Wild Bird Wednesday 735 - Oriental Pied Hornbill

The Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) is not an uncommon bird, although in India it is restricted to the foothills of the Himalayas, NE and E India and parts of Bangladesh.

This species can often be seen in fruit groves around villages, as well as in its more natural damp open woodland habitats.   I saw these birds in the Jim Corbett National Park, which is north east of Delhi, in India.  This was the first National Park to be established in India, and was established in 1936.

The Oriental Pied Hornbill is small by Hornbill standards, with a head-to-tail length of 55–60 cm and a wingspan of 23–36 cm, a black-and-white hornbill with a whitish-yellow bill and casque.  Most of the plumage is black, but they have a white belly, facial patch, and wing and tail edges. Males have a much larger casque than the females, but in most other ways the sexes are very similar.

I think that this is a bird that ticks all the necessary boxes to be classified as exotic!

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Wild Bird Wednesday 734 - Orange-Bellied Parrot

The Orange-Bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) or the OBP is one of Australia's most threatened species. Although there is some uncertainty as to the exact number of individuals of this species that exist in the wild, most estimates are around 100 birds.  This year only 85 birds were counted as returning to their key breeding areas in Tasmania.

The OBP is a small parrot - being smaller than a common Blackbird - that breeds in limited areas south west Tasmania, before it migrates north to the coast of Victoria and South Australia.  The birds migrate to the mainland in March and April, and remain on the mainland until mid-October.

These are the first of these birds I have seen.

The location of 'reliable' sites to see these birds is a bit of an open secret in the birding community - although I suggest that less well know sites are justifiably suppressed for the sake of the birds.  I saw these birds at one of the 'open secret' sites.

It's a sobering thought to think that these pictures may contain more the 2% of the world population of this species.

As you can see, the orange belly is not exactly prominent, but it can be glimpsed in some of these pictures.  The bird with the most blue on its wings in these images is a male.  Although largely, these birds were strangely visible amounts the saltbush where they were feeding.

Finding these birds - with help from my friends - was a bit of a highlight really!

Small birds, at a long distance, don't make for the best images - but I was just so pleased to see these birds.

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Cheers and hope all is well.  SM

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Wild Bird Wednesday 733 - Australian Pratincole

The Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) (or possibly Glareola isabella) is a medium-sized slender 'shorebird' with long legs, long pointed wings and a short decurved bill.  

I placed shorebird in inverted commas because, although it is classified within the Charadriiformes, which include most familiar shorebirds (aka waders), this species is more closely related to coursers, gulls, skuas and auks than it is to the predominantly shore-based waders.

The fact that this is an odd looking bird may be responsible for its range of former common names, which include the Arnhem Land grouse, the Australian courser, the roadrunner, the nankeen plover, and the swallow-plover.  

When I first saw these birds in flight - and this was the first time I had ever seen one - I thought they were some form of tern, but once they had landed it was clear what the were.  In flight its most distinctive feature are its extremely long, narrow, pointed wings.  On the ground they can be seen to have very long legs as well.

The birds have a body length of about 22 cm and a wingspan of 50 to 60 cm.  Although not colourful, they are an attractive bird - especially on the wing.

The Australian Pratincole can be seen over much of central and northern Australia, which this distribution  skewed towards the eastern side of the country.

They are often found around inland waterways, but have a clear liking for areas of stony ground with very limited vegetation such as clay pans and the bare margins swamps.  In other words, the kind of habitat shown in these pictures.

I saw these birds - there were probably 10 - 15 of them at Knuckey Lagoons, which is a site about 20 minutes from Darwin. 

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

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Wild Bird Wednesday 732 - Forest Kingfisher

The Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) is a medium sized kingfisher that is resident in parts of Northern Australia, and a summer visitor to southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales.  Wherever it occurs in Australia it is found reasonably near the coast or waterways, as its name suggests it can be found in a range of woodland types, including mangrove woodland.

In contradiction of its name, it does not only eat fish, but will take a wide range of invertebrates, as well as frogs and tadpoles, lizards, and snakes.  I think it will pretty much eat anything it can catch. 

This is a female bird.  The partial white collar differentiates this from the male that has a complete white collar.

These pictures were taken in Darwin, and once more the bird chose not to display its hunting prowess when I was watching.

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

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Tench Fishing in Australia

You may recall, that in the dim and distant past I had a wordy blog - well after a long silence there is a new post on it!  I was asked to write about Tench Fishing in Australia for a British fishing club.  This is the start of the article.

I caught my first Australian tench from a blink and you’ll miss it pond, sandwiched between a sports oval and a community centre.   No more than four people could fish at this venue at any one time, and then two would have to share a grassy bank space with the locals that come to feed the ducks and misidentify the other wildfowl that call the pond home. Its waters were dark and stained, its banks lined with invasive willow and brambles.

I lost two more fish that day to a snag I later discovered was a flat screen TV, disposed of to avoid tip fees or dumped after a robbery.   

You can find the rest of the article here.

In the summer, it's the quest for tench that keeps me away from my and your blogs!

Cheers:  Stewart M.