Magpie-lark

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Magpie-larks (Grallina cyanoleuca) are very common around my yard. I often find them walking over the lawn and hunting for grubs and insects. Right now there is a pair with two very noisy juveniles. Last year I could see their nest up in the big pine tree next door. This year they have hidden it better and the first I knew about the young ones was hearing their hoarse whistling as they demanded that the parents fed them. This is the second lot of young ones that have been raised in that tree this year. Now they are following the parents around the yard and they are even noisier. Males, females and juveniles all have a different pattern of black and white plumage.
Here are the juveniles standing together and demanding food.
This is the male bird
and this is the female.
This juvenile is following the adult and not stopping its screaming unless there is actually food being stuffed in its mouth.
After a few days of fine weather last week it has started to rain again and this time it has been right over our area. We have not been quite so bad here on the coast but just inland it has been extra heavy - the weather bureau says there was over 300mm of rain in one 24hour period in the upper part of the Mary valley. Of course all the streams and rivers are in flood. There are major flood levels expected in both Gympie and Maryborough later tonight and tomorrow. Right here on the coast the only streams are short ones that drain the immediate area so I don't have to worry about big floods from them. My lawn has turned into a paddling pool again. It's only a week since I mowed it but the grass grows so fast in these conditions.

Sandprints and a Crowded Nest

Another spectacular sunrise this morning and the weather forecast is predicting showers and thunderstorms.
Yesterday morning I went for an early morning walk along the foreshore at Mullens. The tide was well out and there was plenty of exposed sand. I met Peter whose ability to catch crabs I described here. He was with a friend and they both already had their fresh catch for breakfast safely tucked down in the buckets they were carrying. When I meet people like this I know how very little I really understand about this environment! This time they told me how many sandprints they had seen of flatheads. (Check this page for a description of the species.) When I admitted total ignorance they showed me numerous prints left in the sand right around where we were standing. I had been walking right over them and not seeing them! Then they told me that Shovel-nose Sharks left a similar print but it was easy to spot the differences - and they soon found a print of one of these and showed me how the head of the shark is much longer than that of the flathead.
The only birds I saw on my walk were too far away for me to get good photos. However, there was plenty going on in my own backyard. For several weeks I have been watching the Magpie-larks (commonly called Pee-wees) which have built a nest in the big pine tree nest door. The nest is looking pretty crowded right now! I counted 4 baby heads poking up all together!
They were very active early in the day and jostled for the best position in the nest. Later when it started to rain they were quite happy to settle down low as one of the parents came and perched on the edge of the nest and spread its wings to give as much shelter as possible.
This morning the parents were busy stuffing food in hungry mouths as soon as it was light. Then a little later I saw one of the juveniles sitting up and preening its new feathers and stretching its little wings. I think they will soon fly and hope to get some photos then.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Black and White - Birds.

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.
I thought it might be interesting to post photos of two of our most common black and white birds - the Australian Magpie and the Magpie-lark which is often called the Pee-wee because of its call. The Magpie is bigger than the Magpie-lark (34-44cm compared with 27cm). I seldom see Magpies in my yard. I know they are around but just not in the yard. In contrast the Magpie-larks are constantly here. They raised some young ones quite close to here and the young ones followed the parent birds around for weeks! They are so very noisy!

Magpie

Magpie-lark