Glossy Black-Cockatoo spotted near Sydney
Quite exciting! According to my bird book, this bird is reasonably uncommon, perhaps declining. It’s a Glossy Black-Cockatoo, and I saw three of them for the first time ever this morning.
The raised crest gives the bird a typical look of parrot curiosity:
In this photo, the bird did a bit of grooming and showed the orange-red flares in its tail feathers:
In our area we see a lot of the white sulphur-crested cockatoos. Occasionally the yellow-tailed black cockatoos pay us a visit, when their favourite trees are in flower. I’ve never before seen any of these glossy black cockatoos.
From underneath, the tail feathers look entirely yellow, white, and black:
In the photo below, you can see more of the orange in the tail, and the small crest on the bird’s head:
From the rear, the orange is more visible:
Another frontal view:
Common name: Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus lathami
Approximate length: 50cm
Date spotted: 25 February 2018 (Summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’36.5″S 151°15’18.2″E
Tree, moon, wind, and a serendipitous fruit bat
There’s no bird in this post. Just a restful scene of tree branches, a moon, a freshening wind, and a surprise appearance by a fruit bat in the gloom. I think the wind dislodged the bat from its perch in the tree.
Red-browed finch on Casuarina tree
A few of these pretty little red-browed finches were feeding on a tree as I passed this morning. This one sat still long enough for me to snap a picture. I think the tree is a Casuarina, also known as a swamp she-oak.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 4 February 2018 (Summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’36.6″S 151°15’16.4″E
Cicada, what a noise!
The cicadas are out in full force this summer. A week ago, while walking in the bush on a hot morning, I was suddenly doused in spray of cool drops from the trees above. It seems cicadas do pee. Copiously. A quick check of the internet assured me the spray is harmless. You can basically view it as sugar water that’s passed through a cicada.
However, the occasional dousing is not the most noticeable characteristic of cicadas. The thing most people notice about them is their singing. Song is not exactly the right word. What a noise! Only the male cicadas sing. This video shows how they pulsate their abdomens to make the noise:
They are large insects, about the thickness of an adult person’s thumb, and interesting to look at. I think they’re quite attractive, in an outdoorsy sort of way:
They have an impressive life cycle. The adult cicada is the winged insect we see, and it lives for only a few weeks. But the nymphs, which are the form of the creature that hatch from the eggs, live for around seven years, underground. A previous post of mine has pictures of the empty husks left behind when a nymph transforms into the winged adult.
This picture shows the underside of one cicada as well as the top of another:
I think these are Black Prince cicadas (Psaltoda plaga). I found them at Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’37.6″S 151°15’09.4″E.
The cicadas in my previous post were Floury Bakers (Aleeta curvicosta), noted for singing upside down.
This blog is primarily about birds, and cicadas aren’t birds. But they’re nearly as big as some birds, and they’re part of our local birds’ ecosystem. In fact, the larger birds have a feast during cicada season. One of my first memories of Australia is of coming across half a cicada buzzing aimlessly on a path through a bushy area. The insect was bright green, the first green one I’d ever seen, and the sight filled me with sadness. So I’m happy to see them when they come, even though their call is a little intrusive!
Red Wattlebird nest may be in peril
My previous post introduced the nest that a pair of Red Wattlebirds have built in a tree fern in my garden. Things are looking a little perilous for the nest. The tree fern has put in a growth spurt, its new fronds lifting parts of the nest into an untidy jumble.
This is what the nest looked like yesterday. Notice the new, brown fern fronds unfurling in the midst of the grey matter that forms the birds’ nest:
Compare that with the photo I took a week earlier, on 22 December, as shown in my previous post:
The parents still seem attentive. I’ve seen them flit in and out of the nest. Here’s one of them grabbing nourishment yesterday, from the nearby Banksia that seems to be their principle source of nourishment while nesting. The ghastly noise in the background is the cicados, who are out in full force this summer:
Birds are quite handy with their beaks and feet. I hope they manage to push the nest and eggs into a safe place as the fern tree grows.
Common name: Red Wattlebird
Scientific name: Anthochaera carunculata
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 29 December 2017 (Summer)
Location: Allambie Heights, near Sydney, Australia
Red Wattlebird nesting in a tree fern
Red Wattlebirds are the second largest honeyeaters in Australia. They’re noisy, aggressive, and sleekly pretty. And now we have a couple nesting in our garden.
I’d noticed recently that a Red Wattlebird was more aggressive than usual. It started swooping at me when I was hanging up washing. At the best of times, hanging the washing is a precarious activity in my backyard. It involves a bit of rock climbing and a skilled balancing act. Add a fierce bird, and things get interesting.
A few days later, I noticed the bird land on a high branch, take a careful look around while trying to appear nonchalant, then duck quickly into the top cover of a tree fern. Interesting. So I got out my zoom lens to take a look.
The nest is in the right-most tree fern in this photo. I’ve put up my washing line on the left, for local colour:
(In case you’re wondering: the house up above belongs to the neighbours. Mine is below, not in the picture)
A closer view of the tree fern:
Even closer, you can see the nest with a bird’s tail pointing out to the right:
Occasionally the parents leave the nest unattended. I haven’t spotted any movement, so I think the eggs haven’t hatched yet:
The birds have picked up some of the Spanish Moss from our garden, and used it to decorate the nest. This is our supply, handily positioned just a few metres from the tree fern:
Sitting on a nest is demanding work. One of the parents emerged for a good stretch:
And a bit of grooming:
Then dived down to sip some nectar from a Banksia tree, which we’ve also positioned just a handy few metres from the fern tree. In this picture you can see the two red wattles below the beak that give the bird its name:
Here’s a picture of one of the local Red Wattlebirds on a nearby tree a few days earlier. It’s likely to be one of the nesting birds, though I don’t know for sure:
Common name: Red Wattlebird
Scientific name: Anthochaera carunculata
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 22 December 2017 (Summer)
Location: Allambie Heights, near Sydney, Australia
Eastern Yellow Robin near Sydney
A quick glimpse of an Eastern Yellow Robin from my walk today. The bird was in a dry creek, in Manly Dam National Park near Sydney. Eastern Yellow Robins are quite a common sight. I’ve seen them frequently in this particular spot, though it’s rare for one to sit still long enough for a decent photograph.
This short video shows the short shrift that the robin gives a worm, You can also hear the sounds of the other birds in the bush around the robin:
Common name: Eastern Yellow Robin
Scientific name: Eopsaltria australis
Approximate length: 15 cm
Date spotted: 8 October 2017 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’24.3″S 151°15’05.5″E
Willie Wagtail sings to beauty at dawn
It’s early on a cold morning in Pyrmont. A little Willie Wagtail perches on a bollard and sings its heart out. Shades of silver dapple the water. Sydney Harbour Bridge decorates the skyline. All the requisites for an atmospheric scene are present and correct.
Apologies for the low quality of the picture. I was using my mobile phone to film the scene, and had to zoom because the bird was so small. However, this little Willie Wagtail has a big voice and a big heart.
In this second video, a Willie Wagtail harasses a Currawong, chittering and swooping at it. The birds are in the same place as the previous video, so it’s probably the same Willie Wagtail. It’s a common sight in Australia, to see the little birds chasing away the big ones.
Despite their name, Willie Wagtails are actually fantails rather than wagtails. The latter tend to waggle their tails up and down rather than side to side. However, Australians chose the name Willie Wagtail and it stuck.
Here’s a still photo of the same bird, also taken with my mobile phone, so also not wonderfully in focus.
Common name: Willie Wagtail
Scientific name: Rhipidura leucophrys
Approximate length: 20 cm
Date spotted: August 2017 (Winter)
Location: Pyrmont, Sydney: 33°51’57.3″S 151°11’47.9″E
Black cockatoos in love
These two Black Cockatoos seem very much in love. They’re carefully grooming each other’s heads. Other birds in the tree are making the crooning noise that I’ve heard before around this time of year. I suspect it has a lot to do with spring and the mating season.
You’d need to trust someone, to let them near your head with a beak this size!
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 3 September 2017 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam National Park, NSW, Australia: 33°46’46.5″S 151°15’00.4″E
Peek at a male Fairy-wren
I’ve had a bit of luck recently spotting Fairy-wrens darting through the undergrowth. You can usually hear them chirping, rustling, and trilling, but it’s rare to see one stay in one spot long enough to film them. Here’s a male Variegated Fairy-wren showing off his spring plumage:
Common name: Variegated Fairy-wren
Scientific name: Malurus lamberti
Approximate length: 13 cm
Date spotted: 3 September 2017 (Spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’52.6″S 151°15’08.2″E
Sydney Birder 