Tag: Australia

Boobook …

Anticipating a hot day I got out early for my bird walk and had a fairly productive morning. After a swim I took refuge from the heat.

In the hottest part of the afternoon a visitor delivered the news that there was an owl near the front gate much to the annoyance of the small birds of the neighbourhood.

I hastened forth camera in hand, followed the protests of some White-plumed Honeyeaters and there he was …

Southern Boobook

I say he because it is quite a small individual. The females are larger. It puts up with the harassment of small birds with remarkable stoicism perhaps secure in the knowledge that it can take its revenge after dark. As well as small birds they also take mice and flying insects.

There are a number of subspecies (although what that number is varies from authority to authority). The chest marking of this character are typical of the race Ninox novaeseelandiae boobook.

Honey flow …

It started a week or so ago with a few isolated trees, now most of the River Reddies in the neighbourhood are in flower. The smell is just like honey.

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

The River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) is Australia’s most widespread eucalypt found mainly along watercourses in otherwise fairly dry country. Flowering occurs mainly in December and January but it’s not every year that we get a big flowering event like this one.

There are always a few hives in the local woodland reserve but the beekeepers have been quick to recognise the potential and were busy installing reinforcements this morning …

There haven’t been a lot of lorikeets or honeyeaters about lately but I expect that to change in coming days.

Dragonfly …

Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Well something like that although this one was encountered in dry woodland devoid of grass and certainly devoid of dew.

There is a handy key to Australian Dragon and Damselflies <HERE> from which I learnt that this is a Tau Emerald (Hemicordulia tau).

East …

Some birds are residents, some are migrants. Some birds just wander around in response to conditions, none of them care a fig about state boundaries. So if you hang out near the borders of your state or territory your list will grow.

I live in the western half of Victoria where sooner or later you can expect to find Budgerigars, Diamond Doves, Black and Pied Honeyeaters and other occasional visitors. These are birds that spill out of the more arid interior.

Over in the east of the state their counterparts are birds of the east coast forests that wander around the corner from New South Wales, usually in summer. There have been reports recently of a few congregating in one particular front yard in the little town of Metung. It seemed a good time to put in some time in the Gippsland Lakes region. The weather gods thought it might be a good time to visit the same area.

The Fig Trees of Mairburn Road deserve to be as famous as the Flame Trees of Thika. In the space of half an hour I saw Koel, Channelbill Cuckoo, Topknot Pigeon, White-headed Pigeon and Figbird. All in or close to two enormous Morton Bay Figs thoughtfully planted as ornamentals in somebody’s front garden. Thanks, mate.

These three were new to my Victorian list …

Channel-billed Cuckoo
Topknot Pigeon
Figbird

You can’t spend all your time pointing your binoculars and telephoto lens into fig trees in people’s front gardens. You have to consider the Grevilleas in their back gardens …

Eastern Spinebill
Little Wattlebird

and maybe even wander into the forest …

Spotted Pardalote

Lawrence Rocks …

The view from outer space (courtesy of Google Earth) shows the guano on Lawrence Rocks. You can also just make out a tiny spot more on Point Danger, the nearest point on the mainland. The cloacas at work belong to these …

Australasian Gannet

The colony on the rocks spilled over onto Point Danger, the only mainland breeding colony of Australasian Gannets. It’s survival has been greatly assisted by fencing that keeps out foxes and other terrestrial predators.

The rocks also provide a resting place for Black-faced Cormorants and Australian Fur Seals. In winter the White-fronted Terns can usually be seen here. Crested Terns are common all year.