Wet days and Iron Emus

Jan 2012 will have to go down as one of the wetter months in recent times, which has been great for the plants, but less so for the birds.  In an attempt to put together a better picture of the local birdlife I have begun a bird diary.  I try to update it daily and add in things that may affect the birds such as the weather or particular plants coming into bloom.  Birds recorded have to be seen from the deck, the drive or walking around the dam. I don't record anything that isn't visible from within the immediate surroundings of the holt.  So, here's the list for January:

Regulars (Seen x5 days a week or more)

Australian Black Duck
Australian Wood Duck
Plumed Whistling Duck
Galah
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Bronzewing
Bar-Shouldered Dove

Peaceful Dove
Forest Kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra
Double-barred Finch
Torresian Crow
Pied Currawong
Bush Turkey
Welcome Swallow
Grey Shrike Thrush


Common (sighted at least x2 per week
Pale Headed Rosella
King Parrot
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Yellow Cheeked Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
Friar Bird
Fig Bird
Olive-backed Oriole
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Spangled Drongo
Dollar Bird
Australian Magpie

Uncommon  Seen 2-3 times in the month

Australian Hobby
Scarlet-backed Wren
Eastern Whipbird
Australian Ibis
Noisy Miner
Little Friar Bird
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Pacific Baza
Wedge-tailed Eagle

Rare Seen once during the month

Powerful Owl
White-throated Honeyeater
Weebill

One of the problems that we were having was certain birds, in particular the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, would eat not only the bird seed, but the bird tables as well!  A solution presented itself at the monthly Mount Tamborine Markets where we found iron 'emus' made from scrap metal and old gas cylinders.  The Emus range in height from 1-2 metres, add a bit of fun to the garden and appear to withstand the best efforts of the parrots, but most importantly, seem to be have been immediately accepted by the birds.

We've also found that at night the Brush-tailed Possums and Tree Rats are using them.

Considering it has been so wet (we've been flooded in for 5 days - record for us) I have been pretty pleased with the numbers of birds seen.  There's probably a lot more that I haven't seen, but the birding is restricted to early mornings before driving into Brisbane and for periods over the weekend. Seasonally speaking although the Eucalypts are in bloom little else in the garden is.  The effect of this is the nectar feeders are up in the tree tops and largely out of sight and at night there are a lot of Fruit Bats around.  Combine this with the flooding out west, which is attracting vast numbers of water birds, and I think we've done pretty well overall.