September and the start (and finish?) of Spring.

Last post I commented that Winter was over in a flash, well it seems like Spring is heading the same way.  As I write this we're in early October and the temperatures are hitting 7-8 degrees over season average.  ith the thermometer hitting the mid-thirties it's getting a tad too hot and combine this with the normally dry Winter/Spring conditions and the plants are looking stressed, not to mention the rising fire danger.  However, despite the heat some plants have to flower, it's that time of year.

Daviesia mimosoides - David's Tree

Dianella rara

Dogwood

Quinine Bush

Goodenia rotundiflora

Lomandra Longifolia (Mat Rush)

Lobelia Gibbosa

Of course flowers are all very lovely, but what really get's me going is our feathered friends and once again September proved a stormer with 70-species recorded at the holt. Perhaps one of the more exciting visitors for me where completely new to us, Long-billed Corellas.

Long-billed Corellas at the feeding station.

Even more satisfying was that they weren't just passing through and have been visiting regularly ever since their first arrival.  We have had their cousins, Little Corellas, visit occasionally in the past, but at the same time that the big boys arrived a group of 4-Little Corellas turned up and they've hung around as well.

Little Corella in the Silky Oak

A visitor that brought mixed feelings was a Brown Goshawk who set up shop for 3-days.  Beautiful bird and lovely to see it, but I was very concerned about the other birds.  Fortunately we have a pair of Pied Currawong nesting in the old gum over the Lap Swamp and they mobbed the Goshawk so often it eventually gave up and flew off.

Brown Goshawk

In flight - killing talons ready

Wondering what I was doing 60m away on the balcony with a camera.

This month's birds...

Regulars  (Seeen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-Shouldered Dove
Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Bronzewing
Bush Turkey

Bobby the Bush Turkey

Double-barred Finch
Eastern Whipbird
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Friarbird

Little Friarbird

Mallard Duck
Noisy Friarbird
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella
Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Brown Honeyeater
Little Corella
Long-billed Corella
Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pied Butcherbird
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Silvereye
Spangled Drongo

Spangled Drongo

Spotted Turtle Dove
Striated Pardalote
White-throated Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen x2 - x5 per month)

Brown Goshawk
Crested Pigeon

Crested Pigeon - well you'ld be annoyed if you had to wear that hat!

Figbird
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Leaden Flycatcher
Lewin's Honeyeater
Rainbow Bee Eater
Satin Flycatcher
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Scarlet Honeyeater
Variegated Fairy Wren
White-eyed Duck
White-necked Heron

White-necked Heron hunting in the dam.

White-throated Tree Creeper

White-throated Treecreeper

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen only once in the month)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Brown Falcon
Eastern Spinebill
Grey Fantail
Dollarbird

Dollarbird

Little Wattlebird
Masked Plover
Plumed-whistling Duck
Red-browed Finch

Red-browed Finch

Rufous Whistler
Straw-necked Ibis

Straw-necked Ibis

Top Knot Pigeon
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-faced Heron
Willie Wagtail

70-species, pretty damn good if I say so myself.  I would point out that I only count birds that I see from the deck, driveway, or around the dam, and we are in the middle of a gum forest.  If we drove 5 minutes down the road many of those birds that appear as uncommon or rare would bounce up into the regulars slot. The other thing to take into account is how difficult it can be to see and identify small birds in the canopy. I'm fairly confident that if I had x-ray vision birds like the Golden and Rufous Whistlers, Grey Fantails and the various Fairy Wrens would also be up as regulars.  Still, birding wouldn't be so much fun if it was too easy.

Winter gone, bang, that was quick, Spring is here..

I really enjoy winter and have been a liitle disappointed that this year it seemed to come and go so quickly, but by August the weather was warming fast and becoming very spring-like. The jasmine fired up and went into overdrive and the woodland started to decorate itself with a host of small flowers.

Acacia Fimbriata (Brisbane or Fringed Wattle)

Pultenaea retusa (Blunt-leaved Pea)

Hibbertia Vestita

Lewins Honeyeater in the Jasmine

Jasmine in bloom below the deck.

Hovea Fabaceae

Smilax Australis (Barbed-wire Vine)

Pandorea (Maroon)

Not only is this all very pretty, but accompanying the blooms are some wonderful scents, and of course, a host of small nectar feeders.

Scarlet Honeyeater on the Honey Gem Grevillea

Brown Honeyeater on a Robyn Gordon Grevillea.

And so, plants out of the way, let's move onto the birds.

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie

Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Brown Honeyeater
Double-barred Finch
Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Friarbird
Mallard
Noisy Friarbird
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Juvenile Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow (nesting in the garage)
Wood Duck

Common  (Seen at least x2 per week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Bush Turkey
Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Whipbird
King Parrot
Noisy Miner
Silvereye
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen at leats x2 - x5 per month)

Blue-cheeked Honeyeater
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Collared Sparrowhawk
Forest Kingfisher
Grey Fantail

Juvenile Grey Fantail

Grey Shrike-thrush
Golden Whistler
Leaden Flycatcher
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Corella

Little Corellas squabbling on the bird table

Magpie Lark
Peaceful Dove
Rainbow Bee Eater
Red-backed Fairy Wren

Red-backed Fairy Wren

Rufous Whistler
Scarlet Honeyeater
Spangled Drongo
Variated Fairy Wren

Variated Fairy Wrens

Variated Fairy Wren (Male)

Varied Sitella
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-eyed Duck
White-faced Heron
White-throated Treecreeper
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (seen only once)

Brown Thornbill

Brown Thornbill

Figbird
Grey Butcherbird
Little-black Cormorant
Letter-winged Kite
Spotted Turtle Dove
Straw-necked Ibis
Top Knot Pigeon
White-throated Honeyeater
Willy Wagtail

Which is 62-species...warming up for September and the big birding month.  However, I shouldn't focus on just birds, so here's a couple of other beasties, both small and large.

Wallum Sedgefrog on a native raspberry

Red-necked Wallaby and Joey

And th..th..th..that's all folks.

Winter finally begins to show.

Well, if I'm now logging birds over the Australian financial year then this will be the first month of the new year.  It sort of fits as we still have a couple of months of winter to go through before spring officially arrives and so it almost aproximates to the Northern Hemisphere.  The unusually wet winter finally began to taper off towards the end of the month and we began to see the beautiful warm, dry days that charaterise the season in South-East Queensland.

Blue Gum towers behind the flowering Honey Gem Grevillea

This is the time to continue bringing the land back to order, so I spend a lot of days scything down the Mollases Grass and Billy Goats weed with the brushcutter.

Tidying up the dam wall

In the Hen House the latest brood of chicks have developed to pullet stage and past the period were they are more likely to get sick.  They are now out of the brooder and mingling with the main flock, although separated at night still.

A Salmon Faverolle in the Pullet House.

On the wild bird front we are beginning to get a sniff of things to come as the Grevilleas begin to move towards peak bloom and the nectar feeders start appearing.  These include the Little and Noisy Friarbirds, Brown, Scarlet, Lewins and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and the Eastern Spinebills.  One, very pretty visitor this month was a juvenile Pale Headed Rosella.

Immature Pale Headed Rosella feeding on the young flower buds of an Ivory Whip Grevillea.

Only the juveniles have the red head feathers.  These disappear in adulthood.

The back plumage is classic for the Pale Headed Rosella.

Yes, you are a very pretty bird.

As mentioned, the adults lose the red feathers and become all yellow, although some cross breed with Eastern Rosellas and the resulting hybrids often have patches of scarlet on their head and face.

Adult Pale Headed Rosella stretching her legs.

I must take a moment to apologise to the plant, the Velvet Leaf.  In previous posts I have said that I hadn't seen it attract any birds despite the yummy looking berries.  Well this month I was proved wrong, as the Velvet leaf attracted a flock of Silvereyes on an almost daily basis.  So well done Velvet Leaf, you do pull in the birds.

Silvereye on the Velvet Leaf.

And so onto the monthly list for July...

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-Shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Honey Eater singing in the Grevilleas.

Double-barred Finch

Double-barred Finches

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Whipbird
Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Mallard Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Pale Headed Rosella
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird

Pied Butcherbirds after the cat food.

Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet

It was a cold morning.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least x2 per week)

Brush Turkey
Grey Fantail

Grey Fantail

King Parrot
Lewin's Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Silvereye
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Uncommon (Seen 2-5x per month)

Australian Ibis
Black-faced Cockoo Shrike
Brown Cockoo Dove

Brown Cuckoo Dove

Brown Goshawk
Forest Kingfisher
Grey Shrike Thrush
Little Corella
Masked Plover
Rainbow Bee Eater
Red-backed Fairy Wren

Red-backed Fairy Wren

Rufous Whistler
Top Knot Pigeon
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-eyed Duck

White-eyed Duck a.k.a a Hardhead

 Rare (Only seen once in the month)

Blue-cheeked Honeyeater
Golden Whistler

Male Golden Whistler

Magpie Lark
Pheasant Coucal
Red Goshawk
Royal Spoonbill
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Spangled Drongo
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-bellied Tree Creeper
White-faced Heron
Yellow-rumped Thornbill

And of course the off Red-backed Wallaby..

Wallaby and joey on the dam wall.

Which is 57-species, only one up on last month, but the numbers are increasing and as I write this (half way through August) the promise of lots of interesting small birds is coming true.

Birds, birds, birds...

Taking an idea from the facebook page, Australian Birds, I've put together a table that covers all the birds that I've seen over the last financial year (July 1st 12 - Jun 30th 13.  The figure 1 merely indicates that the species has been seen during the month, and gives no indication as to the number of times or the number of birds, but you can always trawl through old posts to find more detail.

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Tot Australian Ibis 1 1 1 1 1 5 Australian Magpie 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Australian Raven 1 1 Azure Kingfisher 1 1 Barking Owl 1 1 Bar-shouldered Dove 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Black Kite 1 1 Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Blue-faced Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Bronzewing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Brown Cuckoo Dove 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Brown Falcon 1 1 1 3 Brown Goshawk 1 1 Brown Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Brown Thornbill 1 1 Brown Treecreeper 1 1 1 3 Bush Hen 1 1 2 Bush Turkey 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Cattle Egret 1 1 Channnel Billed Cuckoo 1 1 1 3 Collared Sparrowhawk 1 1 1 1 4 Crested Pigeon 1 1 2 Dollarbird 1 1 1 1 1 5 Double-barred Finch 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Dusky Moorhen 1 1 2 Eastern Spinebill 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Eastern Whipbird 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Eastern Yellow Robin 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Figbird 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Forest Kingfisher 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Galah 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Glossy Black Cockatoo 1 1 Golden Whistler 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Grey Butcherbird 1 1 1 1 4 Grey Fantail 1 1 1 1 1 5 Grey Shrike-thrush 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Intermediate Egret 1 1 1 1 1 5 King Parrot 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 laughing Kookaburra 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Leaden Flycatcher 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Lewins Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Little Black Cormorant 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Little Corella 1 1 Little Eagle 1 1 Little Egret 1 1 2 Little Friarbird 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Little Pied Cormorant 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Little Shrike-Thrush 1 1 1 1 4 Little Wattlebird 1 1 1 1 4 Magpie Lark 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Mallard Duck 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Mistletoebird 1 1 1 3 Nankeen Night Heron 1 1 2 Noisy Friarbird 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 Noisy Miner 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Olive-backed Oriole 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Pacific Baza 1 1 1 3 Pacific Black Duck 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Pale-Headed Rosella 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Peaceful Dove 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Pied Butcherbird 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Pied Currawong 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Plumed Whistling Duck 1 1 1 3 Rainbow Bee Eater 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Rainbow Lorikeet 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Red-backed Fairy Wren 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Red-browed Finch 1 1 Rose Robin 1 1 1 3 Rufous Fantail 1 1 Rufous Whistler 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Sacred Kingfisher 1 1 Satin Flycatcher 1 1 1 1 1 5 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet 1 1 1 1 4 Scarlet Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 5 Scarlet Robin 1 1 1 3 Shining Bronze Cuckoo 1 1 Silvereye 1 1 1 1 4 Spangled Drongo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Spotted Turtle Dove 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Straw-necked Ibis 1 1 1 1 4 Striated Pardalote 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Sulphur Crested Cockatoo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Superb Fairy Wren 0 Torresian Crow 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Variated Fairy Wren 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Varied Sitella 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 Wedge-tailed Eagle 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Weebill 1 1 1 1 4 Welcome Swallow 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Whistling Kite 1 1 White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 White-bellied Sea Eagle 1 1 1 3 White-throated Treecreeper 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 White-eyed Duck 1 1 White-faced Heron 1 1 1 3 White-headed Pigeon 1 1 White-necked Heron 1 1 1 1 4 White-rumped Thornbill 1 1 White-throated Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 White-throated Needle Tail Swift 1 1 2 Wille Wagtail 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Wood Duck 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Yellow-faced Honeyeater 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 Yellow-rumped Thornbill 1 1 1 1 4 Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Monthly count 53 63 74 52 43 44 49 46 52 55 53 63