Blog Archives
Magpie song with a touch of Star Wars
A sociable magpie dropped by the other day to try out its song on me. I think the bird is still a youngster, as its eyes are not yet the bright red of an adult. The magpie let me get up to about two metres away, and still happily continued its song. I didn’t try to get any closer. After all, it’s a wild bird and entitled to its space. Plus, magpies are known to fly off the handle at times.
As well as the usual magpie warbles, this bird adds a few extra whistles and chirps. Sometimes it sounds as if it’s been listening to a Star Wars sound track!
Common name: Australian Magpie
Scientific name: Gymnorhina tibicen
Approximate length: 40 cm
Date spotted: 24 December 2018 (Summer)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia (near Sydney
Kookaburras and leafhopper egg sack
A few weeks ago I wrote about the true bug that laid a clutch of eggs on my wall, and the hatching of those eggs into cute little leafhoppers. Yesterday I took a picture of two kookaburras high in a tree, because I thought the angle was cute:
As well as the underside of the kookaburra beaks and their beady eyes, looking more closely, you can see…
Yes, an egg sack that looks just like the one on my wall. The two kookaburras and the egg sack were high, high up in a gum tree. Someday soon, tiny little critturs like these will hatch. I bet the mother bug wasn’t aware that two such fearsome beaks would be in close proximity to her brood!
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length: 47 cm
Date spotted: 24 December 2018 (Summer)
Location: Manly Dam Nature Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’56.2″S 151°15’22.5″E
Leafhopper bugs hatched from egg sack
At the beginning of this month I posted some pictures of a pretty little bug moving around a big white patch of gunk on my outside wall. The bug turned out to be a “true bug” in the Hemiptera order, also called leafhoppers or planthoppers. Specifically, I thought it may be a Eucalypt Planthopper (Eurybrachyidae).
At the time I wrote that post, I wasn’t sure that the big white patch of gunk was related to the bug, though it seemed likely. Now it’s certain. Three weeks after the first sighting, this happened:
Tens of tiny little bugs hatched from the egg sack. Each bug is minute – just a millimetre or two long. Too small for me to see properly with the naked eye. The above image is zoomed in.
I saw the bug creating the egg sack on 24 November, and the little creatures hatched around three weeks later, on 16 December.
Here’s a sideways view, so that you can see the forest of tiny antennae:
Now they’ve all dispersed, leaving us with just a white patch on the wall. I’ve seen similar patches before, and wondered where they came from. Now I know!
Big lizard climbing tree near Sydney
The things birds in Australia have to put up with! This is a Water Dragon up a tree, probably looking for a nice breakfast of eggs:
What a lovely long tail it has! Perfect for keeping a grip on a tree branch. Australian Water Dragons reach 90 cm in length. They have large heads which they can lift up quite high above the level of their bodies. Their scientific name isItellagama lesueurii lesueurii.
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
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
Sydney Birder 