The Little wattlebird is a honeyeater found in south eastern Australia
I am happy to report that I have finally spotted a native bird visiting my native garden that I planted a few months ago back in early autumn!
A Little wattlebird has been feeding on a native shrub, a Bonnie Prince Charlie grevillea.
I think the bird has claimed this plant for itself as it visits regularly!
I even saw it lying next to the plant in the sunshine one afternoon with its wings all spread out. It worried me at first, but then I remembered birds often do this to get rid of mites in their feathers.
One day I even spotted the bird on the fence making alarm calls.
I think a snake had been making its way through neighbouring properties as I first heard someone’s chickens going off, then when they stopped, this wattlebird and a few other birds landed on the fence and trees close by and were making panicky sounds. Have a listen.
Now that we are in spring, here’s hoping more native birds come to check out my garden as the plants come into bloom. 🙂
Back in June I was walking at Tamar Island Wetlands and spotted a few yellow tailed black cockatoos. They were having a good old go at the branches of a gum tree, probably looking for insect borers that they like to eat.
These beautiful birds are quite large, around 66cm in length. They have a distinct call which makes people look up trying to spot them as they fly over almost in slow motion.
The European goldfinch is an introduced bird to Australia. It was released in the 1860s in urban areas but the species quickly adapted to their new environment and expanded out in the country areas. Today these birds can be seen all around Australia, including Tasmania.
The European goldfinch is a very colourful bird, but being a fast moving little finch, they can be difficult to photograph. It’s nice to occasionally see a small charm of these finches picking up seeds in my backyard or along the end of the track at the Tamar Island Wetlands, as can be seen in my video below.
I’m excited to share a short video I took recently of the amazing flying patterns of starlings known as murmurations.
I only happened upon it by accident one evening as I was near the end of my walk at the Tamar Island Wetlands. It was totally unexpected, and since then, I have taken my camera with me and tried to get some video of the starlings incredible flying formation. However, it’s difficult because they don’t seem to fly like this all the time, and now as winter approaches, I can’t get there early enough.
Amazing isn’t it! I could watch this all day! 🙂
There has to be hundreds of starlings coming in to settle for the night at the Wetlands. It certainly sounded like it when I walked past them! I wonder what they were saying to each other?
The European starling (also known as the Common starling) is an introduced and invasive bird here in Australia, but even so, it is a very pretty bird when the sun shines on them exposing their metallic rainbow of colours, and they also have a beautiful song.
European starling (not my photo)
Have you ever seen a murmuration of starlings or any other bird?
The last few weeks I have noticed a welcome swallow perched on the railing on the front porch or on one of my window sills. He is there so often, I’ve called him Frankie. Isn’t he cute?
Welcome swallows are a common bird native to Australia. They are mad flyers, catching their food on the fly. They fly so fast it can be quite difficult to get a good photo of them. But they are a joy to watch as they fly overhead catching insects.
I haven’t seen much of these birds before now, but one swallow seems to like my house (or perhaps it’s the mirror tint on the windows!). Of course, I can’t tell if it’s the same bird I see all the time, but it’s funny how this bird perches on the front railing watching me when I get home from work almost everyday, like it’s welcoming me home. 🙂
Even on rainy days, Frankie is there.
One time I caught Frankie sunbathing on a window sill. At first I thought something was wrong with him, but then I realised he was simply enjoying some warmth in the sun on a cool day.
(Yes, I know I need to clean the windows :D)
Welcome swallows have a delightful call, I have come to easily recognise it now since Frankie visits practically everyday and lets me know he’s there by his singing.
And here he is again on another day. I love the leg stretch!
I enjoy Frankie’s visits, I hope he keeps coming back. 🙂
Many Australians may be familiar with the little black and white pied butcherbirds that frequent parks and backyards and their beautiful bird song they have, but something I discovered recently was that they are mimics, and rather good ones at that!
Pied Butcherbird
One of my regular pied butcherbirds was visiting on the veranda and I was inside the house listening to it singing away merrily and then I thought I could hear other bird calls in amongst its tunes. Being curious, I grabbed my camera and went out onto the veranda and waited. After a bit, the bird started singing again and then I heard it sing a currawong call! I started filming and was blown away by all the different bird calls this pied butcherbird sang, it was amazing!
This little birdie sang for quite a long time, so I have just taken the last 2 minutes of the recording which shows the variety of bird calls it was imitating. Have a listen for yourself:
No one believed me until I showed them my video. I have been visited by this bird a few times now on rainy days, and it is such a treat to listen to all its tunes. Maybe it gets bored and wants to entertain me! 😀
Some welcome rain in March (but maybe a little bit too much!) made for a very tropical climate for the beginning of autumn. There was plenty of wildlife around plus I also had the opportunity to capture some bird audio recordings which might be of interest to my overseas readers.
One morning, a couple of sulphur crested cockatoos dropped by to be annoying as they were screeching and carrying on as they do. This is the only one that sat still for a minute before taking off with the others and leaving us all in peace.
The eastern water dragon isn’t seen as often now, but here he is basking in the late afternoon sun.
The kookaburra family is often seen in the surrounding gum trees or perched on my veranda. The baby kookaburra is on the far right of the photo and it’s getting harder to tell the difference between them all now. (I think the one on the far left is having a bad hair day!)
I’ve seen more and more of the lovely grey butcherbirds and regularly hear their melody during the day.
Here is just a snapshot of some of its calls:
I am still visited by the grey butcherbird’s nemesis, the pied butcherbirds, who also have a lovely repertoire.
Pied Butcherbird
Here’s just a sample of their song:
And here’s a quick snippet of another of the pied butcherbird’s song, this one near the end sounds like the bit in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind when they are playing the musical notes with the alien ship. 😀
The pied currawong is one of my favourite birds. This is the male of the adult pair that live around my home.
Pied Currawong
I love the different calls of this bird and I managed to capture them calling just on dusk one day.
This is a noisy miner, a very common bird and a nuisance a lot of the time. Small and gregarious, these birds often gang up on other birds.
Noisy Miner
I got this recording when there were about 8 of these birds in a tree carrying on about something.
Here’s my magpie family, Maggie on the left and one of her juveniles on the right.
Adult Magpie
Juvenile Magpie
The carrolling of the magpie has to be one of the most recognised bird calls of Australia.
Hope you enjoyed seeing (and hearing) some of my backyard wildlife visitors.
This is my participation in a monthly event called Wildlife Wednesdays hosted by Tina of My Gardner Says… You can see the wildlife visitors of other participants here.
My Wild Australia 