Wild Bird Wednesday 356 - Red-Rumped Parrot

When I photographing the herons from last week, a small parrot flew into one of the bushes near where I was standing.

Once I managed to track in down I identified it as a Red-Rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus) which is common enough in my area, but I normally see them on sports ovals or on grassy verges.  This bird sat on a branch for a minute or so before flying off.  I returned to the herons.

I few minutes later the bird returned, but this time landed on the ground.  It was a very obliging bird, and although I got the knees of my trousers dirty (oh, what a shame!) I was able to get much closer to this bird than normal.

I rather like the pictures with the plant stalks in its beak.  I assume it was eating the buds on the plant.

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A Walk to the Woods

Wistman's Wood in Devon, in the southwest of the UK is one of the highest Oak woodlands in Britain - the oaks are small and twisted and the ground below them is strewn with moss covered boulders.  It is without question a rather magical place.

I visited the wood on a bright, early winter afternoon and it was really rather wonderful.  One day I'll get to go there in the spring I hope!

I also took some images of classic Dartmoor landscapes on the way to the woods.  This area may not be the most famous part of the UK - everyone going into raptures about the Cotswolds and similar places - but if you get the chance to visit, take it. (I admit I am biased - I was born a couple of hours up the road!)

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 355 - White-faced Heron

I spent some time at my local patch this weekend, hoping to find the family of Blue Wrens that were there a couple of weeks ago.  But no luck on that front.

We have had some rain is recent weeks - although not enough - and parts of the pond which had been bone dry for weeks were now underwater again.  This White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) was feeding in the shallow water.  Despite my best efforts I could not see what it was catching - what ever it was, it was small.

As you can see from the dust and such like on the water, this is not the most pristine of locations.  But it does always hold birds.  There will be more from this visit next week.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 354 - Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

More birds from Lorne this week.

This bird is a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) - these large, intelligent birds are common around the main street of Lorne where they are popular with tourist, and unpopular with many shop owners.  The shop owners dont love these birds as much as some because they (the birds!) have a bit of a tendency to eat parts of buildings!  Advertisements, phone and electricity cables, window frames and even gutters are all part of the 'natural ' diet of the urban Sulphur-Cresty!  I suspect they just pull them apart rather than eat these things, but the impact is the same.

This rather splendid bird was taking in the view, just back from the beach.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 353 - Eastern Yellow Robin

When we were away at Lorne we were visited regularly by at least three Eastern Yellow Robins (Eopsaltria australis).

They (or at least one) seemed to like using the fire sprinkler near the front door as a hunting (and maybe display) post.  There was often a bird on this sprinkler, but it would take a long time for one to sit there if there were any people outside of the house.  Well, I was ready to wait a long time!

Although called a robin, this bird is not closely related to either the European or American robins.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 352 - Australian King Parrot

We were visited by a small flock of Australian King Parrots (Alisterus scapularis) during our recent trip away to Lorne.  The house we rented was surrounded by rather impressive woodland - bush as they say here - and on one afternoon the King Parrots arrived looking for a feed.  Luckily, the 'bean bags' I often use to support my cameras are full of pearl barley, so I was able to oblige without much guilt!

Although it was fun to see the birds on the table, I think the best pictures are the ones in the trees.  The birds with red head are males - the full red heads being adults, those with patchy red are immatures.  The birds without red on the head are females.

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below - and also as ever, please feel free to share the love for WBW with other bloggers!  Cheers. SM

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