I go to the Orange Botanic Gardens most days on my lunch break. This is a list of the birds I've seen so far. I've been able to get photos of most of them.
Blue-faced Honeyeater
White-plumed Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Magpie
Red Wattlebird
Peewee
Black Duck
Wood Duck
Dusky Moorhen
Little Grebe
Little Pied Cormorant
Grey Thrush-shrike
Common Blackbird
White-browed Scrubwren
Superb Blue Wren
Pied Currawong
Galah
Eastern Rosella
Crimson Rosella
Willie Wagtail
Black-shouldered Kite
Brown Falcon
Australian Raven
Grey-breasted White-eye
Striated Pardalote
Red-rumped Parrot
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Black Duck
Dusky Moorhen
Magpie
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Nice photos. I'll look forward to seeing the rest
Nice shots, akasha.
That's a pretty good list for a lunch break :)
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Nice list akasha,
I'm sure there were seagulls out that way on my last trip,
though if its lunchtime, they'ed be up in KFC carpark.
Al
Thanks guys.
Yeah, there are seagulls on Lake Canobolas.
Here are a few more of the pics I've taken.
Red Wattlebird
White-plumed Honeyeater
Crimson Rosella
White-browed Scrubwren
Great shots again, akasha!
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I love the Crimson Rosella - one of my favourite birds.
The scrubwren's white brow makes it look so damn serious - like a schoolmaster. :)
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Mhmm, certainly agree with the Scrubwren analogy Timmo :) It hasn't been since recently I've noticed we actually have some white plumed honeyeaters around here, they are beautiful birds, nice photo! Sounds like the Botanical Gardens are beautiful for bird life, keep the photos coming they are a pleasure :)
Thanks again.
Yeah Timmo, the scrubwrens sure do look cranky.
The Botanic Gardens sure are great, I can't believe it took me this long to discover them.
I haven't been able to go up there for a couple of days because it's raining here.
Here are some photos I took last week.
Red Wattlebird
Pair of Wood Ducks
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The next pics are of Little Grebes. There are a pair of them. I sat and watched them building thier nest. They would swim out to the middle if the lake and then dive down. They pop up with some weed and then take it back to the reeds. Very cute! I'm hoping I'll be able to watch them raise their young over the next few months.
Enjoy!
They're Australasian Grebes by the way, it's amazing, I now see them at almost every water feature and before I had never noticed them before. Some pretty cool shots of them building their nest!
Thanks Amateur, glad you liked the photos. Hopefully I'll be able to post some of the chicks when they hatch.
I saw that you called them Australasian Grebes which got me to thinking. My field guide is the second edition (1994 edition) of Graham Pizzey's A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. In my guide they are refered to as Little Grebes so I did a search on the net. When I searched Australasian Grebe it tells me the scientific name is Tachybaptus novaehollandiae and when I searched Little Grebe I get Tachybaptus ruficollis as the scientific name. ruficollis I think is the European species.
In my field guide the scientific name is listed as Podiceps ruficollis. There are only 3 grebes in the guide the others being the Great Crested and the Hoary-headed so I know this is the right one.
I'm guessing that since 1994 the Australasian Grebe has been classied as a seperate species to the European ones?
Maybe it's time for me to update my field guide. I kind of don't want to though because I really love this one. I've had it since I was eight and taken it everywhere. Guess I'll have to think about it.
Little Grebes are native to Asia and would only come to Australia as a rare vagrant.
Australasian Grebes are so cute. I was busy taking photos of them one day when out of the corner of my eye a peregrine flew past. I was to late to get any photos of it.
Love all the photos!
Nice shots Akasha, you have a good variety of birds there,thanks for sharing.
I finally got back to the Botanic Gardens this week. The weather here has been terrible we had snow and then lots of rain which caused some minor flooding.
I was keen to get back and check on the Grebes. I thought maybe the nest had been washed away because the water level was up a bit and I saw one of them collecting weed.
But the next day I went back they seemed to have settled down and one of then was back in the reeds where the nest was, so hopefully they'll be ok.
Yesterday I saw these Red-rumped Parrots. Two males and a female. They are one of my favourite birds, the colours are so vivid.
I took this photo of a White-plumed Honeyeater but it wasn't till I got home and put the photo on the computer that I realised it was looking at a nest. I can't wait to get back to the Gardens and see if is using this nest or if it was just being a sticky beak.
I've got a few more species to add to the list too:
Yellow Thornbill
Grey Fantail
Crested Pigeon
Enjoy!
Yesterday I saw a white plumed honeyeater collecting wool that had been rubbed on a tree,its definitely nesting time. Sometimes birds do steal bits from other birds nests as well.
Mhmm, the Swallows at the station are lining their nest with feathers as well :) Nice photo of the White Plumed Honeyeater at its nest, and I like the crested pigeon photo as well! What a wonderful garden :)
Nice shots again Akasha.
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I actually saw a Whitebrowed scrubwren myself the other day, pecking around on my parents lawn. I didn't realise just how tiny they were from your photo, and expected something a bit larger than a fairy wren, rather than something about the size of my thumb :)
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GregL, yes it's nesting time here too, and spring is definitely in the air. I watched a crow being chased by a magpie for the long piece of twine (or twig) in it's beak today, and over the past few days I have seen Pied Butcherbirds flirting, crested pigeons doing the fantail dance, male brush turkeys fanning their tails and blue-tongue lizards mating. It's a lovely, exciting time of year!
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Cheers
Tim
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Thanks guys.
I checked the nest again today and no one was home so maybe that Honeyeater was stealing some building materials.
This was the first place I'd screen Scrubwrens and they are tiny. I actually saw some at home on the farm for the first time the other day.
I love this time of year too, when all the birds are twitterpated (according to the Owl in Bambi that's what happens at this time of year).
Here is a pic of a Magpie having a bath:
And some Blue-faced Honeyeaters. An adult and an immature one:
I finally got back to the Garden today, I haven't been there since the 31st because it's been raining.
The Grebe's have two babies now! They look like they are a few weeks old. I wonder if they'd already hatched last time I was there but I didn't see them. Do they hide under their parents wings? Today when a duck swam past one got spooked and tried to climb under the parents wing but it was too big to fit. I'm going to try to get some more photos tomorrow if the weather is still nice.
And I saw this Red-browed Finch too: