Blog Archives
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
Juvenile Crimson Rosella in Hazelgrove, NSW
A group of four young Crimson Rosellas gathered around a cabin that I was staying in this weekend, in the region of Hazelgrove. That’s west of the Blue Mountains, about three hours’ drive from Sydney.
At first, it was difficult to identify the birds. Other Crimson Rosellas that I’ve seen are red and blue, like the one in my earlier post. After some research, I discovered that the juvenile birds are mostly green instead of red, though they do have the characteristic red and blue markings on their heads.
Here are two of the birds that I saw this weekend:
They were posing nicely on a rusty shed roof, for maximum warmth of colour!
Common name: Crimson Rosella
Scientific name: Platycercus elegans elegans
Approximate length: 35 cm
Date spotted: 15 April 2023 (autumn)
Approximate location: Hazelgrove, New South Wales, Australia (map)
Musk Lorikeet drops by
Very occasionally, we’re lucky enough to see Musk Lorikeets in the gum trees around our house. Today was such a day:
They’re pretty little parrots, with a clearly-defined red mask around their eyes. Their predominant colour is green, with tinges of red, blue, and yellow.
The more boldly-coloured Rainbow Lorikeets are frequent visitors. It’s a treat when I hear the slightly different trilling call of the Musk Lorikeets, grab my camera, and am rewarded with a view like the ones in this post.
The lorikeets come to drink the nectar from the gum tree flowers. Here’s another view of the same Musk Lorikeet:
Common name: Musk Lorikeet
Scientific name: Glossopsitta concinna
Approximate length: 23 cm
Date spotted: 3 April 2023 (autumn)
Location: Allambie Heights, New South Wales, Australia
White-faced Heron in Sydney Harbour
This White-faced Heron sat on a branch overlooking a Sydney Harbour inlet. I think the bird is a juvenile, judging by its soft colouring:
Common name: White-faced Heron
Scientific name: Ardea novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 66-69 cm
Date spotted: 1 April 2023 (autumn)
Location: North Harbour Walk, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’59.9″S 151°16’04.0″E
Soft colours of a young Little Wattlebird
This bird was busy gathering food on an Old Man Banksia tree (Banksia serrata). It has a small insect in its beak:
I think the bird is a Little Wattlebird, though others that I’ve seen have been darker and greyer in colour. Perhaps it’s a juvenile. I considered an oriole, but the stripes on this bird’s chest are more like those of a wattlebird than an oriole, and the shapes of the beak and head are closer to those of a wattlebird too.
Little Wattlebirds don’t have the red wattles that give this genus its name. These birds are classified as honeyeaters, but like most honeyeaters they’ll grab a passing insect too. This bird was at Dobroyd Head, one of the pieces of land that jut into Sydney Harbour.
Here’s a view that shows more of the wings and back:
Common name: Little Wattlebird
Scientific name: Anthochaera chrysoptera
Approximate length: 30 cm
Date spotted: 11 March 2023 (autumn)
Location: Dobroyd Head Track, Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’33.2″S 151°16’14.1″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
The quiet of the duck
It’s early morning on New Year’s Day in the park. The air is still, the crowds haven’t yet arrived. The ducks putter around as only ducks can do.
I’m at Manly Dam park near Sydney. On a quiet morning, the dam water reflects the hills and forest all round. The oranges, browns, and reds in this scene aren’t seasonal, though they do bring autumn to mind. They show the path of a recent fire — a hazard reduction burn conducted to reduce the risk of more damaging fires as summer draws on.
Among the ducks were this Pacific Black Duck:
A male Australian Wood Duck:
A female Australian Wood Duck:
And a female Mallard with a gorgeous yellow-green beak:
For me as watcher, the meanderings of the ducks enhanced the quiet of the early morning scene.
Oh yes, and there’s a Brush Turkey on the right too!
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
Noisy Friarbird on nest at Coxs River
Off the beaten track for a day, I was delighted to see a Noisy Friarbird. Even more delightful was the fact that the bird was one of two taking turns to look after a nest:
The video shows one of the birds on the nest. It looks like there might be a youngster already hatched, because the bird seems to be passing something down into the nest (food?) and taking something else out (excrement?). At the end of the video, I panned out to show the lovely setting that the birds have chosen for their nest. It’s above Coxs River, with high trees and flowing water all round.
This is the first time I’ve seen a Noisy Friarbird. Indeed, it’s only the second friarbird that I’ve ever seen — the first was a Helmeted Friarbird up in North Queensland.
The nest is quite large and deep. It’s made of leaves, bark, and grass. Evidently the birds bind it together with spiderweb. Here’s a picture of one of the two birds sitting on the nest:
Noisy Friarbirds have a distinctive, slightly scary head: it’s bare of feathers, so that it looks a bit like a long black skull. Then there’s the large beak, with a knob on top. Not the prettiest of faces. The rest of the bird is quite pretty though, with creamy dappled white feathers below and soft browns and greys above, finished off with a white-tipped tail.
A few times, the birds would dive down steeply and fly horizontally just above the water. I think they were probably grabbing dragonflies and other insects as a tasty morsel:
This bird has something in its beak:
Common name: Noisy Friarbird
Scientific name: Philemon corniculatus
Approximate length: 30-35 cm
Date spotted: 23 December 2022 (summer)
Location: Coxs River Campground, Ganbenang, New South Wales, Australia: 33°44’35.1″S 150°10’45.1″E
Coxs River Campground is accessible only by four wheel drive. It’s a beautiful, restful spot, though it can get quite busy at times:
Brown pigeon in Sydney but not a Brown Cuckoo-Dove?
This lovely brown pigeon perched on a post at Pyrmont in Sydney. Does anyone know what type of pigeon it is?
Here’s a closeup of the bird:
It doesn’t look like a Brown Cuckoo-Dove (Macropygia amboinensis) — the colouring isn’t quite right. This bird has a light-coloured beak and a light ring around its eye. Its chest plumage is as dark as the wings. Also, I don’t think its tail is long enough for a cuckoo-dove.
This picture shows the bird from a different angle, so that you can see its back, wings and tail:
Here’s a picture of the bird flying off:
Common name: Pigeon
Scientific name: Unknown
Date spotted: 21 December 2022 (summer)
Location: Pyrmont, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: 33°52’03.7″S 151°11’48.8″E
Sydney Birder 