April and the world goes weird

I think that it is impossible to write a blog in these times and not mention Covid-19. It has presented all sorts of challenges at work and in day-to-day life but it has meant that I have worked from home for the whole month. Susanne will back me up on this, that I am very disciplined when working from home and rarely leave my office during working hours, but my office does have a door that leads out onto a first floor balcony and the sound of birds chirping and singing over my shoulder is a terrible temptation. Most of the time I ignore the temptation but when I take a break (usually accompanied by a cup of tea and a cigar) occasionally something special turns up and in this case it was a White-cheeked Honeyeater, an entirely new species for the Holt.  As it happens the bird turned up just after I had finished for the day and dusk was falling fast so I was extremely lucky to capture the shot of this busy little bird as it darted around the Grevilleas in the lengthening shadows.

White-cheeked Honeyeater

 As the nights grow longer I find myself frequently putting the chooks to bed in the dark, and yes, I do literally put some of them to bed as 'The Garage Chooks' sit on the old barbecue unit next to the front door and wait for me to carry each of them to their coops. However, I digress, wandering around in the darkness sometimes enables me to come on some less commonly seen gems, like this Green Tree Frog that I found sitting on a broad leaf of a wild Tobacco tree.

Peek-a-boo

A relatively young frog about 5 cms long ( they can grow much larger)

With the characteristic cream line coming from the back of its mouth.

It's the time of the year for butterflies (Autumn in SE Queensland) and we certainly haven't been disappointed this season. The Hoyas in particular have seen swarms of these dainty insects fluttering around them in the sunshine.

Blue Tiger on a Black Wattle leaf

Unidentified beetle (perhaps the nymph of a Shield bug?) on a Hoya Flower

The lush but ill-named Egg Fly

Autumn is the season for the return of the the LBJs' as the larger birds retreat to the tropics the smaller birds appear to be sucked into the void they leave, so here's a few...

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Scarlet Honeyeater

Female Scarlet Honeyeater

Female Leaden Flycatcher

Mistletoebird at lunch

A handsome fellow

Very reminiscent of Robins

The question is, who does he support?

and onto the birds seen this month....

Regular (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Buff-rumped Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill calling to the flock

Bush Turkey
Cicadabird
Common Bronzewing
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
Grey Fantail
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck

Preening & displaying her scapula

Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Rainbow Lorikeet
Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Eastern Yellow Robin

Grey Shrike-Thrush
Scarlet Honeyeater

Scarlet Honeyeater

Spangled Drongo

Welcome Swallow

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Thornbill

Brown Thornbill

Crested Pigeon
Dollarbird
Eastern Boobook
Eastern Spinebill
Figbird
Golden Whistler

Male Golden Whistler

Leaden Flycatcher

Romantic take on a Leaden Flycatcher

Lewins Honeyeater
Little Friarbird
Magpie Lark
Masked Plover
Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater
Rufous Whistler
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Willie Wagtail
White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Australian Ibis
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Collared Sparrowhawk
Dusky Moorhen
Little Wattlebird
Mistletoebird

And another shot

Rufous Fantail
Straw-necked Ibis
White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-cheeked Honeyeater
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo


And courtesy of Greyhound Australia a critter that's occasionally seen at the Holt...

Sugar Glider

February and it's a chook sale

February is the time when this season's chooks start reaching point of lay and I sell them on. It's a period of mixed emotions as I sadly say goodbye to some of my birds but gratefully receive a boost to my wallet. I keep a few to ensure new blood amongst the flock as some of my older birds no longer lay as regularly as they once did so here's some of the 'keepers'.

Marie (rear) and Therese (front)

Therese is quite the stunner

But Marie is a Splash and they're just drop dead gorgeous!

It's a bit of a change over time anyway as the northern species depart for warmer climes as winter approaches and there's a bit of a gap before all the smaller birds from the south come north.  One species that seems to have set up home here are the Buff-rumped Thornbills. They are tiny birds that drift through the woodland in small flocks searching  for grubs and insects. They have a distinctive call as they constantly chatter to each other.

Buff-rumped Thornbills have no white eyebrow like their slightly larger cousins the Yellow-rumped Thornbill

They do have the streaked coverts but foreheads are plainer rather than the white spotted on black of the Yellow-Rumped Thornbill.

A new visitor to the Holt was a Swamp Wallaby. They apparently commonly travel alone, but this one joined in with our resident Red-necked Wallabies.

Hello! Who's this?

Anyone about?

Boing! Only me.

Regular (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Buff-rumped Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill catches his grub

Bush Turkey
Cicadabird
Common Bronzewing

Common Bronzewing playing peekaboo

Common Koel
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Nankeen Night Heron
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Yellow Thornbill

Common (Seen Weekly)

Common Mynah
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Spangled Drongo

Spangled Drongo

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Thornbill
Crested Pigeon
Dollarbird

Dollarbird

Eastern Boobook
Figbird
Little Friarbird

Little Friarbird stops for a drink

Magpie Lark
Masked Plover
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosellas at the feeder

Pheasant Coucal
Rufous Whistler

Rufous Whistler

Satin Flycatcher
White-headed Pigeon

White-headed Pigeon

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Australian Ibis
Little Pied Cormorant
Rainbow Bee Eater
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

And this months Australian mammal courtesy of the Department of the Environment is the Northern Bettong.

Northern Bettong (Kangaroo Rat)

January 2020 and the Holt sighs in damp relief

Well we finally got some decent rains. The dams have almost filled and some of the shrubs I had frankly written off have surprised me by throwing out green "I'm alive!" shoots. We lost a couple of Tree Ferns, but some younger plants have sprung up in their place, and much too my surprise, the Lilly Pilly (which was doing an impressive impression of a piece of driftwood) has started to green again.

To my surprise the Nankeen Night Heron has stayed on and is still here now. The Great Egret just managed a couple more weeks, but still fun to watch...as the pair of them weighed into my fish stocks!

Gotcha!

Great Egret in mating plumage

Its the blue/green eye piece that shows  us that the bird is 'in the mood'.

Having a preen

Meanwhile our Nankeen Night Heron appears far more active than I have been used to birds of its species, flipping back and forth across the dam and even swimming like a duck.

Nankeen Night Heron has lift off

Stalking for a good hunting spot

Obviously not here..

Maybe act like a duck and the fish won't notice me.

There was also a quick trip up north which produced:

Red-winged Parrot

A Stink bug nymph

Rajah Shelducks

A Dingo bitch

And an Azure Kingfisher

But meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Regular (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Bush Turkey
Cicadabird
Common Bronzewing
Common Koel
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Nankeen Night Heron

Nankeen Night Heron

Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

Rainbow Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet

Scarlet Honeyeater
Spangled Drongo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Channel-billed Cuckoo
Common Mynah
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Thornbill
Crested Pigeon

Crested Pigeons

Dollarbird
Eastern Boobook
Figbird
Great Egret

Great Egret

Intermediate Egret
Little Friarbird
Magpie Lark
Masked Plover
Pale-headed Rosella
Pheasant Coucal
Satin Flycatcher
White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Australian Ibis
Buff-rumped Thornbill
Little Pied Cormorant
Rainbow Bee Eater
Scaly Breasted Lorikeet
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

And this months Australian mammal is from the way up north, but you see them in the local area as well...

A Dingo