Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Some of my feathered friends in the garden

Please click on images to enlarge
Wonga Pigeon
It is a native to Australia found along the east coast from south-eastern Queensland to Gippsland, Victoria. It is a very shy bird.
Channel-billed Cuckoo
The Channel-billed Cuckoo migrates to northern and eastern Australia from New Guinea and Indonesia between August and October each year. The birds leave Australia in February or March. It lays its eggs in the nests of the Australian Magpie, the Pied Currawong, and members of the Crow family. Unlike many other cuckoos, the young birds do not evict the host's young or eggs from the nest, but simply grow faster and demand all the food, thus starving the others. Often the adult female will damage the existing eggs in the nest when she lays her own and she may even lay more than one egg in a single nest. This one in the picture above was reared by a crow because it was following "mummy" crow demanding more food when I took this picture.

Noisy Miner
These birds are native and belong to the Honey eater group. They are very territorial and can always be found in large groups, making a lot of noise. Some people think that they are actually a pest. They also like water very much and love to frolic in the bird bath.

Fig Bird
Fig Birds breed from October to February, and lay 2-3 eggs each. Both parents care for the young. This one is a female Fig bird which I photographed sunbathing in the Courtyard



Pale-headed Rosella
This bird is also native and is very timid and shy. They always visit the garden in pairs. So when you see one bird, the other one is also close by. They don't feed together. One bird always acts as the look out, while the other one feeds and vice versa. This one I was lucky to photograph through the window in the living room during winter. It was attracted by the seed from the bird cage which houses a cockatiel. It must have been hungry as they seldom come so close to the house.

"Birds of a feather flock together"


3 comments:

  1. Marie-Louise, your garden is a heaven for all the birds. They bring so much pleasure. I love their different sounds, the tinkling bell calls of the Rosellas, the continuous chatter of the Miners or the special whip sounds of the Whipbirds I barely ever see but hear all the time. Great photo of the channel billed Cuckoo. Love Mum.

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  2. I love birds. You are so lucky to have those beautiful birds flying nearby and able to take pictures of them.Blossom Blooms

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  3. Marie Louise..
    I have to agree your birds are quite different to my birds in Guildwood. Very interesting post and great pictures.
    -Cheers Gisela.

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