Happy New Year and 2018 reprised

Best wishes for 2019 to all readers of Natural Newstead. Thank you for the kind comments over the past year. Here is a selection of some of my favourite images – one for each month of 2018.

Southern Boobook, Wyndham Street Newstead, 23rd January 2018

Red-capped Robin (female), Rise and Shine, 18th February 2018

Great Egret @ Cairn Curran, 14th March 2018

Male Flame Robin, Mia Mia Track, 25th April 2018 … first of the season

Silvereye feeding on Ruby Saltbush in the home garden, 25th May 2018

Yellow-footed Antechinus, Rise and Shine, 23rd June 2018

Hooded Robins, Newstead Cemetery, 28th July 2018

Eastern Spinebill, Wyndham Street Newstead, 12th August 2019

Blue-winged Parrot, South German Track, 8th September 2018

Sacred Kingfishers, Mia Mia Track area, 20th October 2018

Nankeen Kestrel, Moolort Plains, 1st November 2018

Rainbow Bee-eater, Sandon State Forest, 31st December 2018

So that’s where the nest is!

White-winged Trillers, another of our spring migrants, have arrived in good numbers this year.

I’ve been hoping to get some decent images … as these shots demonstrate I’m still waiting! Distant views in harsh midday sun are not ideal conditions for photographing this species.

I watched this male fossicking on the ground, around tree stumps and in the canopy, not for insects, but for cobwebs with which to line its delicate nest.

After a few minutes careful observation I located the nest, high up in the fork of a Grey Box.

White-winged Triller (male), Plunkett’s Lane Green Gully, 11th November 2018

Gathering cobwebs from the canopy

The almost completed nest

Completing the cuckoos

Rounding out the focus on cuckoos in recent weeks, here are the two species that haven’t featured so far.

Pallid Cuckoos have been around in good numbers for at least a fortnight, while Black-eared Cuckoos are doing well in the bush along the Mia Mia. The least common of all the migrating cuckoos, it’s been great to see and hear them on most visits to this area since early September. On a warm Friday evening I was a little surprised to see a small flock of woodswallows near South German Track – White-browed and at least one Masked Woodswallow … a very early record.

Pallid Cuckoo, Green Gully, 7th September 2018

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Black-eared cuckoo, Mia Mia area, 14th September 2018

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In praise of cuckoos

This morning, in the Mia Mia, the bush was ringing with a chorus of cuckoos – all five newly arrived migrant species.

I managed images of both Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos that had just captured caterpillars (watch for these in upcoming posts); as Pallid Cuckoos, Black-eared Cuckoos and Shining Bronze-cuckoos foraged in the canopy overhead.

All of the cuckoos, along with cuckoo-shrikes and Olive-backed Orioles (first heard yesterday) specialise on caterpillars – each individual capturing hundreds daily and playing a vital role in ecosystem pest control.

This Shining Bronze-cuckoo was observed at Green Gully on Friday evening, feeding on cup-moth larvae in River Red Gum.

Shining Bronze-cuckoo in River Red Gum @ Green Gully, 7th September 2018

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Shining Bronze-cuckoo with Cup-moth larva

A Jacky Winter watched on

Early morning with robins

Early morning, just after sunrise, is a great time to get close to birds.

It’s pretty typical for many bird species to spend this first part of the day preening before they commence feeding. At this time they can be quite approachable, sitting in a sunny spot to soak up the early rays of sunshine … like these robins seen yesterday at the Newstead Cemetery. If you move quietly and slowly, with no abrupt movements you can enjoy wonderful close-up views.

Flame Robin (male), Newstead Cemetery, 2nd August 2018

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Hooded Robin (female)

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Soon to be farewelled

At some stage in coming weeks Flame Robins will head back ‘up-hill’ to their Spring breeding grounds.

2018 has been a bumper year for Flame Robins, with their numbers greater than I can recall in recent years. The open country around the Newstead Cemetery has been an especially good place to view them this year. At the weekend a loose group of a dozen birds was feeding in the company of the pair of Hooded Robins that featured in yesterday’s post.

Typically, Flame Robins appear to leave on masse in mid- August, although a few individuals may be seen until about late September. I suspect these stragglers are in fact birds that moved further north in the autumn, on their return journey to the high country along the Great Divide.

Flame Robin (female), Newstead Cemetery, 28th July 2018

Flame Robin (male)

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Close view of another female

Welcome Swallow … a quiet moment

I enjoy the moments when a bird, such as this Welcome Swallow, is accepting of your intrusion and resumes its intended behaviour. Most birds spend a significant part of every day preening their plumage – quite understandable really when this unique attribute is so fundamental to their ‘way of life’.

Welcome Swallow, Cemetery Road Newstead, 19th July 2018

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