Pardalote Holt: What happened to January?

Sorry, missed January. Should have skipped it completely as it was not a good month. It's supposed to be hot, stormy and wet. Well it was certainly hot and there was the odd storm, but the big wet didn't arrive and despite a few showers the dam levels continued to sink. We had two disasters this month, the first was on the fourth when the heat got so bad that despite my best efforts we lost Henri the Blue Faverolle Cock and two hens to heat exhaustion. It was just a horrible day with the temperature going over 40 degrees and I spent a lot of time running backwards and forwards ensuring that the hen's water was available and cool, but it obviously wasn't enough. I wasn't the only one to have problems and two local breeders, that I know, lost three and seventeen chooks, and some poor chap in New South Wales lost a whole flock of 150 birds. It's pretty gut wrenching picking up dead birds that you've cared for and so I'm determined it won't happen again. To that end I've built a shade shed for the run, put bird baths in all the runs, and the latest coop that I built (yes, I built it!) has paneling on the walls and roof to keep the heat out.

The second disaster was that one of our water tanks became fouled. We got a plumber in who flushed the downpipes, and in one there was a lot a leaf detritus, but he was expecting to find a dead animal or frog to be the cause. The other tank wasn't too contaminated, so we drained the first and the plumber chlorinated both, not nice when you've been used to lovely clean rain water. I had been hoping for the usual seasonal downpour so that I could fill the tanks, dilute the nasty stuff and then get someone in to clean the tanks (water tanks need to be full to be cleaned), but as previously mentioned the weather has denied us the relief.

On the good news front, the trees and foliage have continued to bounce back after the November hail storm.


Taken 2-months after the storm.

As you can see the trees are all green and 'fluffy' and the Bougainvilleas on the dam wall have even started to flower again. A combination of the heat and limited shade has brought a flourishing of lizards, but the bird community has been a bit up and down. A noticeable absentee is Bobby the Bush Chook, the Scrub Turkey, that hasn't been seen since the storm, but other birds have been either absent or in limited numbers as well. On the plus side both the Dusky Moorhen and the Purple Swamphens appear to have taken up residence on the dam, which I am really pleased about, and towards the end of the month I saw a Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo a couple of times, a completely new bird to the Holt.

The Purple Swamphen discovers the delights of my bird feeders.

The other less usual visitor have been the Plumed Whistling Ducks. Ever since we've been here we've had a pair turn up over the Christmas period, but this year we've had two distinct flocks coming and going since mid-November and they are still here, about two dozen birds. Plumed Whistling Ducks are not only very pretty, but they're real characters and can often be seen trooping around the dam in long lines, one after the other, whistling as they go. They're great fun to watch.

A pair of Plumed Whistling Duck

So, onto the birds....

Regulars (Seen at least five times per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-Shouldered Dove
Bronzewing

Common Bronzewing at the feeder

Dusky Moorhen
Galah
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Plumed Whistling Duck


Lots of Plumed Whistling Ducks

Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Double-barred Finch
Laughing Kookaburra
Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Currawong
Purple Swamphen
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Spangled Drongo

Spangled Drongos

Spotted Turtle Dove
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times per month)

Dollarbird
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Cicadabird
Figbird
Forest Kingfisher
Grey Butcherbird
Grey Shrike Thrush
Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo


Crap shot of the Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo!

Leaden Flycatcher
Little Friarbird
Mallard Duck
Noisy Friarbird
Sacred Kingfisher

Sacred Kingfisher

Shining Bronze Cuckoo
Welcome Swallow
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-throated Treecreeper
Willie Wagtail

Rare (Seen only once)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Falcon
Eastern Yellow Robin
Grey Goshawk

Grey Goshawk

Little Pied Cormorant
Red-browed Finch
Rufous Whistler
Satin Flycatcher
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Straw-necked Ibis
Variegated Fairy Wren


Red-backed and Variegated Fairy Wrens having a natter behind a wood pile.

Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-throated Gerygone

Which is 57-species.

And just to prove this isn't all about birds, a Striped Rocket Frog took up residence in an old fish tank for a few days, and every night its call could be heard echoing out of the tank.