Wild Bird Wednesday 688 - Shy Albatross.

Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to have had a few birding adventures. Most were memorable, many were remarkable: but my first pelagic trip really was a highlight.  It did not yield my first encounters with albatross - but it did cement them in my mind as possibly the most remarkable set of birds I have ever seen.  Hummingbirds run a pretty close second, and I never fail to enjoy parrots, but watching albatross on the open ocean really is something special.  If you ever get the chance to go it, take it.  

These pictures are of Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) which is probably the most abundant albatross in my part of the world.   In this case, 'my part of the world' extends to the waters south of Tasmania where I have done about 90% of my oceanic, or pelagic, bird watching.  It seems that 2025 will pass without a pelagic trip for me - this will not happen in 2026!

I'll be on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, this week so my visits and comments will be even slower than normal.

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Wild Bird Wednesday 687 - Tufted Duck

Although reasonably common in the UK, I always enjoy seeing Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula) especially at close range, where their bright yellow eyes seem to give them a loo of surprise or impending mischief.  

(I know that such anthropomorphism is a not really a scientific viewpoint - but what the heck!)

The Tufted Duck is a resident breeder in much of the UK, but its number swell in the winter when birds from colder parts of Europe join the residents on a wide range of water bodies.  As residents there are probably under 20,000 pairs in the UK, but in winter the population swells to approximately 140,000 birds.  This probably accounts for my perception of them a winter bird.

These pictures were taken in the spring in South West England, so they could be of late departing winter birds or residents.

I really like the way some of these picture pick up the colours in the males plumage, and of course I enjoy their rather dapper crest!

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WBW 686 - Snettisham (2)

A while ago I posted about a trip to Snettisham RSPB reserve in the UK, and promised more pictures to follow.  Well, here they are!

The text below is from my original post, but I think it's worth reposting an edited version to set the context.

Stettisham is a small town on the on the east coast of The Wash in the UK. There is an RSPB reserve there that gives 'views across brackish lagoons, salt marsh and a vast expanse of mudflats'.  It's basically wader heaven.

I was there on two days when very high tides coincided with the sunrise.  This means that huge flock of Red Knot are pushed off their muddy feeding grounds by the rising tide.  

This does two things - firstly it makes the Knot (and other waders) fly around in huge groups over the mud, and secondly, once the birds have been pushed off the mud they roost in there 10's of thousands on a shingle bank just inshore from the high-tide line.

These are some pictures from the shingle bank.  The majority of birds are Red Knot, or just Knot, in the UK (Calidris canutus).  The black and white birds are Eurasian Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus), there are Greylag Geese (Anser anser) on the water, and in a few places you can pick out a few Godwits.

It really was a remarkable sight.

In case you haven't worked it out, the shingle is the golden coloured material, and the grey blobs are not rocks, they are Knot!

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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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.  

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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.

 

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