The past 3 weeks has seen me itching to get out and about, but the removal of 2 more skin cancers [leg and arm] put paid to that. It has however freed up some time to sort and tidy my photos. Time has been wasted revisiting favourite places, but overall, progress made. In the process, I came across this video of kookaburras laughing on the power line on the footpath. Then, this morning's dawn chorus was particularly loud and beautiful, hence the decision to share the variety of birdlife we see and listen to regularly, in or near our garden. Some of the photos you may have seen previously.
Laughing kookaburra - a large member of the kingfisher family.
Small blue kingfisher - not a regular visitor, but such a delight when he does.
The blue faced honeyeater regularly visits our native grevillea trees to feast on their nectar.
The rainbow lorikeet is also a nectar and pollen lover, along with fruit, seeds and small insects. They are daily visitors to our garden. Living near the golf course, we constantly hear their continuous, sharp, screeching call to one another, as they flock to feed in the eucalyptus trees, especially in the early morning and late afternoon.
The pink galah being a seed feeder, is more often found in rural areas, but it is not unusual to see them grazing in the 'rough' of the golf course.
Corellas
These two are saying, "What's your problem?"
No 1 - they raucously arrive at dawn, in our cypress tree.
No 2 - enjoying the seed pods, they manage to decimate the foliage.
No 3 - These 2 are alone, [unusual], but the golf course is the haunt of a flock of 100's. At times the din they make is tiresome, but watching them swarm, especially at dusk, is fascinating.
A small flock.
The pelican is one of my favourite birds. About 3 years ago, large numbers suddenly appeared on the golf ponds, below our home. Their uniform feeding motion was like watching ballet. We are now back to only seeing one or two.
The blue wren, or suburb fairy wren, has decided to frequent our garden regularly. They flit about in the dense, leaf cover of our shrubs, announcing their presence with their repetitious melodic chirping. Their sound constantly draws me outside with the camera, but rarely do I have any success in spotting them.
Female wrens - thank goodness for the 30X zoom on my point and shoot.
We have lived here almost 10 years and only twice have we had the black swans visit. Interesting to see the tag attached to their leg.
The very regal looking cuckoo-shrike is neither a cuckoo nor a shrike. They are so named because their feathers have similar patterns to cuckoos and their beak shape is similar to that of a shrike.
Sadly not a regular visitor.
These are the male and female storm birds or Eastern Koel. I have just discovered that this bird is migratory and arrive back in Australia in September, which is the beginning of our storm season. They are rarely seen, but their short haunting call is heard often. When I took this photo, I had no idea what these birds were. And of course I now understand why their song isn't heard all year.
The ducks are almost daily visitors to No 6 green, in front of our home. I just love watching them as they earnestly go about their business of foraging for worms, as if they have not a care in the world.
Yes, even when the floods had all but engulfed the sixth green, [immediately in front of our house] in 2013.
Now to share nature's magical ability to recover. This has been our view for most of our long hot summer. As you can see the ponds were rapidly evaporating.
A week ago the summer rains finally remembered how to fall. Over the week we have had 183 mm
[7 1/2 inches] fall, with 100 mm [4 inches]in the past 24 hours. As you can see below, the result is the magical return of a sea of green and the ponds overflowing.
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