Friday, October 20, 2017

Some Birds of Our Area

Being rural and almost surrounded by National Parks, we get a lot of native birds in our vicinity.
Most are welcome, a few are not.
So here's a rundown on some we encounter.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo,  Galah








The sulphur crested cockatoos usually arrive in flocks and are very interested in our lemons which they devour in quantity. They like the unripe plums, peaches and pears too. We have plenty of lemons and have given up trying to protect the other fruit so they are not a problem.
The black cockatoos have adapted to eating the newly formed cones on the exotic radiata pine trees that are grown in Australia in plantations for cheap timber and paper pulp. They arrive in very noisy screeching flocks into our pine tree at that time of the year. Unfortunately it grows next to our studio and they drop the partially eaten cones on the corrugated iron roof which sounds like someone is shooting at us.
Galah can also be an Australian slang word for a stupid person. It is apt as these birds carry on in their flocks in quite crazy ways. They are grass seed eaters.
Gang Gang                                           Corella
Very occasionally we get a visit from pairs of gang gangs and the odd flock of corellas.
Even more colourful are the Rosellas and King parrots. The former like the native flowers for nectar. The latter only seem to come when our catoneasta has its berries ripe. They are usually in pairs and the female is much duller than the male.
Crimson Rosella                Eastern Rosella               King Parrot
Then there are the Rainbow Lorikeets. They swarm in in great numbers when the native and exotic trees are in flower. Noisily screeching and bickering with each other, they are regular welcome visitors. But in many parts of the country they are pests and can decimate fruit crops very quickly. I know if I didn't have the grapes netted they might not be so welcome.





















Regular visitors are Kookaburras. They are a member of the kingfisher family and are carnivorous. They eat worms, lizards and even small snakes. They stalk their prey, catch it and then dispatch it by hitting it on a hard surface before swallowing.

















They can become very tame and people regularly feed them meat scraps etc. We have resisted doing this to keep them wild and non dependent.
I have experienced them stealing sausages off Bar B Qs and people's plates during park picnics.
Their call (or laugh) is considered the sound of the Australian bush but they are just marking out their territories.
And finally a not so welcome visitor.
The dreaded Koel.
The Common Koel is a large migratory cuckoo which flies to Australia from New Guinea, Indonesia and possibly the Philippines arriving usually in September. It breeds mostly in Queensland and NSW as far south as our area. They remain until March or April, when they return to their non-breeding grounds.
It has the most annoyingly loud call which can go on for hours and hours from VERY early morning to dark.
I don't know anyone who eventually doesn't want to throttle this bird.
So there you have some of our feathered friends.
There are many more but will leave that for another time.

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