Blog Archives
Yellowhammer near Cathedral Cove, New Zealand
As mentioned in my previous post, I’m not in Sydney today. I’m travelling in New Zealand, and spotted a couple of pretty little Yellowhammers at the Cathedral Cove carpark. The Yellowhammer is not a native New Zealand bird. It was introduced into New Zealand from Britain in the late 1800s.
Common name: Yellowhammer
Scientific name: Emberiza citrinella
Approximate length: 16 cm
Date spotted: 7 December 2016
Season: Summer
Location: Cathedral Cove car park, Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve, North Island, New Zealand
Latitude/longitude: 36°49’59.0″S 175°48’00.7″E
Goldfinch near Cathedral Cove, New Zealand
Departing from the usual locations described in this blog, I’m not in Sydney today. I’m travelling in New Zealand, and saw a beautiful little Goldfinch on a thistle bush. Neither the finch nor the thistle is native to New Zealand, but they make a very pretty picture. The bird plucks the seeds from the flowerhead, and a shimmering cloud of silver threads drifts around its beak.
A still image of the same bird – click the image to expand it in your browser:
Common name: European Goldfinch
Scientific name: Passeriformes fringillidae
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 7 December 2016
Season: Summer
Location: Cathedral Cove car park, Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve, North Island, New Zealand
Latitude/longitude: 36°49’59.0″S 175°48’00.7″E
Bird nest with blue trimming
This tidy little bird nest was resting at about knee height on some spiky grass. I guess it must have fallen out of a tree, though it’s possible a bird built it there. I didn’t touch it, so I don’t know how well bound it was to the vegetation.
It’s interesting how the bird wove a piece of blue plastic ribbon into the nest.
I don’t know what type of bird made the nest. It was at Manly Dam, near Sydney, Australia.
Koel Cuckoo regurgitates food
Today I spotted a young female Koel Cuckoo. The males are so dark in colour that it’s hard to see them in fine detail. Photographs end up being just a black blob. But this female is quite pretty.
This video shows the bird sitting quietly on the branch, not doing much. At around 20 seconds into the video, she regurgitates some fruit and then swallows it again.
Adult Koel Cuckoos have red eyes, but youngsters can keep the brown colour into their second summer. I thought I glimpsed a glint of red every now and then, but her eyes are still mostly dark brown.
Here’s another side view of her, sheltering behind the foliage:
She decided to stretch her wings. I was behind her at the time, so there’s a lovely view of soft down and the underside of her wings:
Common name: Common Koel or Eastern Koel
Scientific name: Eudynamys scolopacea
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 27 November 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’35.6″S 151°15’16.8″E
Paradise Shelduck at Manly Dam, Australia
If this is a Paradise Shelduck, it’s rather far from its usual home in New Zealand. I spotted it at Manly Dam, near Sydney in Australia.
It’s a big duck. At first I wasn’t sure whether it was a duck or a goose. This one is a female, as you can tell from its white head and neck. The male has a dark head.
She took to the water:
And showed a bit of ankle:
Common name: Paradise Shelduck
Scientific name: Tadorna variegata
Approximate length: 63-70 cm
Date spotted: 26 November 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’58.0″S 151°15’18.9″E
Purple Swamphen chick
So cute and fluffy! This little Purple Swamphen chick treads lightly on the lily pads, learning survival skills from its mother.
Here’s a nice shot of its stubby wings, and its well-developed feet under a couple of centimetres of water:
Setting off on a bit of exploration:
But staying close to mother:
Common name: Purple Swamphen
Scientific name: Porphyrio porphyrio
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 30 October 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’36.1″S 151°14’48.8″E
Currawong in song
Currawongs are medium-sized birds that look similar to magpies and butcher birds. An easy way to tell them apart is that currawongs don’t have white markings on their heads, where magpies and butcher birds do have white collars or caps. Currawongs have yellow eyes, where magpies’ eyes are red.
The song of the currawong is varied, with clear bell-like sounds, whistles, and yodels. This video shows a currawong listening to the song of others around him, and responding every now and then.
Common name: Pied Currawong
Scientific name: Strepera graculina
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 16 October 2016
Season: Summer
Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia
Approximate latitude/longitude: 33°46’42.1″S 151°14’59.3″E
Cockatoos teasing
Cockatoos are playful, sociable creatures. Yesterday I watched a pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos high in a gum tree. One of them was grooming. The other was teasing its companion, prodding it and seeming very satisfied with the startled response.
A couple of minutes later both of them flare their wings and crests, squawking gleefully.
Common name: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 8 October 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’51.5″S 151°14’51.7″E
Channel-billed Cuckoo fending off Australian Miners
The call of the Channel-billed Cuckoo announces that spring has arrived. These large, ugly, yet splendid birds arrive in Eastern Australia in early spring every year, returning from their seasonal migration to Indonesia and New Guinea.
They’re the largest cuckoos in the world, at a length of around 60 cm and a wingspan of 1 metre. Yet, despite their size, they’re cowed by the little Australian Miner (length 25 cm, wingspan 40 cm). To those who know Australian birds, this isn’t surprising. The Miner, also known as the Noisy Miner, is aggressive and fearless, attacking birds and animals far larger than itself.
In this video you can hear the pesky Australian Miners chirping and heckling, and the cuckoo hissing and groaning in response:
This video shows a couple of Noisy Miners dive-bombing the cuckoo:
Here’s the cuckoo in a moment of quiet contemplation. Note the red eyes and the large, curved beak:
A view of the cuckoo from behind, surrounded by gum tree flowers:
Common name: Channel-billed Cuckoo
Scientific name: Scythrops novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 58-65 cm
Date spotted: 8 October 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’59.1″S 151°15’09.5″E
King Parrots on my commute
Not many people in the world are lucky enough to be able to say this: I bumped into a couple of King Parrots on my way home from work the other day.
We see a few different varieties of parrots around the neighbourhood. King Parrots aren’t a very common sight – I see them maybe two or three times a year. One of their charming characteristics is that they’re always in pairs. See one, and the other isn’t far away.
These two were investigating some seeds on the ground. They let me get quite close, and flew off when I was about a metre away.
Common name: Australian King Parrot
Scientific name: Alisterus scapularis
Approximate length: 44 cm
Date spotted: 5 October 2016
Season: Spring
Location: Allambie Heights, New South Wales, Australia
Approximate latitude/longitude: 33°46’13.2″S 151°15’41.1″E
Sydney Birder 