Spotted Pardalote - Best Nest Building

At the side of my garden lawn is a low brick wall with small gaps at the second lowest course (the lowest course now being below ground level). Behind the wall is my vegetable garden. This morning I saw two little birds flying in and out of the hole. I looked up my Slatters Bird Guide and noted them to be a pair of Spotted Pardalotes, the female being the red-rumped form. They would fly with a beak full of fibrous material to an acacia which has only recently stopped flowering. They'd then take turns in flying into the hole and presumably creating their nest.

The male Spotted Pardalote

Well-hidden nesting site

Slatters guide says that the Pardalote can occur in sclerophyl forest and woodland and typically makes its nest in earth banks.

It will be interesting to watch over the coming months how the family goes.

Australian Darter

While working near Emigrant Creek Dam I espied this Darter spreading its wings. At first I thought it was a cormorant but a quick check of the coloured stripe on the face showed it to be otherwise. Much work has been carried out by the local water authority to improve the native vegetation around the edge of Emigrant Creek Dam but in the dam the most common fish is the Coy Carp. I suppose that this darter enjoys the Carp as much as it enjoys any native fish.

Not exactly a bird

Going for little walk by the river at South Lismore my wife espied this lovely echidna wandering out of the weedy bush at the rivers bank. It was a nice sunny winters day.

Superb Fairy Wren in the Grass

The wonderful thing about our garden is the number of birds and the variety. They are lovely things but usually so hard to photograph. I managed to get a good picture of this Superb Fairy Wren on the grass he had his girl with him. I'll have to upload a picture of the lady later. The little fellow was exploring after having a drink and a wash. Coming into a dry period now and getting a little hotter as summer is on the way.

Male Superb Fairy Wren

Superb Fairy Wren

Winter is well and truly set in, June is almost over. The morning has an occasional frost and the birds seem to be braver when searching for food. I spied this Superb Fairy Wren in the garden. It was with its lady friends who lack the blue colour of the male. I've been trying to take a photo of this little fellow for quite some time but he is usually too quick to get a good picture. I just managed to get this snap of him while he was checking out the bird feeder. Previously he'd been hopping through the onions, celery and beans in the vegetable patch.

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.