Daily Pics Volume 134

One of a group of about 12 Turkey Vultures flying overhead the other day!

Faster than a speeding bullet...Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Love the wrens ,vulture,hummingbird,and Swamp Hen.
lovely shot MargaretK, of the Kookaburra I remember them from 1971 lol
there is a pic of NZ smaller Kingfisher eyeing up the neighbours gold fish

Margaret, Wonderful shot of the Swamp Hen. Spring is in the air eh?? :-)

Nice shots nanny! Haven't seen my House Wrens around at all.

bootandall, Love the Kingfisher!

Those shots are amazing Margaret, Love the look of the Kookabura, and I agree with everyone, you have beautiful birds.
Mrs_Ed I also love that chain link fence with the wren, makes a really nice pic.
I would like to see one of those Turkey Vulture, and a Kingfisher in person.
Nanny took a guess at this hawk, and got a strait A on it.
Resin confirmed as a Red Tail Hawk.

edited to correct spelling

This message was edited Sep 3, 2008 9:09 PM

Another shot of it.

Gold Finches and Pine Sisken at the feeder

Oh boy, Pelle. Spring! You'd better believe it. Those Osprey are amazing!

Here's a cropped shot of a Eurasian Coot with baby. There's a second baby somewhere under mum.

Boot, what sort of Kingfisher is it? Thanks for the feedback on my pics.

Thanks, Burn. They are pretty amazing. Love the Red Tailed Hawk. It's great, the diversity of birds we see from around the world.

Nanny, good shot of the Turkey Vulture. Not easy to catch things flying overhead is it? I make myself dizzy spinning around trying to locate the Ospreys overhead, I guess much to the amusement of anyone watching. Maybe we should start a thread on the antics of bird watchers watching birds. I always have a chuckle when I recall OP's description of being precariously balanced up a ladder to get some one-handed shots of bluebirds in the nesting box.

This message was edited Sep 4, 2008 9:27 AM

Awwww...a coot baby!

Very sweet!

great to see red tails, gold finches, pine siskin. and coots.

Margaret,!! sacred kingfisher (Halcyon sancta vagans)

Nice one boot!

We're having lots of fog and of course very dark conditions here so I thought I would show an American Goldfinch from a distance

cool pelle!

Pelle, I saw your fog early this morning and I was so jealous. Then I went outside with my coffee and fall is here! I can't believe how nice it is outside, cool and wonderful. I was just dying in the heat yesterday! I even saw a crow which to me is a sign that Halloween is coming!

By the way, CUTE shot!

Nice fog shot, Pelle.

Boot, thanks for the information. I thought it was a Sacred. We used to see them at our local wetland but haven't done so for several years. They are still sighted in other parts of the metro area, though. Are they relatively common where you are?

This is a Port Lincoln Ringneck or "28". These beautiful parrots are facing an increasing threat from the smaller, but much more aggressive Rainbow Lorikeet, a species introduced into Western Australia. Even in the time I was watching, the Rainbow Lorikeets chased the 28's from this nest hollow. Because the Rainbow Lorikeets are so spectacularly colourful, people don't view them as the menace they really are, and instead voice their displeasure at our gorgeous Ravens, because Ravens are a bit noisy, and there are endless calls for the Ravens to be culled. Kooky stuff.

He's such a beauty! Thats ashame their having such problems.

Thanks Pelle. It's one of those situations where you know that nothing's going to be done until it's too late. At dusk, in some parts of the metro area, the Rainbow Lorikeets gather in their hundreds and they make such a racket that conversation is quite literally impossible. However, it's the impact on the smaller honeyeaters (for food) and the 28's (for nest sites) that is a major worry. When we first moved in here 30 years ago, the dawn chorus consisted in part, of Singing Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebirds and 28's. Now it's the Rainbow Lorikeets.

It is so sad when introduced species drive out the native species.

Yesterday, (Wed. 9/4), this baby bird (Finch ??) fell out of its nest. I soonafter laid it down at the base of a tree with water and seed, however, I sense that it is too young to eat seed. This morning (Thurs), the baby bird was still there, perched atop the pan of water I set out for it.

Any suggestions??

Here it was this morning!!

Hi Snug, If it is indeed a baby House Finch and you can't get it back to the nest then check the 4th post in this thread. It has 2 different ways to search for rehabers in your area,be sure to check both.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/805666/

In the meantime contact this Daves member who is a rehabber.
http://davesgarden.com/members/jylgaskin/

In the future it would be best to not handle birds without gloves on.

Good Luck and keep us posted! Pelle

This photo of an unusual juvenile crow was taken August 31, at the Siuslaw south Jetty on the Oregon Coast. Photographer was Wayne Hoffman.

I thought it amazing, and wanted to share it with you..

That is neat! Thanks for sharing it with us tiger!

Partial albino. It seems to be a fairly frequent genetic defect in crows, I've seen similar birds several times over here (in a different species of crow, Carrion Crow).

Resin

Snug, hope your wee one makes it.

Tiger, that is cool looking!

It is really slow here right now. Lots of cardinals in different states of molting. I don't know where my RBW's are. Had a hawk zoom through for brunch yesterday.

Flicker was here again tuesday.

Not a bird, but it can fly.

The piglets are hungry........(so what's new)?

Goldfinch

I should know better than to let my wife go shopping alone.

Ooo, that's bad... really bad! LOL

Your shot in the mist is really nice Pelle.
Margaret, beautiful color on that parrot, Sorry to hear about their difficulty with the Lorikeets.
That"s a neat crow tigerlily
Adel find a special place for that piece, it's going to be worth a lot someday. :)
Nanny for the first time this year, I've seen 2 Northern flickers in my yard. Must of been those heavy metal drummers Adel sent up for the gig. It was a very brief visit, no time for pics.
But receive another first time visitor today.
It was a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, and was able to get a pic of him.

A female purple finch and a chipmunk, checking each other out.

This Black-Capped Chickadee was just about 3 feet away form me.

tigerlily, that's a wonderful action shot of the crow.

adelbertcat, I sure hope you've got that work of art insured. The air looks clear. Has the smoke completely gone?

Burn, the photo of the chipmunk and finch is adorable. Your place seems to be such a haven.

There were about 7 or 8 of the 28's together in the bushland surrounding the lake today. They are such beautiful birds and at this time of year they do a lot of tail wagging. I got a couple of shots of one feeding another. They have quite an undulating flight and no photo I've taken does justice to their glorious colouring.

Just one more. I've cropped it heavily to show detail. The colour seems pretty true.

Gorgeous Margaret!

Burn, Those Red-breasted Nuthatches are wonderful birds! Congrats!

Hmm adel, That work of art need to be very close to water... very close. :-)

Love the Flicker nanny!

The Coopers Hawk got a Blue Jay yesterday then later while I was in the backyard and there were no birds around I turned and saw him proudly perched on the peak of the roof. Really a handsome large Coopers, I waved my arms and sent him on his way.

Lol Margaret, your pic of hte Swamp Hens says it all! Beautiful 28's and such a good capture of the Coot and baby. I wasn't in an erea with a lot of kookaburras (they usually like tall timber), and wasn't into many barbeques then (many moons ago!) so missed the sausage snatch.

nanny, great hummer shot!

pelle, your foggy pic looks a bit like we had at the beginning of the month, some sunny patches since but mostly dull and windy with showers, or raining/drizzling most of the day. It's coming off the Atlantic, just across the pond from you, lol, getting worse too with strong winds expected to 50mph. 55F at the moment, rain and rain. Kudos to you for taking the opp for a pic!

adelbert, flying non-birds, non-flying birds, I think the ornament has a cute quality!

The crow is unusual tiger, thanks for sharing it, I've never seen one like that.

boot, that kingfisher has a very large beak for it's size! All the better to gobble up gold fish.

Nice variety of shots burn!

The 28's are just too gorgeous Margaret, do you know which Euc that is, the leaves look slender.

I sometimes hear the Long-tailed Tits as they flit from tree to tree. They make a lovely twittering amongst themselves. One landed briefly on the red-leaved cherry tree, 2 days ago when sunny in the morning, it has it's head turned.

Thanks Pelle. They were cooperative subjects.

wallaby, the Kookaburras are real devils. I also haven't been to a barbeque in a long time, but remember hearing random squeals and shrieks of protest from the picnickers as they had various items of food snatched from their plates or from their hands as they were about to take a bite. The tree the 28's are in isn't actually a eucalypt. It is a Peppermint Tree, native to south western Australia. It is a member of the Myrtacae (???) family and its proper name is Agonis Flexuosa.

Resin, they're call 28's, ostensibly because one of their calls is supposed to sound like "twenty eight". Of the many sounds they make, I know the one the name has come from, but it really doesn't sound anything like "twenty eight". I figured if there were 7 or 8 of them, that'd be a 196 or 224. LOL.

Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike from a couple of days ago.

The 28's are so beautiful...that cukoo is very striking too Margaret!

Burn..I am so looking forward to the Red-breasted Nuthatches to return for winter. I love them!!

MargaretK.........We have had clear days for several days now. Most of the fires are out and if we don't get any lightning storms maybe we will have clear skies until the rainy season.