Think before you chop plants down

GIVE THE LITTLE BIRDS A CHANCE TO BREED PEOPLE!!!! THINK BEFORE YOU ACT.


The Flats where I live are under new management (new owners) and we (the renters) were told all the plants in the garden (front and back) are to be removed and planted out with Grevilleas along the boundary line within the next 3 months. The new owners care about, or so they say, about the birdlife.

Well, yesterday turned out to be the day when everything was chopped down. No-one had a say about any of it. Everything was chopped down except 4 tiny Grevilleas and 2 tiny Photineas and a few smaller plants only 4 of which were fully mature plants. All the other plants chopped down were mature or semi-mature shrubs/trees. Earlier in the morning I was filming a small bird that kept going into one of the Jasmine? bushes and another bush and I had been curious as to why it was also going into the plum tree in the middle of the lawn between Flat 2 and 3 for several weeks now. The plum tree had been mutilated so much it was now a bush not a tree.

All the birds in the area, the small ones anyway, had finished breeding, and this was a new species of bird in the area. I didn't understand what this particular bird was doing. This morning I checked the videos I had recorded yesterday and I learnt, to my horror, the bird was actually nesting and in fact had 2 to possibly 3 nesting sites in the front garden - meaning 2-3 separate nests.

Well, so much for the new owners caring about the birdlife. The nesting sites were chopped down within a matter of minutes. I just hope there were only eggs in the nests and not chicks but I suspect that the adult bird may have been feeding chicks, going on passed video recordings of nesting behaviour of another small species. The adult bird remained in the Pine tree across the road as it watched helplessly in horror as it's nesting sites and possibly it's children were killed and destroyed by a man wielding a chainsaw and Roundup poison.

Today there is no sign of the adult bird/s and they have left the area. If they plan on starting again I have no idea where they would find new nesting sites with such dense foliage as was found in the front garden. I've seen the type of plants in the area, and there are no dense foliage plants within at least 1km of where I live, especially in flower right now.

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LISTEN UP PEOPLE: If you plan on cutting anything down make sure no bird is nesting in the plant first. If the plant has to be removed, and there is a bird nesting in it, WAIT FOR THE BIRD TO FINISH NESTING IN IT FIRST. Think before you act.

Let's say you don't know if a bird is nesting in a bush or tree that you want to cut down. Firstly look at the plant you want to cut down. What type of plant is it - does it have dense foliage or thin foliage? Thin foliage means you can see individual branches and the branches are not bunched together to form a dense layer for anything to hide in. If this is the case it is safe to remove the plant knowing nothing will nest in it.

However, with a plant (shrub) that has dense foliage you need to study the plant and what birds goes to it before you remove it. You must watch and listen to any birds going to the plant for about 2 weeks prior to removing the plant. You should notice, if a bird is nesting in it, that the same type of bird (and generally they call out when hanging around a nest or potential nesting site) will visit the bush quite a few times during the day, especially in the morning.

If nesting in the bush/plant the bird will disappear into the bush/plant and not come out for about 5-15 seconds. It may just look like the bird is feeding from the bush, if the bush is in flower at the time. But looks are deceiving.

If this is the case with any bird going into the bush DO NOT CUT THE BUSH DOWN UNTIL ALL BIRDS HAVE COMPLETELY ABANDONED THE BUSH, which will be several weeks after first seeing them going into the bush.

Don't be hasty in chopping any plants down until you know for certain there are no birds nesting in it or about to nest in it. To do so will cause birds to grieve and never return to your garden.

Unidentified nocturnal bird in creek after dark

It was well after all the birds had gone to sleep but before it was completely dark outside when I was walking home from the service station and walking across the Douglas Street bridge. I looked down at the creek but couldn't make out any details of anything on the ground near the creek. I sort of saw the creek's water which was pitch black in colour. Moments later in the area I was looking at a bird startled and it took off like a rocket under the bridge. It made no sound except for the noise it's wings made on the water as it flapped. It was approximately the size of a duck going on an approximate wing span comparison of ducks being startled on the water in that area.

When this bird took off it did not fly at all and it was about 5 feet into the water from the water's edge. It was retreating like it was pretending it couldn't fly but could still flap it's wings and ran through the water whilst flapping them. It flapped it's wings frantically to move itself across the water to safety. It may have actually ran across the water's surface whilst flapping it's wings. The bird was by itself as far as I could tell. I have, only on rare ocassions in the past, seen this bird night time behaviour before. Only now am I trying to identify the species.

When an Australian Wood Duck is startled during the day they tend to fly away. They can either fly a short or long distance away when startled and have been known to fly at night when disturbed. I do know that sometimes ducks can be heard during the night time but never so early as to just after going to sleep for the night. As this bird was alone I doubt it was a Wood Duck.

I very much doubt it was the White-faced Heron female either as I have yet to hear her during the night time. She is always up early in the morning. As far as I know White-faced Herons are not nocturnal.

Ruling out Australian Wood Ducks and the White-faced Heron leaves only Masked Lapwings and Pacific Black Ducks. It was not a Masked Lapwing as they were all up on Francis Street at the time. This time of the year all the Masked Lapwings flock together as they are not breeding right now.

The Pacific Black Duck is not, as far as I know, nocturnal but I am not ruling it out as a suspect. The Pacific Black Duck rarely makes a sound during the day but I have yet to study this species. It is possible that this bird I saw tonight - well heard flapping across the water - could be a Pacific Black Duck, and what I saw it do is normal startled night time behaviour for this species.

I very much doubt it was an owl or a Tawny Frogmouth as I've never heard of any of them actually feeding in the water. I can also rule out raptors too for this exact same reason plus I don't know of any raptors that are nocturnal.

There are no other known species that spends a lot of time in the water here in Tenterfield that are on my list of what this bird could be. This brings me back to it possibly being a Pacific Black Duck, and possibly nesting somewhere nearby in the water maybe even under the bridge itself. The "possibly" bit is looking more like a "more than likely it was a Pacific Black Duck" than anything else right now. Tomorrow I'll go to the bridge to see if there are any Pacific Black Ducks in the immediate area.

Unidentified yellow and olive-green coloured small bird

On Wednesday, 21 November whilst walking home with my brother, I heard some small birds in the trees ahead of us. We were walking on the edge of the road on Douglas Street on the right hand side of the road between Francis and Pelham Streets before the Douglas Street bridge heading in a west direction. I could barely hear the birds, but they flew ahead of us as we approached the tree they were in. There were at least 2 of these birds. By the amount of calls that were coming from the closest tree I'm guessing it sounded like there were about 8 birds in the tree. We were about 10 - 14 feet from the trees as we walked passed them and the birds.

I took 3 videos as I approached the tree that the birds were in and as I was passing each of the 2 trees that the birds flew into but it availed to nothing. I did record their faint sound but no images of the birds at all. Just when I was about to give up on identifying the birds I saw one of them.

For a quick moment as the bird flew from a thick branch coming off the trunk of the tree to an inner branch with thick leaf cover, I saw a flash of colour and could roughly identify the birds. The one bird I saw was about the size of a Superb Fairy Wren, perhaps slightly smaller but was not a Wren of any kind. That much I could tell. The top of it's body was bright yellow and the underside of it's body was an olive-green colour. That's all I saw. It flew into the tree branch (from my left to a lower right position) too quickly for me to see what shape it was and what colour and shape it's head and beak was.

It seems really odd that most of the birds I have researched thus far that have yellow on them actually have yellow on their underside. Until now I had never seen a bird with yellow at the top of it's body.

The birds were quiet and seemed extremely shy, and obviously did not want to be spotted. I saw one of them as I was actually still looking at the tree, and was somewhat looking into the center of the tree as I was walking passed it. I had just looked down at the ground then looked back at the tree when I saw the bird.

Could this be the Grey Shrike-thrush?

I wanted to add this video as a post rather than as a video itself simply because I am uncertain if these birds are Grey Shrike-thrushes. I have not heard the Grey Shrike-thrush for some time now, and in fact I stopped listening for the bird altogether. When I was at my neighbour Carol's place yesterday, I began hearing a bird calling that I've heard in the past but not this year. Then a second bird begins making the same calls a lot closer to me.

I managed to get a shot of the closest bird to me to sort of identify the bird species but I can't tell if it actually is a Grey Shrike-thrush or not. The setting sun turned the bird brown, and the shadows from the tree gave the bird a black head at times. But this does not look like the Grey Shrike-thrush that was visiting Carol's garden but the bird's behaviour is similiar to the bird. It is very confusing.

If this bird is a Grey Shrike-thrush, then I am happy to say that this call is another call that that species makes. I did not hear the typical Grey Shrike-thrush sounds that they make either before or after this video was recorded.

Haven't heard this bird call in about 7-10 years

Oh, how time changes everything. Just before it got dark tonight I was out the front potting up some willow tree cuttings that had taken root when suddenly I heard this bird call that I haven't heard in Tenterfield for years. I have absolutely no idea what species makes this bird call. I also can't remember the last time I heard this exact same bird call either, but it must be at least 7 - 10 years ago. It is not the sort of call you forget either, considering I heard it all the time in the past. It is the sweetest, softest, and gentlest call you'll ever hear a bird make.

The bird call sounded like it was on the west side of town about a kilometre from me. It brought back memories of hearing this bird song all the time in Tenterfield. It soothed my soul hearing it again. This bird song is the one that made me fall in love with Tenterfield in the first place.

I can't help but hope this bird will stay in Tenterfield now. It's call was my only source of comfort for my soul which I miss hearing. As this bird was heard as it was roosting, hopefully it will hang around Tenterfield tomorrow long enough for me to get a recording of it's call. I hope it just isn't on it's way through to somewhere else, as a lot of birds have been doing lately.

Unfortunately I did not get a video recording of the bird call. My new digital camera doesn't pick up low pitch (soft) sounds about 1 km away, so it would've been pointless anyway trying to record it. Hopefully tomorrow I will hear the bird call again. If it is about a km away I will be going to try and record it's call up close.

I'm going to be checking the bird calls of the species I haven't added posts about. I'm hoping this species is on my list and can finally identify it after all these years.

What the heck is this bird feather from?

Walking home today from shopping, my daughter and I were walking along Francis Street toward Douglas Street (north side of intersection), when I saw a few feathers on the ground. I picked up a daggy old feather that had fallen off a bird. At first sight I thought it was an Australian Magpie feather, as when they fall out they are brown in colour (the all black ones). Nearby was an actual Australian Magpie feather which I also picked up. But as I was walking and looking at this feather I suddenly realized it had a metallic green sheen all over it (on the topside of the feather). WTF?

A noticable sheen but it's not the right colour green.

In full daylight this feather looks black with a metallic green sheen. In the shade the feather is actually brown as shown in this image above. I've tried my best to take a photo of the metallic green sheen but the actual green colour (in comparison to the image above) is actually a brighter mid green. The sheen covers the entire feather on the topside but is more prominent on the narrowest width of the feather in the sunlight and when trying to photgraph it. The feather itself is 16.5cm long and is an incomplete feather. It is missing feathery parts at the bottom of the feather. It has also been broken and is falling apart just below where the feathery part of the feather should begin. The feather was not there a few days ago, as I had already checked that area for feathers.

There are a few entirely black birds here in Tenterfield but none of them have an actual metallic green sheen in their wing feathers.

When we got home, we went to visit our neighbour, Carol, and I showed her the feather. She told me of some green metallic looking birds she had seen last year/summer in her garden. Carol had told me this sighting before but I forgot about it until when she told me about it again, tonight. Carol described the birds as being the size of Rainbow Lorikeets and they looked similiar in shape. They were eating grass seeds? on her lawn, and were actually on the ground. She saw them from above as she was looking out her kitchen window. The birds all looked green in colour, all basically the same coloured green colour but had a metallic green sheen on them.

This is just complicated now. I do not know of any all green coloured parrot that has a green metallic sheen to it, that lives in Australia. Nor do I know if a green feather, when it falls out of a bird, actually turns brown before it falls out the bird. I do know an all black feather will turn brown before it falls out. I've seen it happen on Australian Magpies. If I knew that then I could perhaps find out if this feather belonged to a parrot-like bird.

One more mystery to solve!

More notes on unidentified olive backed and aqua blue winged bird

In a previous post I wrote a brief description of this aqua blue winged bird that I am trying to identify. The bird in question has not been sighted since by me.

There are a few other things about this bird that I remember that differentiates them from Blue-faced Honeyeaters. Firstly, Blue-faced Honeyeaters are quite noisy yet the birds I saw in the past and the individual I saw most recently made no noise (that I remember) at all.

Secondly, the ones I saw years ago were hanging around Australian King Parrots, feeding with them. I saw these aqua blue winged birds close up at Jubilee Park. The King Parrots, at the time, were not afraid of humans as lot as they were not startled by them. These other birds were the same, were unafraid of humans too. You could easily get within 7 - 8 feet of these birds, even if you were just walking passed them and they were on the ground. They just seemed fearless of humans. I did not see any blue markings on these birds' faces, which tells me it was not a Blue-faced Honeyeater. It was also a different shape to the Blue-faced Honeyeater, and had a much shorter tail.

Thirdly, they ate seeds. What else they ate I do not know. And I only ever saw them, years ago, at Jubilee Park either in the presence of Australian King Parrots or with a few of their own kind hanging around the play equipment. Back then I did not see them anywhere else in Tenterfield, except for flying into the trees or onto the playgrounds' equipment railings when they finished eating the seeds on the ground.

These birds rarely squabbled with one another, unlike the King Parrots. They seem well organized and very co-operative birds. They never hassled the King Parrots at all but sometimes the King Parrots hassled them if they got in the way of them hassling other King Parrots of their own flock - if they were both on the ground eating the same type of seeds.

Actually, the bottom half of their bodies were pure white (not cream) coloured. In flight, they are basically a white bird with aqua blue coloured wings. Their olive coloured back is noticeable too but only on certain angles to seeing the bird fly off. The olive colouring backs were very noticeable when they were on the ground.

After much thought about the weather conditions of Tenterfield some 11 or so years ago, I have concluded that these aqua blue winged birds prefered wetter rainfall conditions than droughts. In Tenterfield, back in 1996-2001, the annual rainfall was about 600mm per year. This is when the birds were sighted, roughly. Prior to October 1995 I don't know if the birds were in Tenterfield as I was living in South Australia up until that time. When they actually disappeared from Tenterfield altogether I simply cannot remember but it was roughly between 2001 - 2005. 2001 was when the rainfall began to decline in Tenterfield, and each passing year brought less rain than the previous year.

I have been extensively searching the Internet for a visual identification of this bird but I have had no luck so far. However, I have found one image that may be useful, see below:

The bird on the left is a Blue and Yellow Macaw. Its not the bird I saw but it actually has the same aqua blue wing colourings as the birds I saw. This particular blue colour in this photo is the colour I saw on the birds' wings. It is an usual blue colour, and the sort of blue colour you do not forget in a hurry. There are very few Australian birds that actually have this particular blue colouring on their body.

The birds I saw had, if my memory serves me correctly, entirely blue wings just like this Macaw does in this image. And where this Macaw has a yellow belly, breast, and blue throat and chin, with the birds I saw all those areas were pure white.

Now, what is even harder to locate than a blue and white bird is a bird that also has a solid olive coloured back and mantle. Nothing I have found on the Internet thus far has matched the bird I am trying to identify.

However, as I can assume the bird in question is a tropical bird, I may be trying to locate a bird that may not even be native to Australia. If bird colourings has anything to do with which country they originate from I may be looking at a bird that may have come from Central and South America or the dense forests of Asia somewhere.

The birds length was about 26 - 28cms and it had a short tail and to look at them they were about 3/4 the size of a King Parrot.

Thinking back about seeing these birds I always remember seeing these aqua blue winged birds at the playground area in Jubilee Park, on Manners Street. They always seemed to be there for as long as I can remember - and that covers at least 4 years straight. Not once were they not there. They were always there like how trees can't get up and walk away. They did actually make a noise but can't recollect what sound they made now.

The only thing I regret is never having taken a photo of these birds since I've been in Tenterfield as it is the only thing preventing me from identifying this bird species.

AUDIO - Unidentified bird that croaks like a frog

When I was down by the Tenterfield Creek the other day I heard this bird in the bushes that sounded like a frog. I had to listen really hard to make sure it was not an actual frog. I finally determined that the frog-like sound was indeed coming from the bushes at a fair hight above the ground, and not from the water. I have no idea what the bird species was/is and I did not see the bird, but I am suspecting that the bird may be one of two bird species: 1. the medium sized bird that looks something like a Jacky Winter which I am yet to identify; Or 2. It could be a Grey Fantail which has only been recently sighted in this area. The frog-like sound and sighting of the Grey Fantail seem to correspond and match each other but further investigation is needed to confirm my beliefs.

In the video below you will hear and see Red-browed Finches (just before the end of the video) and Double-barred Finches (right at the end of the video). The bird I try to zoom in on is either a Pied Currawong or juvenile Australian Magpie. I can't be 100% certain as to which one it was.

The sound can be heard between 19 and 20 seconds in the video above. Turn your speakers up if you can't hear any of the birds.

Unidentified olive backed and aqua blue winged bird

It was very common to see these birds in Tenterfield but they were one one the species that left because of the drought. A few days ago I saw just one of these birds for the first time in a few years. They used to be commonly sighted at Jubilee Park on Manners Street. Well, that's where I used to see them the most.

These birds are a medium sized bird about the size of a 3/4 grown Satin Bowerbird and is similiar in shape (and stockiness) as well, so too is the length of it's legs. They look somewhat like a Satin Bowerbird in shape. They have an olive green coloured back with almost an aqua blue colour on their wings, I believe. They are a very distinctive looking bird.

It is not the Blue-faced Honeyeater, as the aqua blue colour is much more noticable when the bird is viewed side on or from behind, and/or is in flight. When the bird is not flying, about 1/4 of it's body is the aqua blue colour, and the colour is very distinctive and noticable. It is noticable like how the Crimson Rosella is mostly seen as a red and blue bird in flight.

Going from memory of the bird I saw the other day (and from previous sightings of it in the past) it has a white or light cream coloured underside. It's beak is similiar to that of an Australian Magpie's beak but probably a bit thinner.

I am hoping to get a photo of this bird if I can remember exactly where I saw this bird the other day. For the life of me I just cannot remember where I saw it now.

This bird species is not in the list of all the birds of Tenterfield that I have thus far collected. Nor is it listed in the birdsinbackyards.net website, which I use to identify a lot of the birds sighted in Tenterfield.

Unidentified black bird with white wing feathers sighted today

Just before I took some photos and a video of some Common Starlings when I was out walking today I saw two birds fly away from a power pole. They were both slightly larger than a Common Starling but as they flew I could see white wing feathers in a circle like shape underneath their wings. The white wing feathers were on the outside part of wings but still underneath the wing itself, and not in the centre of the wing like with a Pied Currawong. At first I thought these birds were White-winged Choughs but they were way too small. White-winged Choughs are as big as Ravens and Crows (about 48cms in length) and have a curved bill so I've researched/learnt.

I believe (?) I got a somewhat blurry photo of one of these birds, as one of them decided to fly back to the power pole.

I thought I was taking a photo of a Starling!

 

Photo of sunset on previous street before I took
this bird photo.

It would be nice to identify these birds I saw. Notice the white feathers on it's right wing. This was not caused by sunlight as it was close to sunset when this photo was taken and the whole area, including this bird, was in deep shade. The sunset made taking this photo even worse as a lot of sunlight was being blocked by smoke from a bushfire.

Within minutes of the photo of the bird being taken most of the Starlings flew away. I don't know if this other bird was still there as I wasn't really paying that much attention to it.

On the way home I took some other sunset photos as the sun was a deep orange colour and the smoke in front of the sun was a deep pinkish orange colour. Cameras do not do Tenterfield sunsets any justice. Tonight's sunset was gorgeous and breaktaking but smokey as heck. Below are a few more photos of the sunset I took about 8 minutes later.

Enlarging this bird photo doesn't make sense. I think this bird might just be a common starling. The white area of it's wing it too close to it's feet to be a wing, plus it is underneath the tail feathers. I'm just guessing here but the white area could be just something either caught in it's right foot, or it has something in it's right foot. Nesting material?

The two birds I saw first I will try to locate soon to see if they are still in the area of Scott and Miles Street intersection. A lot of Starlings hang around that area all the time.

Are these Common House Sparrows?

Two days ago, just moments after taking the photo of the Common Starling/Myna? I came across these birds. I believe they may be your normal House Sparrows but I would like to be certain. They were photographed in the driveway of the Bi-Lo's Rouse Street entrance.

There was probably about 12 - 20 of these birds flying about the left tree out the front of Pederby House and then flew into the Bi-Lo Rouse Street driveway entrance trees when startled by me and my brother walking passed them. They look like House Sparrows and are about the same size but the next photo doesn't look like a House Sparrow to me, well not quite anyway. I managed to get a slightly closer up photo of one of the birds in the tree. The sun was behind me and was getting very low in the sky. It was around 5PM when I took these photos.

House Sparrows are supposed to be grey and brown with the male being more colourful with a dark head. Juvenile House Sparrows are duller in colour and are more grey in colour than brown. House Sparrows are fairly common in Tenterfield but their numbers have declined in recent years due to the drought.

A young male House Sparrow?

The second image reveals a bird that may be a young male House Sparrow but going on the angle I was to this bird, and the fact the bird had it's head up and to it's left makes it hard to identify. Without seeing it's back or head properly I can only guess these birds are House Sparrows.

In this second photo I was about 12 - 16 feet away from these birds and almost directly underneath them but on a slight angle.

Common Starling or Myna?

Photo taken 29 August 2012, Rouse Street.

I do know there are Common Starlings in Tenterfield, and have heard that Common Mynas exist in the Tenterfield area as well.

Going on the under side of this bird (in the photo) it is going to be a difficult to identify this bird but not impossible.

This bird was photographed next to the old Pederby House on the footpath on Rouse Street, at the top of the power pole.

Some birds, like this one, just don't allow you to get close up photos of them.

Identifying birds is tricky business but there are not many birds in Tenterfield that look like this nor are about the size of a fat Common Starling as this bird is. Personally I think it is a Common Starling but I could be wrong.

Unidentified bird call recorded on 3 August 2012

The bird in question in this video is probably of a local bird whose song I am not familiar with just yet. This call sounds like the call of a Superb Fairy Wren or of the Willy Wagtail. Unfortunately, I recorded this audio using my mobile phone - meaning the sound is not a true representation of what the bird's call is like in real life.

AUDIO - A little bird calling on 21 July 2012

Today I heard a little bird calling. I heard it from my bedroom window. The audio is in poor quality as it was recorded on my mobile phone. You can hear my pedastool fan going in this video as well as a Torresian Crow.

Another unknown bird call - 20 July 2012

I recorded this bird singing but the audio is of very poor quality. I only had a mobile phone to use and the sound is not a true audio recording of the bird's actual voice.