More birds in the garden

It was a wet November day, but the King Parrots didn't seem to mind too much, in fact they seemed to be happy to be out in the weather. We've seen them occasionally fly by or land in a tree but this time they stayed for a munch on the old seeds. They are lovely looking birds. I'm so glad we had them around. Here is a photograph of the male, the female was nearby, the females  have green heads.

Our Trip to Southbank

On our recent trip to Southbank, Brisbane in November, the weather was overcast and clearing to a hot sunny day, we saw some interesting birds and some common birds. The bird on the left is Buff-banded Rail. They like to live in well hidden grass in dense vegetation and are common in south-western, northern, eastern, south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania.

One of my favorites when I go to Brisbane is the Australian Brush-turkey, they cause havoc in the garden, but I still like them. When disturbed they like to hide in trees and look like strange vultures. Interestly, the Australian Brush-turkey has a lilac wattle (the colour around their neck) when found in Cape York whereas the we found was yellow.

Not far from the Australian Brush-turkey I found the Australian White Ibis. This white Ibis with black naked head and neck and with black plumes and feathers near tail. Sometimes shows scarlet naked skill on under-wing in flight.

The Pied Butcherbird is common in woodland, farms, roadside,towns, plains where there are enough trees for cover. Their voice is like a fluting piping and mimicry, loud 'zwit' of alarm. 


Sourced The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, second edition.

Figbird in the garden

At the end of November I noticed two birds in the back of our garden. I'd seen them before, often in larger groups but since I've been so ignorant of birds I didn't know what they were. The two birds looked identical except for the colour around the head. Especially around the eye. The picture is of the male the other was a female as it lacked the red colour around the eye.