Australian Magpie singing
This young Australian Magpie dropped in to sing me a song! I think it’s a juvenile, as its eyes are brownish rather than red. It may be a female, as males tend to have a clearer demarcation between the black and the white sections of feathers, whereas females have more grey. But the colouring could be due to the bird being a juvenile.
The magpie spent at least ten minutes minutes singing, maybe more. I had time to grab my camera, make my way into the garden, film a few minutes from far away, then walk up and sit down near the bird and film again. This video is the result of the second set of filming.
Cool fact: Evidently magpies can hear the sounds of grubs and worms moving underground.
Common name: Australian Magpie
Scientific name: Gymnorhina tibicen
Approximate length: 40 cm
Date spotted: 6 January 2020 (summer)
Location: Near Sydney, Australia
St Andrew’s Cross spider – X marks the spot
This gorgeous spider created its web in a bush in my garden. I nearly stuck my nose into it when reaching to pull out a weed! It’s a female St Andrew’s Cross spider:
We see these spiders quite often. They always spin thick twirls radiating out from the centre of the web, usually four as this one has done. The spider arranges itself carefully so that its body and legs complete the pattern. X marks the spot where the spider lurks!
It’s not a four-legged spider! It’s arranged its legs in pairs. As you can see in this photo. the female has silvery squiggles on its thorax, and stripes of yellow, silver and black on its abdomen, with some polka dots thrown in for good measure. The male spiders are smaller and less colorful, primarily light brown and beige.
St Andrew’s Cross spiders aren’t dangerous to humans. They’ll try their best not to bite you, and their venom doesn’t do too much harm. I’m glad, though, that I didn’t actually bump it with my nose!
Scruffy Channel-billed Cuckoo
Are you often woken up in the early hours of the summer morning by a hoarse hooting noise? It sounds like giants boasting about a joke they’ve played on the world. The call puts the Kookaburras to shame, in terms of melody (lack thereof) and loudness (excess thereof).
That noise is made by the Channel-billed Cuckoos. One of my earlier posts has a recording of the call. This picture shows a rather scruffy-looking example of these birds. It’s probably spent the night out on the town:
Channel-billed Cuckoos spend the winter in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, then migrate southwards to Australia for the summer. We see them in the Sydney area from September through to March each year. The first time I hear their raucous call, I know that spring has arrived.
Like many cuckoos, these birds lay their eggs in the nest of another species. Often, the parent cuckoo breaks the eggs of the host birds. When the young cuckoo hatches, the luckless host parents then feed and protect the cuckoo chick until it’s ready to leave the nest.
Channel-billed Cuckoos are large birds. Their appearance matches their call: Take no nonsense from no-one. Here’s a view of the bird’s head in profile, with that impressive red eye and hooked beak:
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 spotted: 28 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’00.6″S 151°15’10.1″E
Crested Pigeon doing what pigeons do
This pretty little Crested Pigeon isn’t doing much. It’s pecking at food, as pigeons do. But I found the colouring of the scene attractive:
Common name: Crested Pigeon
Scientific name: Ocyphaps lophotes
Approximate length: 31-35 cm
Date spotted: 26 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Long Reef Headland, Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia: 33°44’37.0″S 151°18’20.2″E
Darter fends off Australian Ravens
Darters are large, decorative birds with long, snake-like necks and intricate feather patterns on their backs. This Darter drew the attention of some Australian Ravens. I watched for a few minutes as the ravens dropped in to harass the larger bird. The Darter came out on top every time:
Here are some still pictures of the Darter, to give you a better idea of what it looks like. First, in an argument with a raven:
The next one gives a good view of the Darter’s long neck:
The Darter in a more contemplative pose:
I think the patterns of the feathers on the bird’s back are lovely:
The last time I saw one of these birds was a couple of years ago, when it was hanging out its wings to dry in a pose that reminded me of a ballerina.
Common name: Darter
Scientific name: Anhinga melanogaster
Approximate length: 90 cm; wing span: 1.2 m
Date spotted: 15 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’34.3″S 151°14’48.6″E
Dollarbirds are in town again
Dollarbirds are migratory, coming down to the Sydney area for the summer months after wintering on islands further north. I spotted this one this morning, perched high on a dead tree:
The Dollarbird was behaving exactly as my bird book says it’s supposed to behave. They typically sit high up on a dead branch and watch for insects to catch.
My photos are a little fuzzy, alas, because the bird was so far away and my camera wason maximum zoom. Luckily it’s quite a large bird, at approximately 30 centimetres from head to tail, which makes it easier to spot.
Here’s a picture of the front of the bird, showing some of its blue/green colouring:
Its throat is a lovely purple colour:
The next bit amused me. The bird was grooming, and seemed surprised and even a little piqued when a feather escaped:
The Dollarbird gets its name from the white patches on its wings, which look like silver dollar coins when the bird is flying. Here you can see a bit of the white patch as the bird stretches its wing:
As well as the white patch, this photo shows the feathers on its back nicely:
In this short video clip, you see the flashes of white on the wings as the Dollarbird flies off:
Dollarbirds make a strange, insistent chattering noise. I didn’t catch this one in a noisy mood, but you can hear another Dollarbird in my post from five years ago. Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these birds!
Common name: Dollarbird
Scientific name: Eurystomus orientalis
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 14 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’02.2″S 151°15’18.3″E
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo with orange chest feathers
The Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were out in full force early this morning. I enjoy hearing their conversations, whilethey chatter, scold, and screech at each other. I zoomed in to take this video of one of the birds from close up. It’s interesting to see that the cockatoo has pinkish orange feathers on its chest. I wonder if this is a seasonal variation of the more usual pure white? It’s late spring, and perhaps the colour is an attempt to appear more attractive to the opposite sex.
The next video shows a group of birds wheeling around the trees. You can hear the sounds of other birds when the cockatoos are quiet enough to allow it!
Common name: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 1 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’49.7″S 151°14’56.0″E
Wasp nest under ground in Blue Mountains
While wandering around the Blue Mountains yesterday, I came across a patch of ground that had lots of little holes in it. Ants, I thought. To my surprise, a flying insect zoomed down to the ground near me, descended into one of the holes, then came out again backwards and ejected a stream of sand, before going back down the hole. This happened a number of times, so I took a video:
A number of other insects arrived too, and dived into the surrounding holes. I think they’re wasps. Evidently Australia has around 10,000 wasp species, so it’s a little hard to identify this particular one. If anyone knows, I’d love to hear more about this insect.
Date spotted: 1 December 2019 (summer)
Location: The track up to Anvil Rock Lookout, Blue Mountains: 33°35’43.8″S 150°20’17.8″E
Honeydew crystalised into lerp on Australian bushes
Yesterday I was walking through an area of bush near Sydney, when I noticed that a few of the bushes were encrusted with small white blobs:
These are lerps, created by tiny psyllid bugs as a protective covering. The psyllids absorb sap from leaves, process the nutrients in the sap, then excrete the excess sugars as honeydew. The honeydew crystalises to form a kind of hut, the lerp, which the bugs can shelter in.
I’ve seen lerps before, but never in such abundance. We’ve had a number of days of hot, dry weather, followed by a cooler night with some rain. Perhaps the bugs needed protection from the hot weather and dry winds? Or perhaps the relief of the cooler night with rain meant that the bugs could absorb more fluid and thus produce more sugary waste.
Whatever the reason, the little sugary blobs are pretty when viewed from close up:
This one looks like a fairy hat:
And another:
The psyllid bug’s strategy of hiding inside the lerp is not entirely fail safe. The sugary substance is deliciously sweet, and birds are very fond of it. I’ve seen a Red Wattlebird with lerp stuck to its beak, and a Spotted Pardalote busily snapping lerp off leaves.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo calling while keeping a lookout
Yesterday I saw a group of four Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. I love coming across these large birds, as they impart a feeling of calm and grace. I took a video of the bird that seemed to be the designated lookout, sitting on a branch while the others foraged on the ground. You can hear the eerie call that the bird makes. It sounds rather like a door opening on rusty hinges!
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 9 November 2019 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’40.0″S 151°14’50.2″E
Sydney Birder 