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So lucky! King Parrots and Eastern Rosellas come to visit
Two days ago, a couple of Eastern Rosellas dropped by. The next day, I was getting ready to write this blog post when two King Parrots came visiting. We’re so lucky, to have such beautiful birds in the area.
Eastern Rosellas
It’s quite odd: we have visits from two of these little parrots at around this time every year. The pattern is always the same: I hear them twittering, and lean out of the window. A male perches on our telephone line, or on a branch near by, and gives a little show for his lady friend. The show consists of some twittering, and bit of feather fluffing and scratching, and some wing shuffling. Then, after a few minutes they fly away.
Eastern Rosellas are medium-sized parrots, measuring about 30cm from head to tail. This is the male:
Here he’s in the middle of a wing shuffle:
The female looks on:
Common name: Eastern Rosella
Scientific name: Platycercus eximius
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 19 February 2024 (summer)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
King Parrots
Sitting in the lounge the next afternoon, I heard a soft thunk and then an inquisitive chirp from the veranda. A female King Parrot perched on the window sill, looking in to see what was happening:
The male sat on a branch close by, keeping watch:
At 44cm from head to tail, King Parrots are quite a bit larger than the Eastern Rosellas (30cm). The birds stayed for around 15 minutes. Of course, I talked to them, as you do. The female let me get within a couple of metres.
She was quite happy to turn her back on me and check out the goings on outside:
At the start of this video, the female perches on the window sill, peering in. I then find the male outside the window. The view judders a bit, as I need to kneel down to get the male in view. A cockatoo squawks as it flies past:
In the next video, the female is perched on the window sill looking outwards. If you turn up the volume, you’ll hear her soft chirps at around 6 to 12 seconds into the video. Then I manoeuvred carefully around some obstacles on the veranda, and moved the camera to outside the window. Now you can see the female’s head peering out at the bottom of the view, and the male perched on a branch higher up (and also reflected in the window pane). An Australian Raven wails. The camera pans out to show the view.
It felt like a huge privilege to be able to chat to these quiet, majestic birds.
Eventually, the female flew out onto a branch:
Both birds stuck around for a while. Maybe they were enjoying the view! Then they swooped away to grace another house or tree.
Common name: Australian King Parrot
Scientific name: Alisterus scapularis
Approximate length: 44 cm
Date spotted: 20 February 2024 (summer)
Location: Allambie Heights, New South Wales, Australia
Bird spotting with Aussie Bird Tours
Yesterday my family and I went on a bird-spotting trip with Aussie Bird Tours. Mike Barrow led us on a wonderful half-day tour around the Dee Why Lagoon, Warriewood Wetlands, and Irrawong Reserve. We spotted a large number of birds (40-50 types) and heard others too. Here are the ones that I managed to get a half-decent photo of.
Our tour started at Dee Why Lagoon, where we saw a number of water birds: a darter, cormorants, ducks, a black swan, coots, a Silver Gull, and more. Songbirds were there too. A Magpie-lark strutted over the mud. Welcome Swallows darted across the water. A Willie Wagtail chirped in the distance. An Eastern Whipbird spent many minutes exploring the dense reeds a couple of metres from our feet. We could hear its characteristic chattering, but only saw it when it made a break for the higher foliage.
This male Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) posed for a profile shot against the blue sky:
On this trip I learned what Olive-backed Orioles sound like (you can hear their call on eBird). I also learned the call of the Darter (hear it on xeno-canto). The latter sounds very like a Dollarbird, and I’ve probably mixed up those two calls in the past.
Our next stop was the Warriewood Wetlands, which is an interesting patch of swampy bushland. A raised path leads you across the reeds and water, with great views of wetlands all round you. The cicadas were out in full force, deafening us while providing food to other creatures. Here, a large spider has caught a cicada in its web and is having a feast:
Discarded cicada husks stuck to tree trunks, shed when the cicada larva emerges from the ground and morphs into the winged insect:
Bell Miners (Manorina melanophrys) have moved into the Warriewood Wetlands in large numbers. The call of these honeyeaters is a clear, single, oft-repeated clink, like the sound of a bell. They’re quite attractive birds, with olive wings and back, and a pale yellow chest:
What with the screeching of the cicadas and the pinging of the Bell Miners, this was a noisy patch of bush!
The noise didn’t seem to bother the Purple Swamphens (Porphyrio porphyrio), who carried out a lively courtship beneath the wooden walkway:
A small water dragon looked on:
A Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) showed up in bold orange and yellow:
We didn’t see any snakes, though evidently they’re around. We did see a couple of largish skinks, like this one:
Striking dark grass flowers lined the way:
A colony of Flying Foxes (large fruit bats) occupies one corner of the wetlands:
Here’s a close-up of one of these attractive, intriguing mammals. They have a grey face, with a reddish fur collar and back. Their wings are black and leathery, strong enough to support these large bats in their long cross-country flights:
After the Warriewood Wetlands, we visited Irrawong Reserve. A Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) carolled in the dense bush. This is the male bird:
As you can see, it’s adept at hiding behind the foliage. Here’s another shot of the same bird, with its tail fanned:
I think the next bird is a female Golden Whistler. They’re harder to identify because of their soft colouring:
The next bird is a first sighting for me: a pretty Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons):
This video is rather blurry, but it’s useful because you can hear the characteristic song of the fantail, similar to that of the Grey Fantail and Willie Wagtail:
My last bird of the day is a Brown Gerygone (Gerygone mouki), another first sighting for me:
The photograph of this bird is very similar to the earlier one of the female Golden Whistler. However, the Gerygone has grey markings running from beak to eye. The Gerygone (9-11 cm) is also smaller than the Golden Whistler (16-18 cm), though that’s hard to tell from the photos.
Spitfire grubs and Kookaburras
While wandering along a bush path, I came across a curious collection of grubs:
They’re spitfire grubs, which are the larvae of a type of wasp called a sawfly. The grubs look quite a lot like caterpillars with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude. They’re black and shiny, with white bristles, yellow feet, and a yellow tail. They’re quite long and fat: about the size of my little finger.
Despite the name “spitfire”, the grubs don’t actually spit anything, but if you touch them you can get a burning sting from the spikes. The grubs also spew out a thick yellow liquid from their mouths when threatened, but the liquid isn’t harmful to people. It’s made from eucalyptus oil, since the grubs feed on eucalyptus leaves.
In the video, you can see them tapping their tails on the rock. They do that to communicate their whereabouts with each other.
Here’s a close-up of some of their heads:
There were ten grubs in the clump:
Next on the scene was a riot of Kookaburras! The birds gathered above me while I was bent over the clutch of spitfire grubs. I was worried that the Kookaburras might swoop down and grab a grub as a snack!
The Kookaburras left the grubs alone. I guess they don’t taste great!
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length: 47 cm
Date spotted: 18 July 2023 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’56.0″S 151°15’05.4″E
Territory! Ravens vs Lorikeets
The National Parks and Wildlife Service recently did a hazard reduction burn in the area where I often go for a walk. This morning, a group of Rainbow Lorikeets occupied some bare branches with a strategic view of the newly cleared area. Right next door, a collection of ravens had the same idea. They viewed each other for a while, then all hell broke loose.
Turn up the volume to get the full effect! Listen to the bawling ravens and the scolding parrots. When things really get hectic, hear the whop-whop-whop of wings swooping overhead.
Here’s a closeup of some of the ravens, in their best villain pose:
Common name: Australian Raven
Scientific name: Corvus coronoides
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 10 June 2023 (winter)
Location: Dobroyd Head, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’36.6″S 151°16’23.9″E
And the I’m-so-pretty, butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth pose of the lorikeets:
Common name: Rainbow Lorikeet
Scientific name: Trichoglossus haematodus
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 10 June 2023 (winter)
Location: Dobroyd Head, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’36.6″S 151°16’23.9″E
Bell Miners heard, and spotted at last!
Bell Miners, often called bellbirds, are well known in parts of Eastern Australia. We don’t have them in the area where I live, but I’ve heard them often when visiting nearby places. The odd thing is, though, that I’ve never before managed to actually see a Bell Miner. Until this weekend.
I was visiting the area of Capertee, about three hours’ drive west of Sydney. Bell Miners were chiming away in the trees:
For a while, as usual, I couldn’t spot a bird. There aren’t any clearly visible in the video either. Then, a flash of olive green, and a bird alighted for a brief moment:
The image is fuzzy, because I didn’t have time to focus on the bird. But at least I now know what they look like!
Here’s another Bell Miner in the same tree. This time it’s a juvenile bird, darker in colour than the adult:
Common name: Bell Miner, often called bellbird
Scientific name: Manorina melanophrys
Approximate length: 18-20 cm
Date spotted: 22 April 2023 (autumn)
Location: Long Ridge, Capertee, New South Wales, Australia: 33°09’53.9″S 150°00’06.2″E
Six kookies a-cackling
This morning I was treated to the sight of six kookaburras in a row, perched on the horizontal bar of an outlet pipe, all cackling away to each other. Australians fondly call these birds “kookies”. So, here you go, six kookies a-cackling:
Towards the end of the video, you’ll hear a jogger running up to me in excitement, exclaiming that she wished she had a camera. She obviously didn’t realize I was videoing!
After the birds flew off, I spotted two perched on a nearby TV antenna. It’s probably two of the six in the video, but not necessarily — there were quite a few kookaburras around:
Common name: Laughing Kookaburra
Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Approximate length: 47 cm
Date spotted: 28 January 2023 (summer)
Location: Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’01.4″S 151°15’53.0″E
Young Channel-billed Cuckoos fed by currawongs
What’s that caterwauling? It’s a couple of young Channel-billed Cuckoos, awaiting their food. Are the patient bringers of food the parents of the young birds? No, they’re Pied Currawongs. Because, like other parasitic cuckoos, Channel-billed Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and leave it entirely to the adoptive parents to care for the youngsters.
The other ongoing noise that you hear in this video are the Cicadas. It’s the season of noisy beetles and noisy birds!
This is the second time that I’ve seen two young cuckoos being fed by currawongs, instead of just one. Evidently it’s quite common for these birds to lay more than one egg in someone else’s nest.
Here’s a still photo of the young cuckoo. What a big baby. It’s far larger than the currawongs that are taking care of it.
Here’s the youngster flapping its wings to make sure its carers don’t miss it:
Channel-billed Cuckoo | Scythrops novaehollandiae | Approximate length: 58-65 cm
Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina | Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 28 December 2022 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’50.1″S 151°14’59.6″E
The gorgeous song of the Currawong
A couple of months ago, I heard these Currawongs exchanging snippets of song. It amazes me how varied the calls of these birds are, and how beautiful:
Common name: Pied Currawong
Scientific name: Strepera graculina
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 15 October 2022 (spring)
In the video, the birds are just a silhouette. Here’s a photo of a Currawong from an earlier post:
If you’d like to hear more of the Currawongs’ songs, take a look at my earlier post, where the birds are excited about the fruiting Blueberry Ash trees.
3 parrots on one walk
A few days ago I went for a walk and saw three different types of parrots all within a few paces of each other. How amazing is that!
First up, a trio of King Parrots. Two were males, the other a female. This is one of the males:
King Parrots are quite large, at 44 cm from head to tail. The females have a lot more green in their colouring. I think they’re prettier than the males, with their softer shading:
This video shows all three of the birds enjoying the flowers of a Grevillea bush. First you see the two males together. Then one of them flies over to join the female on the other side of the bush:
In the trees around the parrots, the smaller Rainbow Lorikeets chattered and scolded. Here’s one in a more contemplative mood than most:
One of them stood still for a while to examine me, before launching itself in my direction then swerving at the last moment as they are wont to do:
At the next tree, a group of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos examined a tree hollow. Perhaps a good place to raise a family? But competition is fierce!
Here’s one of the cockatoos making a point about ownership, or perhaps just being its usual excited self:
The walk itself is lovely, starting in Balgowlah and winding along the coast of Sydney Harbour, with bushland and forest on one side:
And pretty views of the waters of Sydney Harbour on the other side:
The birds:
Common name: Australian King Parrot
Scientific name: Alisterus scapularis
Approximate length: 44 cm
Common name: Rainbow Lorikeet
Scientific name: Trichoglossus haematodus
Approximate length: 30 cm
Common name: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 26 November 2022 (spring)
Location: Near Forty Baskets beach, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’03.2″S 151°16’07.2″E
Australian Brush-turkeys, a wallaby, and me
Back in Sydney after a short visit to South Africa, I’m delighted to walk among the Ozzie birds again. Among them are the endearingly stupid Australian Brush-turkeys.
Here I am, following some Brush-turkeys along a path. The birds make that peculiar grunting noise that is all their own. I suppose it’s a big chicken’s version of a cluck:
Australian Brush-turkeys are funny to watch when you’re sharing the same path as them. They’re a little concerned that you’re there, but they’re also very reluctant to cede the path to you. So if you walk at normal speed, they get quite flustered and rush around trying to race you. (While taking the video, I was walking very slowly.) Eventually, one smart bird stands aside just off the path. With luck, the others decide this is a wise strategy and do the same. Alas, though, they come to this conclusion at varied times, which means there’s a lot of clucking and fluttering involved to rally troops again after the danger (you) has passed.
Here’s a still picture of the birds making their way up the path ahead of me:
A closer view of one of the birds, who has realised that she’ll have a more peaceful life if she stands on the side of the path and waits for me to pass:
I reached the highest point of my walk and looked back down the path. The birds have found each other again and have the path to themselves:
On my way back, I encountered the same group of birds, but this time with an interloper:
A Swamp Wallaby, sometimes called a Black Wallaby, was peacefully examining the path alongside the brush-turkeys. I often see these kangaroo-like marsupials out in the early morning. They’re much smaller than kangaroos, typically reaching the height of my hips when standing on their back legs. Here’s a still photo of the wallaby with the brush-turkeys:
A few weeks ago, I filmed a Swamp Wallaby in the same area of the path. It could easily be the same animal. The video shows a good view of the animal’s head and front paws as it munches away at a bush:
In the background on the video, you hear some magpies carolling, a wattle bird squawking, and a lone whip bird calling.
Australian Brush-turkey
Scientific name: Alectura lathami
Approximate length: 60-70 cm
You can see more about this bird, including some chicks and the male’s strange call, in my other posts about Australian Brush-turkeys.
Swamp Wallaby
Scientific name: Wallabia bicolor
Approximate length: 66-85 cm
Date spotted: 12 November 2022 (spring)
Location: Dobroyd Head Track, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’35.5″S 151°16’19.7″E
Sydney Birder 