Autumn is here

Summer moves into Autumn and in Australia the reverse happens to what goes on in the northern hemisphere, the rains diminish and the sun comes out (alright, you can argue that it never stops raining in the UK). March sees that last of the summer rains and they gradually fade away by the end of the month and then we move into a beautiful period of still, dry days and clear blue skies - well at least that's whats happening at the moment.

When it rains...it rains!

  It's a time for the Queensland gardeners to get out and start taming the growth of summer and so armed with chipper, chainsaw, brushcutter, mattock and shears I have recently spent some exhausting, but deeply satisfying, long days in the garden.

One of the big jobs is clearing the Feather Weed , an aquatic plant that is great for clearing and oxygenating the water but if let to its own devices will clog the dam.  The weed gradually builds into a dense mat and becomes increasingly difficult to shift, although the ducks like sitting on it.

Feather Weed forming a mat around the dam's edge.

As far as our feather friends go it's not so clear as to what's happening.  There appear to be fewer birds in number, but the variety of species increases.  The smaller birds such as Varied Sitella, Satin Flycatchers, and the full range of honeyeaters come out in force, whilst the number of Lorikeets diminishes. For me, this can be a very exciting period as you never know what will turn up next.  One example was that I saw what I though to be an owl or a bird of prey being mobbed by crows and Spangled Dongos, but despite a pursuit though the bush I wasn't able to get close enough to see it clearly enough to identify what appeared to be a large brown bird.  Fortunately it didn't disappear and the following day appeared in the Grevilleas and I was able to identify it it as an immature Koel, a rather large cuckoo.  To my delight I realised that it was accompanied by its foster parents, the Spangled Drongos that I thought had been mobbing it the day before.

Immature Koel

Spangled Drongo

Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch both birds in a single shot, but the Koel is almost 3-times the size of the Drongos so they must have put in some incredible work to raise the cuckoo. The Koel stayed in the area for a few more days before disappearing into the woods around the mountain.

As the days get cooler and the rain fades we start seeing Rainbow Bee Eaters.  They are stunning birds incredible ariel acrobats with the brightest plumage.  They will perch atop the highest gums and then launch themselves into space in twisting and turning jinks in pursuit of flying insects. Sometimes they swoop across the dam to drink on the wing, and a group doing this appear to dance across the water.  The following are a couple of attempts to capture this, but I'm afraid my camera skills aren't up the level needed to really give more than a general impression at the moment.

Rainbow Bee Eater lifts from a drink.

Coming in for a drinking run...

And now for the bird lists:

Common (seen x5 days per week)

Australian Black Duck
Wood Duck
Bronzewing
Bar-shouldered Dove

Bar-shouldered Dove

Peaceful Dove
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Galah
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosella

Torresian Crow
Pied Currawong
Australian Magpie
Noisy Friar Bird
Yellow Faced Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater
Noisy Miner
Eastern Whipbird
Spangled Drongo
Double-barred Finch
Welcome Swallow
Laughing Kookaburra
Forest Kingfisher

Common (seen at least twice a week)

Bush Turkey

Bush Turkey in the 'Emu' bird feeders

Wedge-tailed Eagle
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Grey Shrike Thrush
Black-faced Shrike Thrush
Magpie Lark
Rainbow Bee Eater
Variegated Fairy Wren
Little Friar Bird
Satin Flyctacher
King Parrot
Lewins Honeyeater
Pied Butcherbird

Uncommon (seen x2 - x3 per month)

Pacific Baza
Collared Sparrowhawk

Scaly Breasted Lorikeet
White-bellied  Cuckoo Shrike
Common Koel
Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant

Little Black Cormorant
Olive-backed Oriole
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Rufous Whistler
Scarlet Honeyeater
Eastern Yellow Robin

Rare (seen once in the month)

Mallard Duck
Brown Treecreeper
Varied Sitella

And that's a wrap for March.  April is proving to be still, dry and with lots of small birds that are bloody difficult to photograph, but I'll see what I can do.  Cheers!