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16 December, 2005

An immature Channel-billed Cuckoo - 
raised by Torresian Crows and now trying to fend for itself.

A splendid male King Parrot in a young Acacia salicina was the first bird I saw when 
I stepped onto the verandah around 6 o'clock this-morning.

15 December, 2005 - A moment of excitement!

Sitting quietly at my desk a few minutes ago, then a moment later yelling out to Eileen 
"New bird for Abberton" and reaching for the camera and binoculars at the same time
as we both race out to the verandah to look at two beautiful little parrots!

Musk Lorikeets are common enough up the range in Toowoomba, but very scarce down here in the valley.
Most of our eucalypts here are in full flower at the moment, so I guess that is what has pulled them in 
to join our regular Scaly-breasted Lorikeets and less frequent Little Lorikeets.

Around dusk every night there is a change of shifts, and these warm summer evenings are full of the sounds 
of Flying Foxes feeding and squabbling right alongside the house in the same trees that 
the lorikeets feast in during the day.
   

December, 2005

and two Pink-eared Duck and a Wandering Whistling Duck.

Spring 2005

 August, 2005 - Birds everywhere!

Brown Quail, photographed through a window.

We seem to be surrounded by Brown Quail at present!  
It's not unusual to see them here, but I just replaced all the windows along one side 
of the house with larger panes of clear glass, and we're beginning to realise that the
quail are on one side or other of the house, or under it, pretty well all day every day.

  We've hardly had a winter, and the place is generally alive with birds. 
As I write, I can see Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and Zebra Finches on the ground 
outside my window, and two Speckled Warblers are bathing in the pool on the rock nearby. 
Striated Pardalotes and a Mistletoebird are calling, and a Wedge-tailed Eagle is
soaring way up overhead. I'll be glad to finish this and get outside to see what else is about!

  
Little Eagle, a fairly regular winter visitor here, first spotted in a tree across the creek, 
and shortly after showing its distinctive underwing in flight. 

15 June 2005 - Western Gerygone, Plumheads and more

  Western Gerygone is only a very occasional winter bird here, but we have had two at Abberton for a 
week or so. They sing quite a lot, and really do sound rather like a White-throated Gerygone 
suddenly running into a brick wall just before the end of its song!

click image to enlarge
Male Rose Robin 

Other winter birds for us are turning up, such as Rose Robins, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters 
and buff-flanked Silvereyes from down South.

 Speckled Warblers are around the garden in numbers. I've counted as many as ten spread around the place on just a short walk. The creek is for the most part dry just now, and the Speckled Warblers are into it like cattle on the long paddock.  

There have been plenty of Plumheaded Finches around the valley, and a couple 
dropped into the garden on Sunday, which led me to wonder if they've maybe recently 
shifted their current roost closer to us, in which case we can look forward to an influx 
for a few weeks. Then last night, as we were sitting on the verandah not long before 
dusk, we saw the familiar sight (and heard the familiar sound) of small parties of 
Plumheads passing overhead on their way to roost. They were heading a bit upstream 
of the house, and I don't know whether the roost is on Abberton or not, but they do 
favour waterside vegetation for their roosts be it reedbeds or cane-grass or whatever 
- and there are plenty of options for them here.

   Square-tailed Kite is pretty regular in May/June, and we had great views of one low 
and almost overhead as we drove in to Gatton the other day.

Yellow Thornbill and White-throated Gerygone (above) are just about everpresent.
Black-faced Monarch below is only an occasional visitor to us. 

Red-necked Avocets  

June 2005

Lake Freeman held a lot of good birds yesterday afternoon. I found about 9 pairs of 
Aussie Shoveler, 2 Freckled Duck, 3 pairs of Cotton Pygmy-goose along with two full 
grown imms, lots of Pink-eared Duck, hordes of Plumed Whistling-duck, Chestnut Teal, 
in fact 12 duck species in all as well as Magpie Geese and Black Swans with young. 

 
Whistling Kites

There were about a dozen Comb-crested Jacana, Glossy Ibis, herons, spoonbills, 
and 23 other waterbird species, as well as White-bellied Sea-eagle, Whistling Kite, 
Black-shouldered Kite, and lots more.  

9 May 2005 - A lot going on  

A Collared Sparrowhawk came down to a birdbath on Saturday, and just sat there
for some time - as they do. Then she shifted into an adjacent tree, allowing me to 
take some photos from the fringes of the house.

An influx of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos yesterday afternoon - 30 or so. 
They've just about cleaned out the fruit from the White Cedars, but they're happy 
to get stuck into the bigger eucalypts.

  
click image to enlarge
Friends Mark and Pauline, just up the road, have had a Southern Boobook in their 
garden for several days. It's become quite regular in its favourite tree.

Female Speckled Warbler

This-morning we had five Speckled Warblers rummaging around the litter 
that is our presently dry garden. Yellow-faced Honeyeaters have turned up, as they 
do every autumn, along with southern Silvereyes. 

There are Rose Robins around in the valley, but none in the garden yet this season. 

I spent a few days with a visitor from the US last week and between us we turned up more than 
160 spp, but that did include a couple of days outside the valley. 

   A very nice little group of waders at Thorneside included Pacific Golden Plover, 
Bar-tailed Godwits, Great Knot, Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper and Curlew Sandpiper 
- all neatly juxtaposed for ease of identification, with Black-winged Stilts and Silver Gulls 
nearby to give some size perspective, and Collared Kingfishers dotted along the shore, 
plus the most brilliantly coloured Sacred Kingfisher I have ever seen - also sitting on the shoreline!

April 2005

This Tawny Frogmouth came in to sit quietly on a rail 
close by the house this-evening.

A couple of days ago, we were startled by what appeared to be a Snow Bunting in the birdbath!

But, no it wasn't a new record for Australia (or the Southern Hemisphere) 
- it was just a leucistic House Sparrow.  

Black-tailed Godwits on Lake Atkinson - providing
an interesting size comparison with the Black-winged Stilt

Black-tailed Godwits occur on our inland lakes every spring and summer,
but I've yet to see a Bar-tailed Godwit away from the coast.

March, 2005

 
I was sitting at my desk when this Wedge-tailed Eagle landed under a tree outside - 
I tried to creep up on him, but this is as far as I got.

Welcome Swallow avoiding the heat of 
the day under a Hotel's awning.

 
Spangled Drongo and Silvereyes

Grey Goshawk

A week or so back, a Grey Goshawk dropped into a tree adjacent to the window 
- we glanced at each other and it was gone. But, when I took a walk on Easter Sunday, 
there he was again, settled quietly and apparently comfortably in another tree at 
the other end of the garden. 

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos were quiet here at the beginning of the month,
but have recently reappeared in the garden in noisy feeding parties of up to 30 birds.
 I guess they ate all the available ripe fruit last month, then gave us a rest until some more matured.

Male bird above, and male and female below.

 
Glossy Ibis are ever-present around the valley these days. 
The bird in the foreground (above right) is a Black-tailed Godwit - one of 12 at the same lake.

From the right: Two Little Black Cormorants, Great Cormorant, 
Little Pied Cormorant (outlined against the wing of the Great Cormorant), 
Pied Cormorant and then several immature Darters

...among them, this male Red-backed Fairywren, who is in the process of losing his 
summer finery, and entering eclipse plumage.

Red-backed Fairywren

White-browed Scrubwren taking food to its nest

This year however, they persevered in building a bulky domed nest, just skirting anyone 
who happened to be on the verandah as they were coming and going, and persevered -
successfully bringing three young birds out of the nest just a few days ago.

Rainbow Lorikeet atop the sunflower,
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet and Galah looking on.

February, 2005

The most common Woodswallow in the valley is the White-breasted

 
 
White-throated Honeyeaters
(above and below)

Male Peaceful Dove displaying

 
This bird is one of a group of four Myiagra flycatchers that spent a few days here this month.

It isn't always a simple matter separating female Leaden and Satin Flycatchers, but 
after much soul-searching and consultation with friends and colleagues, I can't find 
anything definitive about these birds that marks them out as Satin Flycatchers 
- or anything that says that they couldn't be Leaden Flycatchers.

Leaden Flycatchers are regular here, Satin Flycatchers are not. 
The males are not so hard to tell apart.

 
 
Nankeen Kestrel - maybe the most common raptor in the valley 
and a typically stripy-faced juvenile Australasian Grebe, possibly the most common waterbird.   

January, 2005

It's hard to resist photographing Silvereyes, particularly when they're bathing

  
click image to enlarge
Nearly adult male Common Koel at the rock pool

 
 - and a female

Two young Dollarbirds braving the elements