Thursday, June 28, 2012

180.) Glorious randomness

Nancy and I went back out to our little Hinterland Rainforest patch to spy out the Noisy Pitta. He was cooperative and came out from beneath the low shrubs under which he usually hides. We hope he find enough to eat and decides to spend the winter!


Claire ( a fellow birder) snapped this shot of Big lens; small bird, down in Sundown. Quite fun, and unusual to have a robin come this close.

Here he is with minimal cropping!
Red Capped Robin























A local Chestnut Mannikin

A scarlet honey eater - another of the high canopy birds I am still trying to get close to.
This female Spotted Pardalote came to look at me  after I 'pished' (basically a shushing sound) but then stayed on this close branch for minutes displaying body language which I would only call 'curiosity' as the shutter clicked away! Quite endearing.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

178.) He's here!

Noisy Pitta
A big hurrah for the Hinterland Regional Park Bushcare Group for creating a haven for a migrating Noisy Pitta!  It's remarkable for us to see this rainforest bird in suburban Mudgeeraba, and it only happened because a group of hard-working people had the vision and dedication to transform a cow pasture of 30 years ago into a range of ecosystems, including a rainforest patch.

Now if we could only get rid of a few thousand suburban houses....

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

168) Oh Frabjous day!

 We headed back down to Sundown Nat'l Park for the Queens Birthday long weekend. 
This Red Capped Robin was a complete poser who seemed fascinated by the sounds of my camera shutter. I was waiting for him to land on the camera!!

More to come!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

167) Local Rarities



Winter has arrived (such as it is in OZ). This means that some hard to find birds have moved down into our "local areas." We have been trying to get a good view of a Rose Robin for a long time. We followed the news of a flurry of sightings in the last month and miraculously located this gorgeous guy at an area new to us. Given their bright colors they can be remarkably hard to see - their all-charcoal grey backs blend into the woods quite well!


We're fond of the Bush Stone-Curlews, they show up in the most unlikely spots, like this one at the ferry terminal parking lot.  They freeze when they know you've spotted them, hoping you'll forget they're there and wander away, putting them out of danger.  At night, their wails carry far and wide, if you're lucky enough to camp near to them (we have been). 
The Golden Whistlers are gorgeous no matter how many times we see them.  And we finally figured out the little gray birds with the yellow under the tail that always befuddled us.  They're the female Golden Whistlers.













Dirk's favourite pardalote pair are still working on the hole for their nest.  They're very industrious little birds, it's still amazing to see that such tiny beings exist.


A charming White-throated Honeyeater. Unfortunately I did not catch the Yellow-faced Honeyeater which was a new one for us.



I was so surprised to see this Black-Shouldered Kite so close at hand, I had to go home and get Dirk's camera to take his photo.  He was still there when I got back, because he was using this tree as a base station for his morning hunt.  Birds of prey, they hover masterfully in the air before diving to take their prey. We marvel at his red eye and snowy white plumage.







Nancy takes a crack at using Dirk's fancy camera to capture a Golden-Headed Cistocola image.  This one's in non-breeding plumage, because of the stripes on his head.  In breeding plumage, well, he has a golden head.  They flit about in the tall grasses, calling then dropping out of sight again.  This one was extremely cooperative, however.  We want to see their cousins, the Zitting Cistocolas, just because we like the name, but they're up north, and may be a difficult find.







Another Nancy photo of a saucy Double-Barred Finch glancing over his shoulder.  This is an amazing site for birds (the Kite, Cisticola, and Finch are all from the same place), moreover because it's a tiny wetland at the edge of the parking lot of a huge stadium next to the train station.  They have plans to build a tavern at this site, in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.