Twemgirl's Big Year 2020

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karentwemlow
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91. Rock Dove

Have I got this one right? I don't see any of these at my place, though there do appear to be quite a few around the North Richmond area. We were on our way to the local fruit and veg shop yesterday when I saw this one. Locals probably thought I was a bit nuts as I got my camera out to try to take a pic.

PS. I am getting an error message ('An AJAX HTTP request terminated abnormally') when I try to add a related factsheet, so no factsheet selected.

dwatsonbb
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Hi Karen your ID is correct, Rock Dove, aka feral pigeon.

The error is not only with adding a fact sheet, just tried to PM admin, and got the same one, so I have sent an email to Holly to report the issue. Hopefully someone can have a look tomorrow. (Wouldn't expect tech support on a Sunday).

Thanks for highlighting the error.

Dale

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
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Yes, correct as Dale said. It must be wonderful to keep seeing new birds in these times. We are enjoying them, thank you. Your backyard sounds like a fantastic haven.

sue818
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The northerly migration of honeyeaters in Autumn has begun. Large numbers are being reported passing through the Blue Mountains in the mornings. You may be well placed to benefit so keep a look out. 

karentwemlow
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Thanks Sue. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater is my most common visitor all year round. I haven't seen the migration the last few years but maybe will this year? I will definitely keep an eye out. 

karentwemlow
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92. Jacky Winter

I went out for my morning cuppa today, and within 10 minutes I had seen 13 bird species. I've seen these little ones here a couple of times before but not often. There were two of them hanging out together today. Beautiful little birds I think.

Other visitors during my morninig cuppa:

Pied Currawong

Grey Fantail

Double-barred Finch

Willie Wagtail

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Australian Magpie

Spotted Pardalote

Satin Bowerbird

Grey Shrike-thrush

Superb Fairywren

Variegated Fairywren

Rufous Whistler

dwatsonbb
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Lucky you nice range, keepem coming. 7 of those would be new to me.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

karentwemlow
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Thanks Dale. I haven't had downtime like many others, not that I'm complaining, work is really busy. But I took today off and this morning was a cracker with so many birds flying around me, I'm sure I missed a few too. My son and I are just getting ready for a 'stake in'. Last night we had a microbat flying around the roof space. I opened doors downstairs hoping it would fly out. It got close a few times but eventually flew back up to the roof and found somewhere to rest. I went to bed and couldn't find it this morning. I'm hoping it made it's way out. But I've removed the fly screens from windows so about to turn all the lights off and open windows and doors and see if it 'wakes up'. One problem is that my bedroom is a loft (I slept in my son's room last night so I could close the door!) and the flyscreen up there doesn't come off so there are no windows in the roof area where he's flying, he has to come back down to the ground floor. He was pretty close last night but only had the door open, will be more exits tonight..... so fingers crossed he's either already escaped or he will do tonight!

dwatsonbb
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Micro bats are cool critters. I once had to remove one from a ladies house (do a bit of wildlife rescue) she literally "had a bat in her belfry", hard part was finding it. I used a fish landing net to capture it against the wall (one with really fine "rubberised" netting. Also use gloves, as bats can carry some nasty diseases, which can transfer to humans if bitten. Took it outside and it flew straight back in, which was good, because we we able to locate it's entry point and block it up. Once caught for,the second time she kept it in a shoe box until dark, which of course is the best time to release anyway. 
Glad your finding some time to share your surrounds with your son.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

karentwemlow
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My little microbat had found a comfy spot on the ceiling and didn't want to move. I didn't spot him until about 7pm. After opening all windows and doors downstairs (have a loft bedroom which is where he was, and open exposed timber ceiling) I gently prodded him with a spare curtain rod and he 'growled' at me, did not want to move. I didn't push him. I called in an expert from Sydney Wildlife and she came up with a net. We attached the net to the curtain rod with sticky tape and she managed to get him into the net. A very gentle and delicate process to extract him from the net. She's taken him away to check him out properly though he didn't appear to have wing damage. She thought if he wasn't keen on flying that he may have something else wrong with him. She was going to give him the once over and feed him up and then hopefully bring him back for release (outside!).

Not sure where this little one came in, but perhaps down the chimney. That was lucky for your little bat that he showed you where he was getting in so you could block it up.

karentwemlow
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93. Spotted Quail-thrush

Out for my daily bike ride/bush walk and spotted this one. This is only the second time I have seen one here. 

Couldn't see a fact sheet for this one, searched Spotted, Quail and Thrush. Unless it has a different name?

sue818
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Nice one, Karen! Try Quail-thrush. Good to see your posts.

karentwemlow
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94. Superb Lyrebird

Ok, I know this is not a great photo, but I also know it is a Superb Lyrebird. I saw and heard it before I got the camera out. But it ran so fast!! I just love these guys. There are quite a few of them hanging around the creek in the gully behind my property. I took this pic on a recent 4 hour bushwalk down there a few weeks ago. The spot where Wheeny Creek meets Little Wheeny Creek is not far from the back boundary of my property and was about as far as I got on this walk. It's so isolated down there, I just love it. I'm hoping my Superb Lyrebird here is enough for others to ID???

If not, I will make a conscious effort to go back and get a better photo (which I might do anyway).

The black line on the map is the walk I did. The dotted line is where I wanted to go but I ran into some thick ground cover and didn't want to walk where I couldn't see what I was stepping on! Nearly made it to the back of my property (red boundary shows my property). I can hear a number of Super Lyrebirds from my property, I think this is the time of year for the boys to be noisy right?

karentwemlow
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Thanks Sue, no nothing comes up with Quail-thrush either.... 

Devster
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Wow, how lucky are you to have them near your property. I have yet to see one or even hear one in the wild

karentwemlow
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95. Rose Robin

I've only seen one Rose Robin on my property before, this one visited a few weeks ago. The second pic is from a trip I'm currently on in Canberra, when we went for a walk up to the top of Mt Ainslie. 

karentwemlow
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96. European Goldfinch

After working every day since 23rd March, including weekends and public holidays, I finally had 3 days off and took a road trip to Canberra with the boys. We stopped at a Winery on the Hume highway along the way, for coffee and I spotted this little one. Never seen one of these before.

karentwemlow
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97. Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Lots of these little ones around the area we are staying. 

karentwemlow
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98. Eastern Rosella

Mt Ainslie reserve has an abundance of trees with hollows, so the area is full of parrots. I see the occasional Eastern Rosella in my street at home but for some reason very rarely have I seen them on my property. Even here the numbers are much smaller than the Crimson Rosellas.

karentwemlow
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Replacement Galah (#78) and some of the other locals in Mt Ainslie Nature Reserve. 

sue818
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Nice ones, Karen. I like your locals as well. Seems Mt Ainslie is a good place to visit so looking forward to seeing more.

karentwemlow
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We stayed in Ainslie, which was a great spot, right at the foot of the mountain which was full of wildlife, and walking distance to the city. I booked it some time ago and almost didn't go, but really needed to get away from work for a few days. We visited the War Memorial and walked to the top of Mt Ainslie (with a 5yo), and walked to the city for dinner one night. Didn't use the car at all which was great. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens on our way home yesterday afternoon. Lots of birdlife there, but no new ones for me. However hubby and son bought me this book from the shop at the Gardens, so now I might actually do my first real pre-meditated bird trip!

I'm also really hoping our North Queensland holiday for my 50th birthday in October will still be able to go ahead. Borders are open for now, though QLD has restricted travel to people from some areas of Sydney (not the Hawkesbury where I am, luckily) as I'm looking forward to seeing some of the birdlife in that area. But if not, I will just have to have a special 51st birthday instead.

dwatsonbb
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Nice going Karen, your going well, and I like our background stories to go along with the photos.

That book looks good, might have to look at that, if our borders open (Tasmania) and we can resume some domestic travel. Think we all just need to be patient, and try to keep as safe as we can.

Thanks again for sharing your photos and stories.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

karentwemlow
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No new birds for me today but we did get out very early this morning at sunrise and went for a bushwalk along the cliffs in the Blue Mountains National Park at Grose Vale. On our way out I had the window down and heard him first, then spotted this beautiful Glossy Black Cockatoo. I made hubby stop the car and I followed it into the bush where it sat nicely for me to let me get a fairly good pic.

We went off to the local community nursery after this and bought 27 new native plants. We all picked some, mine are for the smaller birds. They had mature plants in the garden there with almost a dozen finch/fairywren nests in them so I bought some of those. They will take a while to grow. Bought 2 other species, hubby bought 2 species and my son picked one. We weren't able to plant today as it is really windy (gale force winds predicted for later this evening). But looking forward to getting out into the garden soon to make it even more 'little bird friendly'. 

The lady at the nursery recommended pruning them, though theirs have gone a bit wild. They can't prune them as there are so many nests in them!

karentwemlow
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Sorry I don't know why those plant images loaded sideways, they show upright when I open from my laptop?

dwatsonbb
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Good on you for planting to attract the birds. Your Glossy Black is on my bucket list. Great your getting out, even if you didn't see any new birds. I have a few more photos to sort through, but don't think there is anything new for me either, maybe just some upgrades. Looking forward to more from you and the others.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
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Love the Glossy Black-cockatoo and wonderful views on that walk, lucky you! The planting seems like a great idea so hope the birds visit even more.

Your pictures may have self orientated on your laptop screen but remained side on unless edited in a programme. 
Enjoy your walks and lovely neighbourhood. Stay safe!

karentwemlow
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99. White-plumed Honeyeater

I have this little one in care at the moment after a window strike. He flew into the window of the vet clinic! I kept him overnight and took him back this morning but he's not ready for release. He's staying with me today then going on to someone who has a quieter household to monitor him again overnight. Really hoping he will be able to be released soon. Such a sweet little thing.

sue818
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Good job! Lovely bird.

We picked up 4 young Eastern Spinebills on our way south one time. So many were flying into the reflective glass of the new tourist centre and lying stunned that the staff were keeping them in a box to recover. We released 3 but had to take the last one to a vet ... where it promptly flew around the surgery albeit poorly before being passed on to a wildlife carer. 

Alex Rogers
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I just had a chance to catch up on your postings - some lovely sightings there Karen :-) 

I've camped at Wheeny Creek - I love the area, but the campsite is prone to being overrun with hoons out for a wild party, not really conducive to quiet camping, so I tend to avoid it nowadays. What a great place to have a bit of land though :-) 

karentwemlow
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Thanks Alex. No I'm not a big fan of the campground at Wheeny Creek. Last time we went I spent an hour or so picking up rubbish. Filled two shopping bags. I prefer to go where there are no humans. Plenty of adventures from my place directly to Wollemi National Park and the walk down to the creek is through private property, only one other neighbour goes down there.

karentwemlow
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100. Australian Raven

Not a new one for me but one from back in January that I realised I hadn't yet posted.

dwatsonbb
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Congrats on you century, you have posted so beautiful birds and lovely photos Thanks.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
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Wonderful, a century, well done in challenging conditions. 

Devster
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Grats on the Century

Alex Rogers
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Well done on 100! 

I love the Wollemi, how fabulous that your place backs onto it. I've been looking at properties on the other side of the Park (Wolgan / Capertee) but changed circumstances mean that is likely never going to happen. Ah well, lucky that there is so much good free camping there :-) I've got 5 days camping at Coorongooba Campground (Capertee) coming up in October, and I'm looking forward to some good birding before the kids wake up :-) 

karentwemlow
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Thanks everyone!

And Alex that sounds great, Capertee is a lovely area isn't it? We stayed at Turon Gates once which was great. And we did some tree planting for the Regent Honeyeater a couple of years ago in a beautiful spot, Glen Alice or Glen Davis??

Yes having the Wollemi as our backyard is awesome, we don't actually know where our property ends and the national park begins, so we consider it all our backyard. We can see to the ridge of Mountain Lagoon trail. Plenty of smoke along there last summer, hoping we don't have so many fires this summer as nothing within 3-4km of us was burnt so there is plenty of fuel there.

karentwemlow
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101. Channel-billed Cuckoo

I saw this one last weekend but didn't manage a decent enough photo. I also saw an Eastern Koel and have heard a Fan-tailed Cuckoo. So the brood parasites have well and truly arrived!

I have found 4 active nests at my place so far, all quite close to the house. I have Magpies, Noisy Friarbirds, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Common Bronzewings. I'm fairly sure I have White-throated Gerygones nesting too as I hear them a lot but am not going out of my way to seek out the nests. I want them to have their privacy plus I also get too attached if the nestlings don't make it, so I'm better off not knowing too much.

The Channel-billed Cuckoos make me nervous for many reasons - eating baby birds or depositing their own eggs! I know it is nature and it would be interesting to watch the magpies raising a channel-billed cuckoo. I will have to wait and see what happens. Mrs Magpie has been on the nest since the 1st September so expecting her eggs to hatch any day now, perhaps too late for the Cuckoo. And we will find out if Mr Magpie wants to swoop us. Hopefully he knows us by now....

Anyway, not a great pic but I'm happy to add #101 even if it is the big scary Channel-billed Cuckoo (today swiftly moved on by a bunch of Red Wattlebirds - their aggression comes in handy sometimes!).

sue818
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One year, we had a Channel-billed Cuckoo being fed by a Pied Currawong in our backyard.... size difference impressive. They are calling in Sydney now. Your little patch is doing so well. I look forward to more and hopefully, the magpies consider you their family by now.

Alex Rogers
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I've never managed a Channel-bill photo, they are normally being moved on by other birds, or deep in a bush when I see them. They are back in Sydney, as Sue says, I hear them every day but haven't seen one yet. Nice work on catching one :-) 

sue818
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I think birthday wishes are due. Hope it was a lovely day with family and feathered friends.

karentwemlow
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Thanks Sue! Yes it was a milestone birthday and meant to be spent in Port Douglas, but instead a lovely gathering at home which my husband organised without me knowing. He also organised bird cake, it looks to me like a Glossy Black Cockatoo (one of my guests said but it's not really glossy.... or black... 'exactly' I said). My son had a little too much fun chopping it's head off! But other than that was a very pleasant afternoon and a slow day today :-).

I do have two birds to add from a recent trip up the coast to my mum's place. Will hop online tonight and update that and the stats overall.

Devster
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Happt Birthday Karen. Glad you had a nice tiem with family. Love the thoughtfullness of the cake. Even if it is not entirely accurate, it is a great effort.

karentwemlow
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Thanks! And given the Glossy Black Cockatoo is neither glossy nor black really.... I think it's a pretty good likeness :-). 

karentwemlow
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102. Royal Spoonbill

The first of two new birds for me this year while visiting my mum on the Central Coast. Poor quality pics, but EBC right?

Mum lives in a Golf Course estate, lots of water around. I also saw some juvenile Purple Swamphens, they were so fluffy and cute but with huge feet.

karentwemlow
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103. Silvereye

Second newbie for me from mum's place. I have had these at my place, but so far I'm not getting the same variety of smaller birds here this season, maybe still early days, will keep my eye out. This one was a long way away, I almost missed it. There were so many tiny birds in the bush next to mum's place.

dwatsonbb
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Still to see a Spoonbill. Both are clearly identifiable, so EBC or not they are great birds to see. You travelling quite well, looking forward to more, thanks.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
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Love the cake and the effort that went into organising it for you. Good to see you are adding somemore birds. Love those little Silvereyes.

Alex Rogers
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Belated happy birthday :-) And how cool to see a spoonbill - I love the Royals particularly, such striking birds. 

karentwemlow
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104. Wonga Pigeon

This is a new one for my yard list, I spotted it on the road not far from my house when I was out for a walk yesterday. Thought it was an introduced pigeon at first, I have never seen one of these before. Happy to know it's a native :-)

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