I was sitting on the patio with my wife whinging that we dont get the variety of birds that we used to "just sparrows" she said whats that big one over there I turned to see a Brown Goshawk taking off ,that shut me up for a while.
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Are you a pommy, sparrow , they have been known to do that.
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Perhaps the brown goshawk was attracted by the sparrows, sparrow. Any thoughts on why the variety of birds has decreased in your area?
Woco when we moved here there had been major flooding and everything was green and lush for the first time in years the bushes, shrubs doubled in size almost over night ,now its dry again every thing is open and spindly not much cover or food ,we have tried to plant natives indigenous to the area where possible but they take a while to get going so we just keep adding more!
there is little doubt he was after the sparrows, good luck to him he can have the lot, It does explain the little piles of feathers I sometines find around the yard .
Hi, Sparrow. It sounds as tho' the birds which visit you over time are participants in the ups & downs of the Australian environment. No doubt a good rain or two will see your indigenous plants putting on growth, being productive & attracting a variety of wildlife, including birds. Good luck & keep watching from your patio!
Just a note of caution on the idea of planting things for the purpose of retaining birds in your area, even during drought. I've posted before about the Victorian research on dead red wattle birds found in Mebourne's suburbs some years ago. Researchers discovered that they'd died of thiamin deficiency. The somewhat intricate reason for the deficiency was that people in Melbourne's suburbs had planted lots of Australian natives which flowered at different times from the species which were indigenous to the Melbourne area. These flowers kept the red wattle birds in Melbourne at a time when they would normally have migrated to other parts where there were insects which supplied their thiamin needs. So by intentionally or unintentionally retaining red wattle birds through planting non indigenous natives Melbourne was losing its red wattle birds. We upset the natural order of things at our own peril & the peril of wildlife.
My area (s.e. slopes of Mt Lofty Ranges, SA) is gripped by a new drought but I'm finding that the bird life on our property is quite prolific at present. Most of our vegetation is indigenous or very close to it & twice now I believe our property has become a drought refuge for birds. Just this morning I heard a bird call (a short, fairly high-pitched "peep") I hadn't previously heard followed by four birds generally grey in colour & of roughly New Holland Honeyeater size flying from a tree canopy. I was unable to identify them by call or sight so there may well be yet another species attracted to our property at this time.
sounds great Woko, all the hard work has paid off for you and Mrs Woko. In the last ten years we have planted a variety of small trees that produce fruit rather than flowers, at the moment we have a few [ Polyscias elegans] Celerywood in full fruit . Attracting flocks of fig birds, brown pigeons, bowerbirds and catbirds. Up above, in the white flowering swamp mahogany, which are just off their peak, mobs of noisy friarbirds and lorrikeets squabble amongst themselves untill an osprey swoops in and snaps off a dead branch, from a nearby Flooded gum. Robins, fantails and whistlers are working the understory in peace & harmony catching any insect that wiggles. In the cottage garden a satin bowerbird has built a bower and is never happy where the blue items are placed. Whipbirds and wrens are jumping about , always on the lookout for any green grub munching on the exotic leaves. The backyard is just on the move.
Autumn - it's a great time of the year. Diversity of plants, that creates a zone for all to enjoy.
Woko those honeyeater size birds you heard, could they have been a sittella, just a guess ?
sorry sparrow not trying to rub it in.
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
That's a damn good notion, darin. I've just checked my trusty Morcombe iPad app & low & behold the juvenile call of race leucoptera is very close to what I heard. Here we have the race pileata, not leucoptera, but I guess the calls, particularly of the juveniles, are likely to be similar. Someone with more experience than I have of the various varied sittella calls might like to comment.
I've been expecting sittellas here for a few years now as there are plenty of trees with plenty of bugs under plenty of bark to attract them. One was seen about 6 years ago about 2 km from our place so it may well be the case that the sittellas have now landed.
I live in Stawell in the western district of Victoria before the floods this area had endured almost 20years of drought conditions so the local wildlife is used to doing it hard .
I am only about 6-7 k from the Grampians N/P and the closest reserve is only 200m from my back fence so im not trying to change there feeding patterns just bring them into the yard as part of there natural forageing thats why I want plants from the local area,my wife has her roses and other flowering plants and they give them a good going over looking for insects .
If i had my way the back yard would look like the bush in the Grampians.
we olso have a old orchard next door which brings in the parrots
and as l, his wife reads this , l would have all flowers and no shrubs, but l do love the wild life here too.. Maggie xx