Wild Bird Wednesday 685 - Welcome Swallow.

The Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena) is Australia's most widespread - and familiar - swallow.  It occurs over most of the continent and is only absent from some parts of the more arid western areas.

The Welcome Swallow is very closely related to the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) which is the most widespread species of swallow in the world.  The Barm Swallow does occur in Australia, but is restricted to the far north coast.

Unlike the Barn Swallow, the Welcome Swallow is not a truly migratory bird - while a large number of birds from southern Australia do move north for the winter (remember, this is the southern hemisphere, so north is warmer!) not all of them do so.  This means that on any given day of the year it is not really a surprise to see these birds.

The structure that these birds are sitting on is a protective barrier around an outflow pipe at Werribee.  These birds were part of a much larger group of swallows than I have seen in a while, so perhaps they represent the return of the northern birds for the summer season.  The weather over the last few days has certainly be suggestive of spring, even if the calendar suggests other wise.

Interestingly these birds can even be seen at sea — the name ‘Welcome’ swallow comes from sailors who knew that the sight of a swallow meant that land was not far away.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 684 - Jackdaw

The Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) is a small black crow with a distinctive silvery grey sheen to the back of its head. Its pale eyes stand out from its plumage.  This species is also known as The Western Jackdaw, the Eurasian jackdaw, or the European jackdaw.

The Jackdaw is found through all of Europe, and is the smallest crow in the region.

The Jackdaw's name is said to an onomatopoeic rendering of its call.  If this is the case, then I think the bird should be called a 'tchackdawa' as its familiar call is normally rendered  as 'tchack'!

Jackdaws will often nest in chimneys, buildings, rock crevices and tree holes,  and I seem to associate them with old buildings, castles and churches! That may say more about the kind of place I used to live in, rather than the bird - but who knows.

These birds were feeding on the grass around the ponds at Slimbridge in the UK.

I like the look of concentration on the face of the closest bird.

As ever, to join in with WBW clink on the link below.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird 683 - Little Raven

The Little Raven (Corvus mellori) is the default corvid found in Melbourne - and it is simply called a crow by many people.  Other species of Raven do occur in Victoria, but it is really unusual to see them in or close to Melbourne.

I saw this bird fly into a tree at Jells Park, a 'reserve' about 20 minutes from my house.  At first I thought it was carrying a mouse, but once I had a better look I came to the conclusion that the small mammal it was eating is in fact a young Ring-tailed Possum.  The pink tip to the tail is a bit of an identification give away.

I am not sure if the bird had predated the possum directly, or if it was an item of carrion that the bird had found.  Both explanations are plausible, and fit within the known diet of the bird.

Just before the raven flew off, it wedged the remains of the possum into a v-shaded cleft in a branch, presumably to store it for future consumption.

Birds are great, but it's not always colour and beauty that we see in them.

Hope people are OK with these fascinating, if gory, images.  

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below. SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 682 - Brolga

I've been birding at the Western Treatment Plant for something like 25 years.  It's a remarkable place.

One of the most noticeable changes in birdlife there during that time has been the growth in the numbers of Brolga (Grus rubicunda) in the area.  When I first went there, you hoped to see one or two in a day - and while you often did it was no surprise if you did not.

These days I basically expect to see them, and often see over ten individuals in 3 or 4 groups.  The Brolga is not actually that rare across the whole of its range, but in Victoria (where I live) it is considered endangered.

These two birds were feeding on the edge of the T section lagoons - which is normally a location for watching diminutive crakes, rather than cranes that are 1 to 1.3 m in height, with a wing span between 1.7 to 2.4 m.

This images are only very lightly cropped, so you can see that I was bale to get close to the birds.  Cars really do make excellent bird hides - and I cant help wonder if EVs would be even better because of the lack of engine noise.

Brolgas are omnivorous feeding on both plant and animals. They will eat a variety of wetland plants, insects and amphibians, and have also been known to eat mice, frogs and other small animals.  

As ever, to join in with WBW click the link below.  Hope all is well.  Cheers  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 681 - Musk Duck

The Musk Duck (Biziura lobata) is a powerfully built duck found only in Australia. The male is Australia's largest duck. Adult males are 60 to 70 cm long and have a distinctive large, leathery lobe underneath the bill; females are 47 to 55 cm long and lack the lobe beneath the bill.

This species is a member of the 'still tail' group of ducks - and in some of the pictures you can see the fan like tail either sticking up, or being folded back over the top of the bird.

In 'Wildfowl' by Madge and Burn, (which is a bit of a classic!) this species is described as 'a large and bizarre Australian duck, one of the oddest of wildfowl' and its picture is shown on a plate labeled as 'Aberrant Ducks'!  

Although these images are in black and white, there was almost no colour in the original pictures.  A basically black duck under a heavy grey sky does not lend itself to lots of colour.

As both of these birds have a lobe beneath the bill, I assume that they are males.  So this behaviour could either be just territorial or it could be some form of display to impress the females.  My library is rather lack in detail on the behaviour of this species.  There was a lot of leg slapping, tail contourtions and splashing going on.

 

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wild Bird Wednesday 680 - Little Pied Cormorant

The Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is a common is a common species found around the coastal and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia. Its range also extends in to the islands of the south-western Pacific and the Subantarctic.  In my part of the world - South East Australia - is pretty much the default black and white cormorant.

The Little Pied Cormorant is a small cormorant measuring 56–58 cm, with a short 3 cm bill; it has a small black head crest.  I actually think that 'has a kind of punk rock hair do' would actually be a useful addition to the descriptions in field guide - but maybe that's just me!

Almost inevitably, these pictures were taken at Werribee Sewage Works.

Three of these pictures show the bird in its classic wing drying / heat regulation pose. 

This post may be a little shorter than normal as I am just about recovering from an epic week in the Tasmanian mountains - you can see pictures from that trip (but no bird pictures) here.

As ever, to join in with WBW, click on the link below.  Cheers  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter