April and a little pottering going on...

It's mid-Autumn in Queensland and the cooler nights are beginning to settle in.  We had enough rain to top-up the tanks (at last!), but the dams are still below their normal levels. The Whistling ducks are still with us and are beginning to become a bit of a problem, because there's just too many of them. They try to steal the chook food and are causing quite a bit of erosion around the dam walls.  They're beautiful birds and I don't want to lose them entirely, but if their numbers dropped from the current 90+ to around a dozen I wouldn't complain.

Tolkien having a dip

 I've just been pottering this month. I've replaced most of the roofs of the chook sheds with steel roofing left over after after the house roofs had been replaced.  A little hail dented, but far better than the cheap wooden roofs that were there before.  We've only had this coop a year or so and it was leaking like a sieve.  The shade netting is there to hide them from passing raptors.

 

The roofs of the coops are replaced with wriggly tin

 It's been 6-months since the hail storm and the land has now repaired itself. If you know what you are looking for you can still see the scars on the branches where the hail scored them, but otherwise it's as if the storm never happened.  Having said that, as I mentioned in the last post, there has been some changes in the bird life with the complete absence of Bush Turkeys and reduced numbers of King Parrots, balanced to some extent by the horde of Plumed Whistling Ducks and the pair of Purple Swamphens and the Dusky Moorhen that have taken up residence.

The end of the Lap Swamp

We seem to have got the chook production line working well now. We have two brooders, two pullet runs and two main runs, all of which are usually full. Every 3-4 weeks I take another batch of eggs to Cat and her incubators and three weeks later she hands me back another batch of chicks.  They spend their nights in the brooders and days in the 'Chick run' until they become too big and need to be moved into a pullet run at about 4-weeks old.  They will stay in the pullet run for the next 8-12 weeks at which point they will either go off for sale, or if they are of particularly fine quality they may join the breeding flocks.

Two chicks taking up residence on the table.

 It does mean that we've become Hobby Farmers, or Chook Breeders, which is much further than I had planned to go, but I kind of like having chooks all over the place.

A pair of Salmon Faverolle Cockerels enjoying the afternoon sun.

Even if they do spend a great deal of time and effort digging up my flower beds!

A trio of 3-week old chicks taking a rest from digging up the flower beds!

 We've had a couple of small storms come through.  I was worried one day when we saw what I thought was going to turn into a twister, but to my relief it just got wet and windy.

I thought we had a twister on the way, but just rain.

This little chap was spotted by Julia Wallace when she and Martin came to visit.  The poor little fellah had been rooted out of the undergrowth by the dogs and had taken cover in the upper branches of the Grevillea whilst the dogs continued to search below.  It's not a mouse, it's a Grassland Melomys, although I have no idea what the big differences are.  You will all be glad to know that I called the dogs in and the Melomys was able to go back to enjoying the undergrowth.

A Grassland Melomys understandably scared watching the dogs searching for him below the Grevillea.

And now to the birds

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Dusky Moorhen
Galah

Galahs on the bird feeder

Grey Butcherbird
Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Purple Swamphen
Rainbow Lorikeet
Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck
Willy Wagtail
Wood Duck
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Eastern Whipbird
Grey Fantail
Laughing Kookaburra
Noisy Friarbird
Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times a month)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
Eastern Yellow Robin
Figbird
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush

Grey Shrike Thrush

Hardhead Duck
King Parrot
Lewins Honeyeater
Olive-backed Oriole

Male Olive-backed Oriole

Female Olive-backed Oriole

Red-backed Fairy Wren
Rufous Whistler
Spangled Drongo
White-throated Treecreeper
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen only once in the month)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Collared Sparrowhawk
Crested Pigeon
Dollarbird
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Grey Goshawk

Grey Goshawk

Little Wattlebird
Hardhead

Hardhead or White-Eyed Duck

Mallard
Rose Robin
Satin Flycatcher

Satin Flycatcher

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Straw-necked Ibis
Varied Sitella
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Whistling Kite
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike


Which is 62-species, well, it was a quiet month.

March and much about Ducks

Plumed Whistling ducks line the banks of the dam.

When we first built Pardalote Holt and it's dam we were delighted to welcome, after a very short period, our first ducks to the dam.  These brave and intrepid colonizers were Pacific Black Ducks, common across most of Australia and largely, very well behaved. Before long the PBDs were joined by Wood Ducks, very commonly seen locally, but really more suited to grasslands and farms than in the thicker wooded areas such as Pardalote Holt.  Over the next few years that was about it apart from the very occasional visit of a lone Grey Teal or Hardhead, that would stay for a day or so and then wander off.  Another visitor who has been seen on a far more regular basis is a Mallard drake, presumably escaped from someone's collection. At any one time it was rare to see more than a dozen or so ducks on the dam.

Hardhead Duck

A few years ago, at Christmas, we were visited by a pair of Plumed Whistling Ducks, real beauties with barred chestnut coloured bellies and 'upswept cream flank-plumes'.  As with the other 'rarities' they stayed a few days and then pushed off, but the following Christmas they reappeared, and the next Christmas again.  For the last 4-5 years I would be awaiting their arrival for the festive season and they never let me down. I have no idea whether it was the same pair, or whether it was just the time of the year that the species passed through the region, but they never let me down.

Last year things changed. Instead of Christmas the Plumed Whistling Ducks arrived early, just a few days before the hail storm, and instead of a lone pair there was a dozen of them.  When the hail storm hit one was unfortunately killed, but the others stayed on, so I got used to the pleasure of seeing them on the dam on a daily basis.  I still expected them to move on in January, as had happened in the past, but not only did they stay, but more joined them.

Plumed Whistling Ducks craning to see what's happening.

By the end of February the number of Plumed Whistling Ducks on the dam had increased to 65 comprising at least four distinct family groups, each taking one part of the dam walls to preen and roost.  When one family came in contact with another there would be quite a kafuffle as each group competed for territory.  No real violence, but a lot of bowed heads, strutting and a lot of noise.  Pizzey & Knight describe the call as a 'spirited whizzing whistle' and this suits well.  Normally not too noticeable, but when family groups collide this would raise to cacophony level and if I was on the phone would have to retreat indoors.

However, things haven't stopped there and the numbers have continued to rise.  Yesterday a passing Collared Sparrowhawk spooked them onto the waters of the dam all at once and I was able to count them fully.  92- ducks!  Add this to the two dozen PBD's and 8- 10 Wood Ducks and my small patch of water is now home to over a hundred ducks, none of whom show any sign of moving on.  When I'm filling the birdtables in the morning I almost feel as if I'm being shepherded around by the ducks as I move around to the main 'duck table'. I frequently have to chase them out of the chook runs as they try to sneak in and steal the chook's grain.

Plumed Whistling Duck trying to sneak into the chook runs.

At about the same time that the Plumed Whistling Ducks appeared we were also joined by a lone Dusky Moorhen and a pair of Purple Swamphens.

Purple Swamphen on the bird feeder.

The former is very quiet and goes about his business without fuss, but the latter parade around the dam making all sorts of strange calls.  To quote Pizzey & Knight again, their calls include 'high-pitched rasping screeches, nasal 'nerks', cooings and unusual liquid thuds'. I can attest to all these strange sounds but would add another sound that is similar to an over inflated football being kicked very hard whilst held still...well, it's very difficult to describe.  Now, there's no doubt that it's the Purple Swamphens that are the masters of the dam as not only will they lord it about, but they will also lay into a family group of Plumed Whistling Ducks, causing them to scatter and come into contact with the other groups and so igniting another spasm of spirited whizzing whistling.  Whoever said it was quiet in the country had obviously never visited our dam.

Since the storm, almost 6-months ago now, the vegetation has largely regrown, but former regular visitors are noticeably absent.  The Brush Turkeys haven't been seen at all, and Sparky and the King Parrots have been irregular at best.  On the other side of the coin we have been blessed with a lot of other birds, particularly smaller birds such as Cuckoos, Whistlers and Eastern Yellow Robins, who have appeared far more often than in the past'

March Birds

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Dusky Moorhen
Galah
Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosella

Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Purple Swamphen
Rainbow Lorikeet
Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow

Torresian Crows

Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck
Willy Wagtail

Willie Wagtail

Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Honeyeater
Laughing Kookaburra
Noisy Friarbird
Rainbow Bee Eater
White-throated Gerygone

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times a month)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Cicadabird

Female Cicadabird in full song

Dollarbird
Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Yellow Robin
Figbird
Forest Kingfisher
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Hardhead Duck
King Parrot
Leaden Flycatcher
Olive-backed Oriole
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Rufous Fantail
Rufous Whistler
Satin Flycatcher
Spangled Drongo
Spotted Turtle Dove
White-throated Honeyeater
White-throated Treecreeper
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen only once in the month)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Goshawk
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Pied Cormorant
Masked Plover
Pacific Baza
Pied Butcherbird
Silvereye
Tree Martin
Variegated Fairy Wren
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-faced Heron

Which is 65-species!

And then of course there's the chooks and the day-to-day stuff...

Black Crow Butterfly

Tolkien having a nap

Wanderer Butterfly (US name Monarch)

Chicks having a day out of the brooder

Pullets hoping for tidbits.

Teddy and Dotty (Cuckoo Faverolles), Betty (Black Faverolle) and Charlotte and Jane (Blue Faverolles)

A Lace Monitor scaring the ducks.

The land 5-months post storm.

A native Violet.

That was February

As I write this, at the end of March, the dry period has finally broken, but in February it was still very dry.  Summer in Queensland is supposed to be hot and humid. Violent thunderstorms and massive downpours supposedly characterize the season and it's a time when the tanks and dams fill again and the soil builds its reservoir of moisture to survive the months to come.  However, here we are in February, the last month of summer and there's been no appreciable rain.  I've had to bring in water as the tanks would have run dry and the dams were probably 4'-5' below their normal levels.  Summer is the time for me to plant new stuff in the gardens as the seasonal rains gives it a good start, but not this year.  The bush is crackle dry under foot and I'm very wary of fire risk.

The chook's shade shed

The shade shed I built for the chooks last month has proved a success and on the really warm days the birds have had somewhere to hid from the sun during the worst heat of the day.  Flushed with my success with my new skill of carpentry I made a quantum leap of confidence and decided to build a new pullet house.  Put together with wood from the bargain bin at Bunnings (Australian equivalent of B&Q) and with a roof taken from the remnants of the hail damaged roof after the builders had done, I put together my new pullet house and I'm pretty proud of it.

A pullet house built to survive the storms.

I've used treated timber for the frame, paneled the walls and roof to keep the worst of the heat out and inside there are perches sufficient for a dozen birds.

Rear view showing the nesting boxes.

It comes with ventilation, a slide down entrance and nesting boxes, although seeing it's for pullets the nesting boxes weren't really needed.  Talking about the chooks, our friendly breeder Cat Wainright replaced our losses with a new cock and some hens to get the breeding going again.  We're trying to breed Blue Faverolles, but it is the nature of the breed that we also get Cuckoo, Black and Splash Faverolles as well, so meet the team...

The new gang comes together

Teddy, the Cuckoo Faverolle Cock, is a really teddy bear of a bird who is quite happy to have a cuddle.

The Black and Cuckoo Faverolle hens.

A Splash Faverolle Cockerel, Susanne's favourite.

and here's Charlotte, a Blue Faverolle Hen and exactly what we are trying to breed.

We collect the eggs and take them over to Cat at Hinterland Poultry who puts them into her incubators. Once the chicks hatch we collect the newborns and bring them back to raise them in our brooders, pullet runs, and once full grown back to Cat's for sale. Sometimes when we pick up the chicks an odd extra gets mixed in, but it's all good fun.

A mix of 3-week old chicks including a Buff Sussex, a Sussex Faverolle cross and a Cuckoo Faverolle enjoy a day out of the brooder in the chick run.

Still, enough about chooks, onto the wild birds...

Regulars (Seen at least 5 times a week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing

Male Common Bronzewing

Dusky Moorhen
Galah
Magpie Lark

Magpie Lark

Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Ducks & Dusky Moorhen

Rainbow Lorikeet
Purple Swamphen
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Wood Duck

Common  (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Blue-cheeked Honeyeater

Blue Cheeked Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater
Grey Butcherbird
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pale-headed Rosella

Pale Headed Rosella

Pied Currawong
Spangled Drongo

Spotted Turtle Dove
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail

Willie Wagtail

Uncommon (Seen 2-5x per month)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Dollarbird
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher
Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Friarbird
Rainbow Bee Eater
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Striated Pardalote
Welcome Swallow

Rare (Seen only once)

Cicadabird
Little Pied Cormorant
Rufous Whistler
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Scaly Breasted and Rainbow Lorikeets

Varied Sitella
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

Immature White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-faced Heron
White-throated Treecreeper

 Which is 51-species, not bad for a dry February.  Next month the drought breaks!