Wild Bird Wednesday 461 - Little Corella

The Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea), also known as the bare-eyed cockatoo, blood-stained cockatoo, short-billed corella, little cockatoo, and blue-eyed cockatoo, is a white cockatoo native to Australia and southern New Guinea. 

It it also a sure sign that the cooler months have arrived in Melbourne when large flocks of these birds can be found in the area on which I live.  They are noisy, playful, messy and very welcome.

These birds are some of a flock of abut 100 the dropped in to feed on some garden plants just behind my house.  I have photographed (and posted) this species a number of time before, but I really like them!

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Cheers  SM.

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Eastern Grey Kangaroos

These Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) were loafing about in a paddock behind my accommodation when I stayed at Glenrowan recently.  There were about 45 of these iconic animals spread over the paddocks that ran alongside the driveway up to the caravan park.

I never get tired of seeing these remarkable creatures.

As you can see, that last picture is of a female with youngster on board!

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday and image-in-ing Cheers:  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 460 - Striped Honeyeater

This is another bird from my recent trip to the Mallee in NW Victoria.

This bird is a Striped Honeyeater (Plectorhyncha lanceolata) is a medium sized honeyeater.  The species can vary in abundance in any area depending on the availability of water - and you can see this bird perched on the edge of a water source that is provided in front of a hide.  Unfortunately the bird never perched on any of the more natural material around the hide - many of the birds were nervous on this morning because of the presence of a family of Butcherbirds in the area.  Oh well.

This bird has a rather un-honeyeater like beak in my opinion, and I think I may have thought about a whole different group of birds if I had not done a bit of homework prior to the visit!

This species in found on the east-coast of Australia, but mainly inland (if that makes sense!)

 

I have changed my working hours in the hope that I will be able to find more time for important things like birding, photography and blogs.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 459 - Singing Honeyeater

The Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens) is one of Australia's most widespread honeyeaters - although the in the south-east corner of the country it is restricted to coastal areas.  This means it is not one of the birds I see on a daily basis.

At about 20cm long it is a medium sized honeyeater that can be found in a range of habitats.  All of these pictures were taken near Patchewollock in the North East of Victoria a couple of weekends ago.

The pictures of the birds on the sticks were taken from two hides that overlooked watering points.  This was one of my first 'build for photography' hide experiences, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it.  The birds in the bushes were taken as I was eating breakfast!

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Hope all is well.  SM

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Wild Bird Wednesday 458 - Pink Cockatoo/ Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

The Pink Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) was one of the birds I was hoping to see when I went up to the Mallee in NW Victoria a little while ago.  They are a bird of inland, arid Australia and they are not found in my neck of the woods.

Six hours in the car fixed all that.  I had not long been at my accommodation nr. Patchewollock when my hosts detected the calls of a flock of these birds in some nearby pine trees.  I could not believe my luck - but it was the start of one of the better weekends of birding I have had in a very long time.

There was a small flock - maybe six or seven birds - in the trees and while they did not really cooperate on the photographic front, I got some wonderful views, and some pictures I am happy to share.

This pair of birds were doing some allopreening and also seemed to be sharing food.

This flock of birds (presumably) where in the area for most of the weekend - and although I never got any better views or pictures I often saw the birds on the middle distance.  We also found 2 or maybe three birds roosting when we went out looking for owls.

The last picture in this post is not great, but it actually shows a bird perched on my hosts house! That's a heck of a garden bird!  This bird dropped in to say a pre-dawn good morning before I set off for a (excellent) early morning session at a hide. It was a remarkable way to start the day. 

You can see why Pink Cockatoo is an obvious name, and in the final image you can see the colour banding on the crest.

The name 'Major Mitchell's Cockatoo' may not be all that appropriate, given that they bird was not first seen by him and that there was some very poor (but predictable for the time) interactions between some of Mitchell's men and Aboriginal people during his expeditions. 

I hope at least one of my regular readers is sat down when you read this (you know who you are!)

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Stubble and Open Spaces.

As I was driving towards the North West of Victoria - to the part of the state called The Mallee - I could not fail to notice that the land became more and more open.  The long views were dominated by distant patches of trees, the fields were often bare except for lines of stubble and the agricultural buildings.

These are some of the pictures  I took from the side of the road.  Somehow, black and white seems appropriate.

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday and image-in-ing Cheers:  SM