Wild Bird Wednesday - Common Suburban Birds of Sydney

Back on line after my trip to Sydney, 

had lots of fun 

and my son took me to interesting places

a one and a half hour drive and a ferry ride

took us to The Basin off Palm Beach

where we found these common birds:

above, Kookaburra

crow

wood ducks wandering

and feeding.

Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

World Bird Wednesday - Just a few Ducks

On a walk along the Gawler River these three young ducks

were on the path in front of my feet. Sorry, the pictures should

read from the bottom up.

Here they are about to go slowly over the side of the bank but

they certainly did not scuttle away at my approach.

The prettily marked Wood Duck posing ,

the drake looking me in the eye

and here are the three youngsters genteelly leaving the path

to let me past. Sorry there is no more today, I took so many

pictures at our dam that I have as yet not had a chance to get

them sorted.

To enjoy birds from all over the world, click on the logo and add your

post to swell the numbers of participants..

World Bird Wednesday & Nature Notes - Around the Farm . . .

New boy on the block and a lifer for me, Horsefield's Bronze-

Cuckoo, Chalcites basalis, conveniently sitting on the power

line to our house. I heard the unfamiliar call and made a dive

for the camera.

Much as I like to see a new addition to our home birds, this

is one I would prefer to see elsewhere since the dear girl lays

her egg into our little Superb Blue Wren nests just when our

blue wren population has increased again and we dearly love

those cheerful streaks of blue in the garden.

I tried to get a shot at the wing that has a shimmer of green

but the bird was unobliging and did not turn around.

With warm days and rain, the weeds have grown to high heaven

but even so I spotted this Stumpy-Tail Lizard having a feed of,

and this surprised me, of all things the sharp and spicy green

seed-pods of the wild radish.

I had never before given any thought to what these creatures eat.

I am always happy when I see them in the garden since they use

the same nesting holes as snakes and if you know a lizard inhabits

a certain hole, it is unlikely that a snake does as well. Of the two

reptiles, the lizard usually manages to protect the hole.

This is only a teenager at most, isn't he/she cute?

Moving to the dam in the park, a White-faced Heron and

Wood-Duck companion sitting on the children's diving platform.

On the vantage point of one of the birches we lost in the drought,

an Adelaide Rosella poses. The beauty of my new camera is that

I have a much longer reach as these birds are notoriously shy here.

My evening walk bagged this Shrike-Thrush with it's late

supper. I really thought it was too dark for photos but the

camera surprised me

and lastly, a Sacred Ibis, again at the dam. This is the first

time in 20 years that I have spotted one on our home turf.

Who knows what I shall bag next week? As you see, I have been

exercising my new Canon EOS 600 D and am reasonably pleased

with it.

Wonder over to WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY and Nature Notes and

check out what else is going on. Both memes are accessible from the

relevant Logos on my side bar.

World Bird Wednesday - Birds in the Wild Wood

While walking in our little Wild Wood the other day a Wood

Duck took to the sky at my sudden appearance at the dam.

It flew like a speeding train, if you enlarge it, you will see the

relative speed of duck to background.

Then, in a tree near by, a Willy-wagtail started serenading me,

lifting up his head in song

and really getting into the swing of things. I was rather chuffed

by his solo performance just for my delectation.

Moving along, I gathered this little Superb Blue Wren to my

bag for the day. He must be a young male, the blue was quite

light compared to the mature males we see strutting their

thing in full mating plumage.

Thank you Springman for providing this venue for sharing our birds.

Just click on the Logo and add yours too.

Bird Photography Weekly ~ 2

I believe this little bird to be a Yellow-tailed
Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa. Size: less
than 10cm. I am happy to be contradicted.



Eastern Striated Pardalote, Pardalotus ornatus
in the native vegetation side of our park.



New Holland Honeyeater, Phylidonyris
novahollandiae in our park



and singing it's heart out on the west coast of the
Eyre Peninsula at Coffin Bay



For something a little bigger, a pair of Wood Duck,
Chenonetta jubata near the pond in the park.



My thanks to the Birdfreak Team for hosting
this world wide exchange of birds near us.

To see many beautiful birds, click on Logo
on the right.