Sorry no photo. Today I saw a Pallid Cuckoo calling from an electricity line. At first I thought it might be a hawk but the time of year and long tail also made me suspect cuckoo. I have been hearing it for years so was glad to finally get a sighting. My field guide says it is sometimes called brainfever bird so it must be one of those birds whose call annoys some people,I don't mind it at all.
I never get to see any cuckoos Greg.... are they very good at hiding? Apparently we have them here too and in the areas I frequent, so I'll have to make it a challenge to get to know their calls at least. I think there are people with very low tolerance levels for bird sounds .... brain fever is acquired easily by heaps of people from what I can see :)
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Saw two Chanel Billed Cuckoo's this week-end being chased away by a couple of Crows. First two for this year.
Samford Valley Qld.
Hi Reflex,
You can report your sightings of the CBCs on the Birds in Backyards survey.
I haven't seen any for this season but I know other people in my area (Brisbane) have, so I'm on the lookout. At least 6 of them should arrive at my work at Mt Gravatt in a few weeks, as usually happens in October.
Where are you located?
Andy.
Samford Valley.
Samford Valley Qld.
Yep... I was lying awake at 2am this morning listening to them squawk!!!! They are definitely here along with the Koels
Sunshine Coast Queensland
This afternoon I saw a pallid cuckoo being chased by a group of dollarbirds, about 6 birds. I wonder if it is competition for food, or because they know what the cuckoo is up to?
I haven't heard of Dollarbirds before, they look like they belong to the same family as Swallows. Must keep an eye out for these.
I've been struggling to identify a small bird about the size of an Indian Miner that is currently nesting in a large hanging basket at home. It has a loud, pleasant and distinct call and I initially thought it was a Bell-bird.
I used the bird finder to try and identify the bird and it offered me two birds, a Grey Shrike Thrush and a Crested Bellbird. Neither of which I'm familiar with and still not happy that either one is correct.
The interesting thing is that this is the second brood. I just happened to be around at the time the chicks left the nest the first time and they looked every bit like female figbirds and nothing at all like the mother.
Unless figbirds are cuckoos??
(Must learn how to post a photograph because I'm still not sure what sort of bird this is).
Samford Valley Qld.
Reflex, your bird may be a whistler, maybe rufus whistler female. On the other hand shrike thrush fledglings look quite different from the mother. Cuckoos usually only lay one egg per nest, which hatches and pushes all other eggs/hatchlings out of the nest, so multiple chicks won't be cuckoos.
Reflex
Dollarbirds (Order Coraciiformes, Family Coraciidae) are more closely related to Kingfishers and Bee-eaters, which are in the same order (Coraciiformes) but are not even closely related to Swallows (Order Passeriformes, Fam. Hirundinidae). :)
Thanks Gregl, It's a Rufus Whistler.
Found this excellent photo on the internet.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arronsbirdphotos/2889772062/sizes/l/
I also found this one which shows the markings that I mentioned on the first three chicks which is a bit confusing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27089925@N02/2972383791/in/photostream/
Samford Valley Qld.
If you are having trouble identifying a bird its probably a female whistler. Your mention of the bellbird call made me think rufous. My garden is full of them, they can make a racket but its a nice call.
A couple of shots of the birds I was struggling to identify.
Samford Valley Qld.
It looks like a young Rufous Whistler. The yellow-ish gape is a dead cert giveaway that it's a young bird. I have though never seen a young Rufous Whistler and it's the plumage that seems to indicate to me so. Happy to be told I am not correct with ID. Always keen to learn. :)
I wonder if it's an immature grey shrike-thrush. If it was making an insistent bellbird-like call I think that is more likely. I haven't seen an immature whistler so I can't say for sure.
These two photos are off the chicks. The mother was difficult to get close enough to allow a clear shot.
I'm pretty sure now from looking at the internet photo's that they are Whistlers,(plus they really live up to their name).
Samford Valley Qld.