Double Barred Finch and bar shouldered dove

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birdie
birdie's picture
Double Barred Finch and bar shouldered dove

I had a few minutes to spare between taxiing my daughter around in the weekend so I decided to try out the new 2 X teleconverter that I got  ( thanks to cathshane yessmiley) . I headed down to the netball courts locally which border a conservation area called Eudlo creek. Basically this is  a paperbark forest with lots of uncontrolled "weed"species such as the dreaded Convulvulous and Lantana .  It is a hugely productive area for the smaller bird species especially in Winter, and yesterday was no disappointment even though I did not get shots of many of them. As usual, I could hear a lot more than I  could see, but I was rewarded with a great sighting of a pair of Bar Shouldered Doves ( my favourite Dove), a bird that I can usually hear from afar but not spot through the trees.

. I can't find out how to tell male from female but this one was watching every move I made and moving accordingly up and down the branch while his /her mate sat one tree behind  very well disguised and still.

Before I had even got out of the car I found a delightful pair of Double barred Finches grazing on the mown grass strip next to the creek . They were not too afraid of me but rather were concentrating hard on their meal .

Others that I found but couldnt capture were red browed finches, silver eyes, brown honey eaters and I think a mistletoe bird but couldnt confirm. For a forty minute outing I was pretty happy with that. I even had a visit from  a black faced cuckoo shrike aswell.

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Wonderful Adrienne, some of those I haven't seen yet, although we should have most of them down here.The Double Barred Finch is an interesting bird. It always amazes me what nature comes up with, they are a very stylish bird. Very stylish photos too.

M-L

cathshane

Great shots Adrienne, hope to see these one day when we head north.

birdie
birdie's picture

Thank you M-L and cathshane.... they are a very chic looking little bird I agree m-L

Sunshine Coast Queensland

pacman
pacman's picture

Birdie said 'I can't find out how to tell male from female'

M-L is good at gender identificationwink

good pics, especially #3 - the double-bar finch is a great looking bird

I am just stirring M-L over a recent thread laugh

Peter

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Hmm Peter, I have asked that question before, but never got answers, "can you have same gender attrackted " birds?blush

M-L

Owen1
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Nice shots Birdie. I had a huge thrill when I saw my first Bar-shouldered Dove. I can see why you like them so much.

Cheers, Owen.

birdie
birdie's picture

Thanks Owen... I had a pair of them over the back fence at my last house and I heard them every morning until it nearly drove me mad not knowing what they were. Then when I went to Woodgate, I saw one in a glade of trees and heard the same call from it.... suddenly I iknew what it was. That is the fun part of birdwatching isn't it, when you put two and two together and discover the identity of something that has been bugging you? Since then I have heard quite a few of them but usually from well within the bush and they are so well camouflaged that it is hard to pick them out. it took mme plenty of shots on Sunday before I realised that the mate was sitting on the branch behind it LOL  I love the barring on them and the Peaceful doves

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Owen1
Owen1's picture

Yes I had a similar experience with Peaceful Dove. I heard them calling at dusk in Terrick Terrick NP and it bugged me for ages what call it was and eventually I found out on the internet. I ended up seeing my first one shortly after that.

Cheers, Owen.

Karen
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Great pics, and I too am an avid fan of the bar shouldered dove.  Another birds affected by the large scale destruction of Mt. Cotton.

Karen
Brisbane southside.

birdie
birdie's picture

Where exactly is Mt Cotton Karen?

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Karen
Karen's picture

Its sort of south east of Brisbane city, in the Redlands shire.  A beautiful area, and so full of wild life of all types.  The destruction of this area is criminal, IMO.  Animals I've seen just in a back yard include wallaby, koala, possum, echidna, goanna (2 types), huge, ancient python (road kill, head on the verge on one side of the road, tail lost in the grass on the opposite side.  I cry when I think how long it took to grow so big, and how it died in agony in just a few minutes).  The bird life is incredible.

Karen
Brisbane southside.

clif2
clif2's picture

Karen, It looks like the properties that border Berrinba Wetlands are next on the list of destruction. They wish to run a roadway through these areas. I was to talking to a women on the weekend at Riverdale Park whose family were the owners of Berrinbah before land taxes forced them to sell off about 800 acres, now they want the rest for a feeder road to Jimboomba. The thing is they already have a motorway and a 4 lane road to take them there, so seems unnecessary. They have found koalas there as well. I told the lady I would send photos I had taken there, as it may help and I told her the story of  Mebbin the white-bellied sea eagle, the guardian of Scrubby Creek, she was very interested in that. The lady also mentioned something about a planned burnoff at Berrinbah, where I was concerned about the Buff-banded Rails I had photographed there and the quails etc. Grim indeed.

Regards

               Shane

clif2
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Birdie I apologise for using your post, I hope you don't mind.

Regards

               Shane

Karen
Karen's picture

Shane, there has already been huge controvesy around the Berrinba Wetlands area.  Developers moved in and while protesters looked on helplessy, koalas were slaughtered as they took down the trees.  They wouldn't even allow carers in to rescue orphaned babies which could be heard from the road.  It was a cold blooded massacre.  To think it might be repeated is unbearable.  I'll make some inquiries and see who it is best to contact to lodge our protests against the road.  I think the Beaudesert shire council has blocked moves to improve the Beaudesert-Mt Lindsay highway, but I thought that had been sorted out.  I've lost touch with everything like that lately, so better get back into it again.

Adrienne, sorry to intrude again, but it is about what is happening to our birds not just here, but in far too many places in our country, indeed, in the world.

Karen
Brisbane southside.

clif2
clif2's picture

So So Sad

Regards

               Shane

birdie
birdie's picture

No worries at all about following the conversation.... I cannot believe what I am reading here Karen...... I feel sick  about the koalas and just don't understand the mentality of this state at all.......... development at any cost it seems. the very things that draw people here are going to be dead and buried and we will be left with a giant Gold Coast like sprawl .... I am shaking my head in disgust crying

Sunshine Coast Queensland

ScottTas
ScottTas's picture

Beautiful photos. I grew up in Gympie Qld and always LOVED seeing those little finches.

Qld has a disastrous conservation record, and even that's probably putting it mildly. Good on you Karen for getting involved and seeing what can be done. Best of luck to you.

Cheers,

Scott.

Woko
Woko's picture

Ms Woko & I have put our Queensland holiday on hold for about 2 billion years to allow the environment to recover.

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Great shots Birdie.

On the note of development. Why does it not surprise me? We have less than 1km from our front door around 1000 Ha of woodland and grassland previously a defence area, now opened as Jordan Springs, Penrith's newest address. The councils and governments totally ignored the environmental significance of this area, which holds remnants of Cumberland Plain Woodland, of which only some 6% of the original amount remains. So well done to all the governments who think profits and chummy mateships with the developer companies far outweigh the importance of preserving of natural areas.

My local community with the help of the Western Sydney Conservation Alliance had fought for years and years for nothing.

http://www.wsca.org.au/

Woko
Woko's picture

That website makes tragic reading, Windhover. It's hard to stay positive when confronted with such vandalism. In my darker moments I sometimes think that change will only occur when the environment has become so degraded that company profits will disappear & cities abandoned. This has already happened to some extent in the Murray-Darling Basin yet still the calls for more water extraction come so I guess we're not at that lowest of low points yet. Perhaps all we can do is try to replace what once existed in our own gardens & on our roadsides. Guerilla plantings in council parts might be another thing to do. Small recompense, I know, but it's something. Keep hope alive.

Karen
Karen's picture

It's a hard battle where money talks loudest.  The partnership between councils and developers is set in stone, I'm afraid.  I tried to get onto a group protesting the Berrinba Wetlands development but there is very little activity going on there at the moment.  Apparently we have a divided council, with 2 councillors resisting the further development.  But I fear the $$$$$$ will win the day.  They want the south opened up, and are prepared to take smaller steps over the next 20 or 30 years to achieve their goals.  In that time, people can be removed from places of power (doesn't seem to take much these days) and new ones put in place who will help these developers achieve their goals.They do say what steps you can take, but just the obvious (letters to politicians and councils).

I hate being so negative about all this, but I'm not trying to be.  I am simply trying to show that these people have what it takes to go as far as they want to go, and apparently they have the time as well.  A few people protesting don't have much going for them.  Any who want to get into power to help change the rules are likely to end up like Pauline Hanson - set up for a fall, jailed, or worse.  She was their warning to anyone thinking about trying to stop them.  Buying up the land involved if possible?  All they'll do is tax you out the back gate again.  This is a big and very dirty war. 

Woko, I think your way is the best way.  Plant natives that grow locally and get the backyards thriving with life, as much as possible, especially on acreage properties that have the space for animals to be at home in.  I personally think all waterways should be avoided and left development free.  Mind you, I think all beaches should never have been developed either.

Karen
Brisbane southside.

birdie
birdie's picture

Woko, I too have those darker moments...., when you look around at all the greed and wealth and development at all cost mentalities and I think....well what then???? What will you want after it has all gone  and what will it gain you if you are the richest person or company at the top of a garbage site???

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Woko
Woko's picture

I share your thoughts, birdie. The short term mentality of it all & the inability to think further than the next massive development or election is quite interesting. The fact that the fat controllers don't have any vision of what it'll be like when Nature is completely stuffed shows what inadequate, incompetent people they are, in my view. They seem to be quite content to dig their own & everyone else's graves.  

Another view I have is that power is even more important than money to these hoons. Money is a way of them getting power & control. If in some way we can threaten their power then maybe there would be change. Theoretically, at least, that's where democracy comes in. However, the populace is so dumbed down by the control of the fat controllers over the media, education, consumerism & other aspects of our lives that it's very hard to get enough people on board to threaten the power of the hoons. It can be very frustrating &, worst of all, paralysing. I know that I felt much like this when I worked in a government bureaucracy. My way of coping with it & producing something beneficial (I hope) was to adopt a low profile, say things to make management think I was supporting their destructive games & then do my own thing. This is where guerilla tactics come in. We have control over our own immediate environments & that's where we can act to restore habitats & encourage wildlife. At the same time we just might provide models for some others to emulate. But we'd need to keep the results quiet because as soon as the fat controllers heard about them they'd rationalise their vandalism of the environment by saying that it doesn't matter because people are replacing the bushland in their backyards. So it's quite a delicate balancing act knowing what to advertise & what to keep under the rug. But I know my guerilla tactics at work, if nothing else, gave me a sense of control over my immediate situation & the energy to do productive things.

To take on politically & directly the fat controllers of government & business takes a lot more knowledge & skill than I'll ever possess. But it's important to support the people who possess such knowledge & skills & who share pro-Earth values. Perhaps we need to look closely at what we can offer to protect the environment & consider where we can best offer it.

Yes, it's not all doom & gloom, folks. There are a few people at the top of businesses who are doing good environmental things. There's even a Tassie businessperson who will, I hope, take over Bob Brown's senate seat. Within councils there are environmental officers who are battling away against entrenched anti-environmentalism & who need our support. With computers & printers we can produce small newsletters about environmental issues in our neighbourhoods which can be distributed in letter boxes & so introduce a different way of thinking to people. Thinking globally & acting locally has a lot of merit, I believe, especially in the face of the juggernaut of Earth destruction which seems to be holding sway at present.

clif2
clif2's picture

Unfortunately our new Premier is pro- development, so now we don't know what might happen as there is a huge ego that goes with this man and a person with a huge ego can make life for all respectable people miserable, and what about the wildlife. Time will tell.

Regards

               Shane

birdie
birdie's picture

I totally agree with your comments Woko and Shane .... very interesting reading Woko, I can tell you have thought long and hard about these issues over the years.  And yes Shane, the ego is a big worry and the pro development lobby here in Qld has always been alive and well. As I celebrate the beauty around me in every day and with every walk , sadly I also grieve for the planet. I find it hard to look at images on TV of Orangutangs etc when they are shown without their habitats and of other wildlife that is suffering at the hands of our kind. There are many moments when I am moved to tears while looking into the eyes of the displaced and confused wildlife, but I think it is  the primates and the elephants that seem to be searching our souls when they regard us.crying

As you say Woko, we cannot fix the world as a whole but we can look after our local areas and do what we can in the meantime .

Sunshine Coast Queensland

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