Grey Currawong

Grey Currawong at our bird bath

When we first moved to our five acre property on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia some 30 years ago, we never saw Grey Currawongs in our garden or even in our small patch of Mallee scrub.

After a few years we occasionally heard them calling in the distance up the hill from our place. Seeing that the hill in question is about a kilometre away one can appreciate how far-reaching their call can go.

Some ten years ago - I am only guessing that it has been about that long - we would occasionally get one or two flying overhead. This might happen every few months or so. As the years elapsed their visits became more frequent, visiting almost every month but never staying for long - perhaps a few minutes at most.

About three years ago these visits were almost weekly and they would even bring their young into our scrub for a feed. More recently several of them have come right up to the house to visit one of our bird baths. The bath in the photo above is only about 5 metres from our dining room window. The proximity allows good photos without disturbing the bird.

I must say that seeing them up close like this is unnerving, especially when you focus on that evil looking yellow eye.

You can read more about Australian birds and see more photos of them on another of my sites called Trevor's Birding.

Welcome Swallows

Welcome Swallow

The lovely little Welcome Swallow is a common bird throughout much of Australia except for the dry interior and northern regions of the continent. They are common around lakes, swamps, rivers and other waterways, swooping low over the water catching insects on the wing. They are also commonly seen throughout their range far from water, skimming over paddocks and pastures wherever they can feed on insects.

The Welcome Swallow makes a lovely bowl shaped mud nest lined with grass and feathers and other soft materials. They often nest under bridges, under the eaves of homes and under people's verandas. When they do this they are sometimes less than "welcome" because the area under the nest can get very messy with their droppings.

These photos were taken last year on a visit to the Dubbo Zoo in mid-western New South Wales.

You can read more stories about Australian birds on my other site Trevor's Birding.

Welcome Swallow

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Some months ago my wife and I visited the Dubbo Zoo, an open-range zoo in the mid-west of New South Wales. This zoo is run by Taronga Zoo in Sydney and is an easy day's drive from Sydney. We had just spent a few weeks with our son and our grandchildren in Sydney and we were having an extended holiday in various parts of the state.

On the first day of our visit to the Dubbo Zoo - tickets are valid for two days as there is so much to see - we sat in the evening calm watching the monkeys in a nearby enclosure near the Visitor Centre. A solitary Sulphur-crested Cockatoo flew in and perched just above where the monkeys were having a feed. This was not a captive bird and like so many of the local birds it wasn't slow about inviting itself to feed on the leftovers from the zoo animals.

Cockatoos, Corellas and Galahs, as well as Lorikeets and many other parrot species are very common throughout Australia. In fact, some years ago I saw a wonderful video about our parrot species and it was titled "Land of Parrots". An apt description of Australia.

You can read more about our Australian birds on my other site called Trevor's Birding here.

Silver Gulls

Silver Gull (with Pacific Black Ducks)

A few days ago my wife called me out into the garden. A flock of about 20 Silver Gulls was soaring and gliding on the breeze above our house and garden, and also parts of our five acre property here in Murray Bridge, South Australia.

This was an unusual sighting for our property. Every few months we do have a few Silver Gulls fly high over, but this flock's behaviour was different. They all stayed only 5 - 10 metres above the trees and shrubs. They did this circling around and around and rarely utterly their usual calls; just the odd contact call occasionally. I can only assume that they had found a patch of insects to feed on during this silent aerial display.

Curious.

You can see more photos and read more stories and encounters with Australian birds on my other site called Trevor's Birding here.

New Holland Honeyeater, Browns Road

Eucalyptus flowers

A few weeks ago I visited a locality known as Brown's Road. This is about a twenty minute drive from my home in Murray Bridge, South Australia.  The area is a mixture of mallee (eucalyptus) woodland and native pine, with an understory of smaller shrubs and plants like acacias (wattles). A good part of this reserve has been planted, not exclusively with local native plants but with some introduced plant species from other parts of Australia. In recent years this has become a popular birding spot with South Australian birders.

On this occasion the birding was very slow and I only saw and heard a handful of birds. Granted, I did not walk too far into the forest because of my aching back. Although I had my camera at the ready, the only bird I managed a photo of was the New Holland Honeyeater shown below.

Other birds seen or heard include:

• White-browed Babblers - seen skulking in the bushes
• Galahs - flying overhead
• White-winged Chough - heard in the distance, and seen on roadside as we drove off
• Red Wattlebird - they wouldn't perch long enough for a photo
• Peaceful Dove - heard nearby
• Grey Fantail - it wouldn't sit still for a photo
• Yellow Thornbill - flitting around in a bush but wouldn't come out to pose
• Silvereye - a small flock flew overhead calling
• Grey Shrike-thrush - heard calling in the distance
• Adelaide Rosella - about four flew quickly through the trees
• Crested Pigeon - several seen perched on the farm fence opposite the reserve
• Weebills - feeding high in the tree canopies

You can see photos of some of these birds by using the "Search" facility in the top right hand corner of each page on this site.

You can also seen photos of all these species and many more on my other site Trevor's Birding.  That site also has many more articles about Australian birds.

New Holland Honeyeater

Browns Road near Murray Bridge, South Australia

Acacia (wattle) in flower at Browns Road, South Australia