Pallid arrival

Our first Pallid Cuckoos arrived earlier in the week – two birds chasing each other down Wyndham Street.

I was alerted to their presence by the typically mournful calls. You’ll note the difference in plumage between the bird in the first image and the second bird in the subsequent photographs. This mottled individual is a female while the first bird is a male.

Pallid Cuckoo (male), Wyndham Street Newstead, 14th August 2017

Pallid Cuckoo (female)

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The wing shape and barred tail are distinctive features

Currawong portraits

A group of Pied Currawongs has made the yard their domain over recent days. It’s provided an opportunity to capture some nice close-up portraits.

Pied Currawong, Wyndham Street Newstead, 9th July 2017

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The wary pied

I’ve been enjoying regular appearances of both Grey and Pied Currawongs over the past few weeks. Pied Currawongs are in good numbers around town, their ringing cries a symbol of winter in Newstead.

Pied Currawong, Wyndham Street Newstead, 25th June 2017

The curved and slightly protruding upper mandible is evident in this shot

The touch of yellow on the gape (the fleshy part on the inside base of the bill) and brown plumage on the neck suggests an immature bird

That piercing yellow eye is always on the lookout!

Up a bush track

In common with most bushland areas in central Victoria the Muckleford ‘bush’ is a maze of winding tracks.

Often on my walks I just pick a path and follow it randomly until it winds back to my starting place. Such was the case yesterday when I headed west into the bush off Mia Mia Track. The highlight was a company of Flame Robins, at least a dozen individuals, including a number of brightly coloured males. A female Speckled Warbler, peeking warily from within a small Red Box was also pretty neat!

Male Flame Robin, Mia Mia Track area, 17th June 2017

Golden Orb-weaver

Female Speckled Warbler

Female Spotted Pardalote

… and a female Scarlet Robin!

A five-minute stroll

It’s extraordinary what you encounter on a short five minute stroll around our block and the neighbouring estate.

Enjoy!

Eastern Spinebill on Grevillea #1

Southern Boobook, Wyndham Street Newstead, 12th June 2017

Male Common Bronzewing

Pied Currawong feeding on a privet

Red Wattlebird

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo plundering Gen and Geordie’s olives!

Eastern Spinebill on Grevillea #2

While my gaze was averted …

Recently I was given a special gift, a copy of the Australian Bird Guide, a marvellous new handbook/field guide written by Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers and Rohan Clarke, and beautifully illustrated by Jeff Davies, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin.

I’ve been dipping into the book most days and enjoyed the descriptive notes and illustrations of my local birds. It was only today when reading the entry on the White-eared Honeyeater, having seen a couple that afternoon on Demo Track, that I discovered the taxonomists have been busy! This species has, for as long as I can remember, gone by the scientific name Lichenostomus leucotis. It is now Nesoptilotis leucotis. The genus Lichenostomus has undergone a significant revision, having been split into a series of new genera – Nesoptilotis, Ptilotula, Gavicalis, Stomiopera, Caligavis and Bolemoreus, with two species (Yellow-tufted and Purple-gaped Honetyeater) remaining in the now greatly diminished Lichenostomus. It’s going to take me a while to come to terms with these new monikers.

The White-eared Honeyeater remains a striking bird nonetheless. A winter migrant to this part of the box-ironbark, it can be found year round not far south around Yandoit. Its distinctive and loud ‘chwok, chwok, chwok’ calls ring for quite some distance on a still day and clearly announce its presence.

White-eared Honeyeater, Demo Track, 11th June 2017

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Click here to read a review of the Australian Bird Guide at one of my favourite birding blogs, The Grip.

Chasing currawongs

I’ve been chasing Pied Currawongs for a few weeks now, after hearing the distinctive calls of these winter altitudinal migrants in early May.

Finally a couple arrived in the garden at the weekend and I managed some hastily composed images. Then, later in the day a single Grey Currawong turned up. Like its ‘cousin’ this species is wary and somewhat cryptic around town. Grey Currawongs are resident in the box-ironbark country but tend to move around more during winter as they come into gardens in search of food when there are lean pickings in the bush. The two species can be hard to separate – a couple of key features are the bill shape (the Grey Currawong lacks the hooked tip of the Pied Currawong) and the latter has white at the upper base of the tail. Both have white under tail coverts.

Pied Currawong, Newstead, 3rd June 2017

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Grey Currawong, Newstead, 3rd June 2017

This Grey Currawong was seen the next day along Codrington Street

Being mobbed by Red Wattlebirds

The ‘bill gap’ is often quite obvious in the Grey Currawong