Daily Pics Vol. 137

Here we are at vol. 137 already!

male Downy Woodpecker

Cute birds pelle, and some great shots on the last thread!

We have sunshine, lol, two days of it now! Yesterday I took a few pics but the sun was glaring too much on high perched birds so the ISO goes sky high and pics with lots of noise. The Great Tits and Blue Tits were out in force, eyeing up the peanuts, more GTs though. This male GT about to go for it!

He's off!

An earlier bomb dive!

Blue Tit as sweet as ever!

Their so cute wallaby! Thanks for posting them.

Nice photos, pelle and wallaby .....

I've been hanging out close to the water ..... so here is THE Great Blue Heron.

And, another .............

One lonely Great Egret flew in ............

Great pics Linth, I love that second shot!

Here's the last cardinal fledgling to leave the nest. Second brood for the year, just last week. Doesn't look too happy!

wallaby..so nice to see the GT's & BT's again!!

Linth I am in love with the second shot of the Great Blue.. Seriously...to me... that is a knockout.

HoosierGreen, they do always look mad don't they!!

All I have from the last couple of days are hummers, so here ya are!

So cute Hoosier! Nice one nanny!

All great shots,

I like the first shot linth. :)

nanny, one gorgeous hummer there, and that is 'all'??? I would be very pleased to get one of those, lol.

Well did my morning walk and saw this warbler... Tenneessee? I'm trying folks! lol

Dumb question....is this the same bird??



This message was edited Sep 15, 2008 10:39 AM

...judging by the yellow bill ... White Crowned Sparrow?

< < - - - - - - Warbler Dumb Dumb


This message was edited Sep 15, 2008 12:52 PM

Guess I should have put the pic in that last one, huh?

Interesting shot! I there were just a bunch of the little brown guy's in my yard this morning!

This message was edited Sep 15, 2008 2:33 PM

Nanny, I've had a TON of house sparrows too!

Pelle, your Chickadee is so sweet.  I had a look at that video of them feeding from someones hand a couple of times.  Wallaby, the Great Tit has fabulous markings.Linthicum, as always, your shots are super.  nanny you're so blessed with the variety of birds you see.  Love the warbler and of course the hummingbird.  This is an adult female Western Magpie having a sun bath.  They get themselves into the hottest part of wherever they are, prostrate themselves on the ground with wings out (hers weren't) and expose their preen gland.  Even on days when it's well over 100 degrees F they'll seek out the hottest spot at the hottest time of the day.  The temperature must be easily 120 degrees sometimes.  They go into a kind of a trance.  Then, when they've just about cooked themselves, they get up, beak open with the heat and preen themselves.  Edited to say that my DH has said I've underestimated the ground temperature.  It would get as hot as 140 degrees or more.  I'm open to correction if this doesn't sound right, but when the ambient temperature is 110 degrees, it's a darn sight hotter in full sun on the ground, where they sun themselves. 

This message was edited Sep 16, 2008 6:02 PM

This is the adult male Western Magpie, distinguished by his white saddle back. Magpies are found over most of Australia. There are, I think three different types, Black Backed, White Backed and Western. We only have Western Magpies in WA. They are beautiful birds with the most beautiful song. One starts to sing and the others join in, in turn, to conclude with a diapason of sound. During late winter, leading up to the breeding season (now) they sing all night long although they are not nocturnal birds. They are extremely territorial and will swoop and snap just over your head if you go anywhere near the nest tree. Saying that, if they know you, they couldn't care less about your presence. They particularly target boys and people riding bicycles. Boys because they are more often than not the ones who torment them and I would think that they also associate boys with bicycles. People have made the mistake of turning around to face a swooping magpie (they nearly always come from behind) and have lost eyes as a result. The only time the birds connect is if the person changes direction or if the bird misjudges its flight. In early October they always put articles on the TV news cautioning people to steer clear of nesting trees. Not all families attack, it depends on their experiences with humans. They are well loved birds and I don't think I'd be exaggerating when I say that most Australian households have fed or do feed these birds. Wallaby, you'd be familiar with them, wouldn't you, from your days in Victor Harbor? Have I summed it up reasonably well?

Impressive bird, Margaret.....if I ever get to see one, I'll remember not to ride a bicycle at the same time!!! Here's a quick shot I took early this morning of some Crows flying over.

It is amazing that Magpies can tolerate all that heat Margaret. I think we had the Black-backed ones, but I noticed them most when we had the farm, 15 miles inland at the source of the River Hindmarsh. My father retired young and sold up, when I was 15 (I was last of 4 kids) and moved to VH. The Magpies would swoop at us at nesting time when we were going to or home from the (Primary) school bus, I had a mile journey to get to the school bus first, two miles later! There was a couple of bad boys on another farm down the same road who were twins, they did something terrible to one lot of babies and the Magpies were worse after that. I always loved to hear them in some pines not too far from the house, waking up to their melodious yodel is something I will never forget.

edited to say 'source' instead of 'mouth'!

This message was edited Sep 16, 2008 1:03 PM

Wow their an impressive bird Margaret. I wouldn't want to see that beak coming at me.

GP, nice early morning shot.

Hoosier, that is a forlorn little birdy.

Wallaby, you've described the sound so well - a melodious yodel. I'm sure that the only ones that swoop are the ones that have been tormented by humans - usually but not exclusively by boys. We've reared dozens of orphaned baby maggies over the years (not any more). They are so sweet and so smart and their personalities are as unique as those of humans, good and bad.

Latest image of one of the five cygnets on the Swan River from yesterday. They are utterly gorgeous, as are the parent birds.

Hey Pelle, you're right. Some of them are sooooo gentle but others have given a good peck. The really cranky ones will get hold of a piece of you, usually your hand as you're trying to help them and twist and shake their heads to give real moment to their defensive assault. I've never known one to come up and just peck. It's always been when we've been helping them. Ingrates.

Margaret that cygnet is so adorable!

Is their a website you could recommend for aussie birds including soundbites of their calls?

Oooow, Pelle, not off hand. However, I can find out. Yes, it's very hard to describe sound and the magpies and butcher birds have to be heard to be believed. It is so loud and so melodic. When the butcher birds are in full song, they force their wings downwards to their bodies from a semi-spread position, as if trying to pump the most gorgeous melody out. I have seen on U-tube David Attenborough observing and commenting on a Superb Lyrebird. They are the most brilliant mimics. We don't have Lyrebirds in WA and they are called Lyrebirds because of prominent tail feather that look like a lyre.

This is a really lousy shot of the Grey Butcher Bird that we give supplementary feed to because of its dislocated leg.

Margaret,I'll check that internet bird collection site.

I found some for you pelle! I have to connect my speakers so can't hear them yet!

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/feature/top-40-bird-songs.cfm

Oh I love the sound of the Grey Butcherbird!

Oh Pelle, if only you could hear it in the flesh. That really doesn't do it any justice.

I connected my speakers, listened to the Magpie, it really is disappointing compared to the real thing!

Margaret,Is there another name for western magpie; I can't find it in that bird collection.

It's ashame they need to get some video of magpies on this site; although all the birds of Australia are listed (scroll down on the left side) no film of the mag's.

http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/

American Goldfinch getting some natural seeds off this Lobelia.

Northern Mockingbird making an appearance.