Where have all our garden birds gone?

[monkeysarefun]

Visited a local animal park today, here's some OZ natives:

 

Obvious:

 

 

 

A southern Cassowary. They inhabit  the rainforests of Nth Queensland around the Cairns kind of area.  Known as the "Worlds Deadliest Bird" because their feet can disembowel you if you  get it cranky.  That said, despite there being 150 recorded attacks by them  there's only been  2 fatalities.

 

One was in 1926 when two teenage boys tried to hit one with a stick and it retaliated, and the other in 2019 in Florida USA of all places, when a 77 year old man who had somehow scored one as a pet was attacked by it. 

 

We do not keep Cassowaries as pets.

 

 

A Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo and a Kookaburra. There is a similar Black Cockatoo that has a red tail. No prizes for guessing what that got named.

 

 

 

 

These used  to be called Mopokes when I was young, now called a Tawny Frogmouth. They are nightbirds like an owl is a night bird but they are not of the owl family.

 

They can look quite crazy when they look straight on at you. This one looks quite stubby but they have this awesome skill whereby if they are spotted in the daytime in a tree they will stretch themselves into a long thin shape  so they look just like a branch coming off of the limb they are roosting on. 

 

Their  feathers do look like knobbly bark, which helps the camouflage. They are very hard to spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internet sourced example of their camo trick:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[03060]

The Cassowaries certainly look like the 1/2 way stage between the dinosaurs and modern birds.

 

The Mopoke (Tawny Frogmouth) is just fascinating, thanks for sharing.

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

(Just off to look up Black Cockatoos ... carefully ! LoL)

[The Blue Streak]

Full moon last night.

 

There seemed to be a lot of owls out and about. Parked up on various lineside scenery.

Mostly the large white type as can be found in Western Australia.

But the odd tawny frogmouth was floating around too.

 

No pictures sorry, as we were rattling along quite nicely although they dont seem to be perturbed by the presence of the train.

 

However a friend recently found this one near the side of the road. It thankfully survived the night and was dropped off at a wildlife carers the next day. 

By all accounts its doing quite nicely.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by The Blue Streak
Added info

[The Blue Streak]

Not quite a bird. 

 

But we do have this Bungarra (Race horse goanna, pop by quite often to drink out of the water that gets put out for the finches and silvereyes that visit our garden

Edited November 29, 2023 by The Blue Streak

[monkeysarefun]

On 29/11/2023 at 20:01, The Blue Streak said:

Not quite a bird. 

 

But we do have this Bungarra (Race horse goanna, pop by quite often to drink out of the water that gets put out for the finches and silvereyes that visit our garden

 

 

 

I was out in the backyard a couple of years ago and suddenly a whole lot of Pee Wees, Noisy Miners, Magpies  etc started going nuts in the big gum tree, all making alarm calls and diving at something on the trunk. I checked it out and saw a goanna  about 4 feet long in a fork of the tree.

 

 

. The weird thing was that after about a minute or so of this, out of nowhere in the distance I could see 2 white cockatoos getting closer and closer as they made a bee line for the tree.  They finally arrived and immediately   set about it, screeching and flapping their wings at it until it gave up and ran down the trunk and behind my shed.

 

At that point the cockies  took off and disappeared back where they came from. I don't know what made them intervene out of nowhere like that, it was as though the smaller birds had called in extra air support or something!

Edited November 30, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[J. S. Bach]

Curious if the goanna is any real threat to the birds?

[PhilJ W]

45 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Curious if the goanna is any real threat to the birds?

But it is to their eggs.

[monkeysarefun]

 Cockatoos fleeing an approaching storm this evening.

 

[monkeysarefun]

A Brown Falcon in a tree behind here. Their appearance always makes the birds in my aviary go very quiet!

 

[tigerburnie]

In the garden snow

 

[Mol_PMB]

This is a railway forum, so this evening's question is:

Which loco's tender is providing a perch for this seasonal bird, yesterday?

(Thanks to driver Clare for the photo)

[Reorte]

Pity it's not a coal tit.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

I recognise the location, with Britannia Terrace in the background, so that narrows down the locomotive to one of about half a dozen, but beyond that I'm stumped.

 

However, I'd like to remind readers that robins are all year round birds, and aren't just for Christmas.

[Mol_PMB]

6 minutes ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

I recognise the location, with Britannia Terrace in the background, so that narrows down the locomotive to one of about half a dozen, but beyond that I'm stumped.

 

However, I'd like to remind readers that robins are all year round birds, and aren't just for Christmas.

Yes, the correct location. 
There aren’t many tender locos in traffic on the FR at present (no Englands for example)

This loco has only just come back into service after an overhaul. 

 

Sorry, the bird that’s just for Christmas must be the Turkey? 

[J. S. Bach]

And Thanksgiving.

 

EDIT:At least over here.

Edited December 4, 2023 by J. S. Bach

[brian daniels]

Had  a Brambling on my nuts in Oxford back in October, never heard of one before.

 

[jbqfc]

11 hours ago, brian daniels said:

Had  a Brambling on my nuts .

 

 

 

Sounds painful 

[monkeysarefun]

 Some pelican photos from Wollongong harbour today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Porkscratching]

I seem to recall there was a resident pelican in St James's park in London, trouble is it kept eating pigeons, so I believe they "got rid of it" as it was  considered unsuitable public viewing 😲

[03060]

I wouldn't have guessed that the last photo was of a Pelican as it's head looks so streamlined from that angle instead of how we usually see them, easy to see how this would help them dive down into the sea. Great photos.

[The Lurker]

The earliest known ancestors of pelicans date back at least 36m years  and are remarkably similar to today’s species. Clearly they mastered a particular niche and have been exploiting it ever since.

[J. S. Bach]

And its beak holds more than its belly can.

[monkeysarefun]

14 hours ago, 03060 said:

I wouldn't have guessed that the last photo was of a Pelican as it's head looks so streamlined from that angle instead of how we usually see them, easy to see how this would help them dive down into the sea. Great photos.

 

 

Oops, hadn't realised that that one had snuck in there! Its actually a Pied Cormorant...

 

[03060]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Oops, hadn't realised that that one had snuck in there! Its actually a Pied Cormorant...

 

 

That solves that one then ! LoL .  I admit to knowing virtually nothing about Pelicans other than that they will eat things other than fish whole given half a chance .... and that they make road crossings to earn their living !

[Mol_PMB]

Here's a seasonal red-breast. There's nothing better at Christmas than a nice plump Robin...

... preferably with cranberry sauce and gravy!

 

A male Sparrowhawk perches on my outbuilding roof taking a hungry look at the birds on the feeder.