5 Minute Birdwatch

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The weather has not been good for photographing birds over the last few days - high winds and heavy showers with only brief breaks of sunshine. I could hear birds in the grevillea tree in my backyard so went out with the camera to see what I could get between rain showers. The result - 4 different species in just 5 minutes.
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)
Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus)
Little Friarbird (Philemon citreogularis)
Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus)

Spangled Drongo

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Several times over the last few weeks I have heard a strange bird call out in my yard. When I went out to see what it was the Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) flew off. As well as their own harsh metallic cry they are great mimics. It happened again the other afternoon but this time I went out quietly and the bird stayed in the grevillea tree where it was feeding.

I wish I knew...

...more about the local birds. At present I have a number of unanswered questions about the Spangled Drongos I have been seeing around my place. These birds come here in the winter time and stay for a short while. Usually I see only one or two of them and they disappear again after only a short while. This year there have been a lot more of them and they have stayed for weeks. So why are there so many this year? Was it a specially good breeding season this last summer? Are all the new homes that have recently been built in town providing better habitat for them? Why are they staying so long or is this about habitat as well? The birding books don't/can't tell you things like this.
The photos are of two different birds. (I had written a few sentences here about the eye color differences but apparently this is not right - thanks Tony for correcting me.)

Field Day to Poona

I went out with the Gympie Field Naturalists Club on Sunday for an outing to Poona. Poona is on the bay north of here and looks directly over to Fraser Island. We went for a wildflower walk in the morning and some of us looked for birds at the same time. We then went down to the picnic area right on the bay to sit and enjoy our lunch. The tide was out. I took photos and then came back to the same place a few hours later and took photos again with most of the sand flats covered by the incoming tide. Quite a difference!
Looking SE directly out to Inskip point and the channel out to sea.
I was looking at the far view and forgot about getting the Silver Gull in the close view in focus.
Looking E directly over to Fraser Island
This sign is placed prominently beside the boat ramp. Similar signs have been put in a number of places since a large crocodile was sighted over from here on Fraser Island. Up until that time most people thought that crocodiles were not this far south. Now I'm wondering how much I should change my kayaking and shorebird watching habits?
As soon as the local birds saw all these people sitting and eating they quickly came over and started looking for scraps. Some folks couldn't resist tossing out a few bits and I caught this Spangled Drongo both holding a piece with its 'foot' and also catching a piece in its beak.

In the afternoon we went off to another site where there is a well-made walk of 1.8kms that takes a circle around a piece of land that has a mangrove tidal flat on one side and a paperbark swamp on the other.
Paperbark Swamp

The birds were much more visible here than they had been in the morning and I got a photo of a male Rufous Whistler - a new bird for me.
I also got clear photos of a Silvereye. I had seen these birds before but never managed a clear photo.
A very good day! Nice company and good birds!

Spangled Drongo

This handsome fellow visited my garden the other day. I rarely see these birds right here so maybe it was passing through on its way somewhere. They have such a raucous voice that it is easy to identify them when they are around.
A cropped photo to show the beautiful spangles.
For more great bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Spangled Drongo

This Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) came and sat on the power lines next to my house yesterday. Its handsome appearance certainly does not match its raucous voice. My birding book says that they are not shy but this is certainly not true for the few times they have come into my yard. As soon as they have seen me they have taken off. For this picture I was able to come around the side of the house in the shadow and then move closer in the cover of the hedge.

Three or four days before this I had seen another two of these birds in the yard but my pictures were not clear. The general appearance of the birds was the same and they were making the same raucous noises. However, one of these birds was displaying a feature I have not seen in the bird books. Feathers on its head were sticking up like two little tufted ears. Another birder told me that he has only seen this once before. Does anyone out there know more about this display?