July and it's a furry and cuddly month...

Everything this year appears to have slipped back a little. The Spinebills turned up a little late and it wasn't until the end of the month that the Scarlet Honeyeaters really began to show, but on the other hand the fat furry beasties put on a show to be relished. So I'm not going to ramble on as you lot only come to see the pictures anyway...

Anyway, I come home from work one afternoon, make myself a cuppa and walk out onto the deck and 10' away, half way up a small gum is....

"Oo-er! Mum, what's happening"

He's looking a little distressed and obviously a bit lost as to his situation.

Slightly worried looking young male Koala.

Worried because he's been herded up the tree by the ever inquisitive Guinea Fowl...

Gaining confidence?

Whether he gained confidence or simply become so distressed he had to do something our visitor climbed down...

and stopped at the bottom for a while looking simply bemused.

Before long he frog hopped over to the next tree and quickly climbed four or five feet up that one.

and stopped to check out whether he was being followed.

I suspect he wasn't that impressed by being followed by me, but I stayed back and relied on the big lens to do the work.

and down he came again before lolloping off to the next refuge...

At which point I retreated back indoors to give him a real chance to get somewhere he was comfortable.  It's not often you get a moment like this with a wild Koala and as you can see it's something special.  I did take care not to get too close and I quietly shooed the Guinea Fowl away so that our friend could leave in peace.  Special moment!

Now calm down, Let's get back on subject and look at the birds....

Now before I get onto the bird lists I would like to note that this month we saw a Sooty Owl, a first for the Holt. A very large and presumably very old gum tree that grew on the edge of the dry creek that separates us from our nearest neighbour blew down and the following day I found this beauty in the nearby Box Brush. I suspect he might have had a roost in the fallen tree, who knows, but it was an exciting sighting.

Sooty Owl

and now the monthly sightings....

Regulars (Seen daily)

Bar-shouldered Dove
Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch

Double-barred Finches

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Spinebill

Galah
Little Corella
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Rainbow Lorikeet

Soggy Rainbow Lorikeet doing a mating dance.

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater

Common (Seen weekly)

Australian Magpie
Grey Fantail
Grey Shrike Thrush
Laughing Kookaburra
Lewins Honeyeater

Lewins Honeyeater amongst the Aloes

Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Red-browed Finch

Red-browed Finch

Silvereye

Silvereye

Striated Pardalote

Striated Pardalote

Welcome Swallow
White-throated Gerygone
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike munching wild tobacco buds

Brown Cuckoo Dove

Brown Cuckoo Dove

Buff - rumped Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill gets his worm.

Eastern Yellow Robin
Golden Whistler
Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

Leaden Flycatcher
Little Pied Cormorant
King Parrot

King Parrot

Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater
Restess Flycatcher

A Restless Flycatcher leads me a merry dance through the trees

Rose Robin

Rose Robin

Female Rose Robin

Scarlet Honeyeater

Scarlet Honeyeaters in the Fire Sprite Grevillea

Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote with strands of bark from a Stringy Bark Gum for nesting material.

Top Knot Pigeon
Wedge-tailed eagle
White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-throated Tree Creeper
Wood Duck
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen but once)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Collared Sparrowhawk
Eastern Whipbird
Grey Goshawk
Little Friarbird

Olive-backed Oriole

Olive-backed Oriole

Pheasant Coucal
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Rufous Whistler
Sooty Owl

Sooty Owl

Variegated Fairy Wren
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-headed Pigeon

Which is 63-species and climbing....

June arrives and its looking like a wet winter, most odd!

Well that was a strange month, the summer (the wet season) had been relatively dry and now that we've moved into the dry season we got drenched. The dams and tanks were soon full and overflowing and the grass bounced back from a long dry summer.  I was quite surprised at just how many birds were visible during the peak of the rain, as usually they disappear, but I think they were hungry and needed the feeders.

Waterfalls appeared on the duck tracks...

The poor old Guineafowl roost in a tree, which was no protection against this sort of downpour.

Rainbow Lorikeets just seem to get soaked.

Water dripping from their tails.

I was quite worried about the Guineafowl, but they survived without any noticeable effects.

This poor little finch couldn't get much wetter.

and there's nothing worse than seed sticking to your bill!

The 'rain event' was fairly heavy, but it was much needed as the ground was crispy crackly dry and we really needed it.  The real upside is now appearing as the citrus trees are full of bloom and as we move into August there are birds nesting everywhere, secure that at least in the short term there will be ample food for their young.

The bird list this month was fairly thin, but that was more of a reflection of how busy I had been. After a long period with no work I finally swung a contract with a mining company to set up their HR policies and procedures. It was only supposed to be for 3-days a month, but it was soon clear that I was working on 'green fields' and so I ended up doing a lot of extra work (which was great for the bank balance that was as dry and crackly as the land before the rain).  So, the bird lists are quite short and I'm sure that had I had the time to get out on the land I would have seen a lot more. Not necessarily a wider variety, but some birds that had dropped to uncommon or even rare would have been pushed up into the regular bracket.  The Rose Robin is a prime example as when I wanted to find him I invariably did without too much effort.

The Koalas are still in the area, and apparently the council have now designated our area as official Koala habitat, which means they take more notice of anyone felling trees, which is good.

This healthy looking male was dozing in the gums.

He woke briefly to see what I was up to, but...

was largely unconcerned so I left him to his dozing.

It has been a very busy period recently and currently I am hosting 7 Chinese students aged between 8-11 and a team leader, so I will keep this post short and let the pictures do the talking.


Regular (seen daily)

Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch

DB Finches sweeping up beneath the feeder

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Spinebill

Galah

Galah

Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Duck

Peaceful Dove
Plumed Whistling Duck

A raft of Plumed Whistling Duck

Rainbow Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeets mutual preening

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Common (seen weekly)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater

A Brown Honeyeater on a very wet day

Grey Fantail

Grey Fantail

Grey Shrike Thrush
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Bee Eater
Striated Pardalote
Torresian Crow
White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater stakes his claim

Uncommon (seen occasionally)

Azure Kingfisher

I'm finally getting the measure of Mr Tricksy

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Golden Whistler

Male Golden Whistler

Female Golden Whistler

Grey Butcherbird
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Pied Cormorant

A fluffy looking Little Pied Cormorant drying out on the raft.

Noisy Miner
Pied Butcherbird
Restless Flycatcher

A Restless Flycatcher that led me a merry dance through the bush.

Rose Robin

Rose Robin

Silvereye
Tree Martin
Welcome Swallow
Willie Wagtail
Wood Duck
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (seen but once)

Brown Thornbill

Brown Thornbill

Brush Cuckoo

Brush Cuckoo

Collared Sparrowhawk
Eastern Yellow Robin
Masked Plover
Olive-backed Oriole
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosella being photo-bombed by a Common Bronzewing

Royal Spoonbill

A surprise visitor, a Royal Spoonbill.

Rufous Whistler
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote showing his fiery rump

...and his spotted head.

Wedge Tailed Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-headed Pigeon
White-throated Gerygone

Which is a subdued 54 species, but we're moving towards peak season in August and the signs are good.  See you next month.