’m thinking it may be a Eucalypt Planthopper (Eurybrachyidae) like these bugs.
Last year, another odd little bug paid a call. This one was very small indeed. It’s on the armrest of a garden chair:
Another view of the same bug:
It’s hard to tell which end is the front of the creature, and which is the back. In fact, it doesn’t seem to make much difference to the creature either. In this video, you’ll see the bug move forwards and backwards with equal comfort:
Cute huh. Let me know if you know more about either of these bugs.
Koel cuckoos calling
The Koel cuckoos are in town! They were diving through the treetops and calling all round me when I went for a stroll in the bush today. Here’s a picture of one of them – a female:
In the following short video you can hear the cuckoos calling to each other. You can’t actually see any birds:
Common name: Common Koel or Eastern Koel
Scientific name: Eudynamys scolopacea
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 25 November 2018 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’56.2″S 151°15’22.5″E
Red Wattlebird eating lerp
Red Wattlebirds are large honeyeaters, often seen diving through the foliage and chasing other birds away from a prized source of sugar. This one was making a lot of noise crashing through the branches. Probably on a sugar high. I think the white fuzzy stuff attached to its beak is lerp – crystalised honeydew exuded by bugs as a protective covering. A sweet treat for a bird. Red Wattlebirds get their name from the red wattles hanging below each cheek.
Common name: Red Wattlebird
Scientific name: Anthochaera carunculata
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 11 November 2018 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’36.6″S 151°15’17.9″E
Female Koel cuckoo
Koel cuckoos have been swooping and calling around our house the last couple of days. They arrive in this neck of the woods in spring and head off again for northern climes in autumn. While here, they lay eggs in another bird’s nest and leave it up to the host family to feed the youngster. Typical cuckoo.
This is a female Koel cuckoo. They’re impressive to look at, and quite decorative in contrast to the completely-black male of the species.
An earlier post shows a male Koel cuckoo, and you can play the video in that post to hear their call.
Common name: Common Koel or Eastern Koel
Scientific name: Eudynamys scolopacea
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 10 November 2018 (spring)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
Eastern Rosella calling and dancing
This has turned out to be parrot weekend in our garden. Yesterday four black cockatoos dropped by. Today it was two Eastern Rosellas. This is the first time I’ve managed to get a photo of one of these lovely birds. Its characteristic call drew me to the window. There it was on our Scribbly Gum tree right outside the window, dancing and chattering to its mate:
Knowing that these birds usually go about in pairs, I looked for the other one but didn’t see it until they both flew away, several minutes later. (The mate was higher up in the tree, hidden by the foliage.)
At 30 cm in length, Eastern Rosellas are slightly smaller than the Crimson Rosellas that we see more often in our area. This still shot shows the bird in all its beauty:
Common name: Eastern Rosella
Scientific name: Platycercus eximius
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 21 October 2018 (Spring)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
Four Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos come to visit
Today I arrived home from a long overseas trip. An hour or so after getting home, I was delighted to hear the haunting calls of a group of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. They came to visit our Old Man Banksia tree, which is currently covered in dried seed pods. A tasty snack for a cockatoo!
I love the comfortable nibbling noises the birds make. Every now and then they chatter to each other too, as you can hear towards the end of this next video:
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are large birds, quite a lot bigger than the more common white cockatoo. They have a dignified, graceful presence. It feels like a privilege to have them drop by. We planted the Old Man Banksia (Banksia serrata)a few years ago, with the goal of feeding the local bird life. It looks like our plan is working.
Two of the birds flew up into a Sydney Red Gum that towers over our house, for a quiet grooming session. It’s cute how attentive the groomer is, even returning to her job when she notices that her companion still has an intractable itch. When she stops for the second time, he reprimands her and she returns to the task yet again.
The bird with the pinkish-red ring around his eye is the male. The females have grey eye rings and a lighter-coloured bill. Here’s a still shot of the male, looking content after a good grooming from his mate:
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 20 October 2018 (Spring)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
The Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata) is a beautiful tree. I took this shot of it a couple of weeks ago, when the rain was making interesting patterns on the bark:
Raucous call of Channel-billed Cuckoos
They arrive in south eastern Australia in spring. They’re spooky to look at. In the early hours of the morning, their call puts even the kookaburras to shame.
In this video, you don’t see any birds – it’s too dark – but you can hear them!
Here’s a picture of a Channel-billed Cuckoo from another date:
To see more pics and videos, check out my list of cuckoo posts.
Common name: Channel-billed Cuckoo
Scientific name: Scythrops novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 58-65 cm
Date heard: 22 September 2018 (Spring)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
Family of Powerful Owls
Powerful Owls are magnificent birds. When you come across them in the bush, your first impression is of their size. They are huge. Next, you notice how cute and fluffy they seem. And how watchful.
The two birds with white fluffy chest feathers are juveniles. Adults have dark chevron markings on their fronts, as you can see in the bird on the lowest branch in this shot. I think the lowest bird is the father, as he is significantly bigger than the other adult.
This video shows an amusing scene of the two juveniles spotting something at the same time, and moving their heads in sync:
Powerful Owls are listed as uncommon in my bird book. They’re also sedentary, which means they don’t migrate or move to different areas at different times of the year.
All four owls were awake and watchful, even though this was their sleeping time. They watched me for a while, from their roost high in the treetops.
Eventually they decided I was harmless, probably since I didn’t seem to be able to fly.
The biggest bird is at bottom left of this shot, and I think this bird is the male of the family. In this next video, he decided to move (nudged by a call of nature, it turns out) which gives you a good view of his feet:
In the next video, the two adults are doing a bit of grooming. The raucous calls of a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo startle the juveniles, but the adults are obviously used to their noisy neighbours:
The next shot shows how high up they were, and how large in relation to the big gum trees that form their habitat:
Here’s another shot showing the two babies and the smaller of the adults (the mother, I think):
Common name: Powerful Owl
Scientific name: Ninox strenua
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 22 September 2018 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Eastern Spinebills and peaceful patterns
Eastern Spinebills are pretty little birds, with dramatic white and dark grey markings at their throats, and soft orange chests. Their long thin beaks give them their name. They’re honeyeaters, feeding on nectar from flowers, with the occasional insect too.
This video shows what it’s like to be in the Australian bush surrounded by Eastern Spinebills. You can hear the spinebills and other birds all round. The video doesn’t zoom in on the birds, but every now and then you can spot them flitting through the foliage.
The birds were in one of my favourite spots in the Manly Dam national park. Here’s a pic showing the patterns and peace in the area of the bush where the spinebills hang out:
Common name: Eastern Spinebill
Scientific name: Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Approximate length: 16cm
Date spotted: 15 September 2018 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’24.3″S 151°15’03.8″E
Sydney Birder 