Plants grow better outside
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It has been too long since I last posted anything on this site so here I am
updating my blog. The seasons are harsh and go from one extreme to another
ofte...
Author:
Shirley E Hardy
| Posted at:
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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Tropical bird drops into Tenterfield pool 25 Apr, 2012 04:21 AM
It may be getter cooler, but Tenterfield is still attracting some tropical visitors.
Last week, an endangered red-tailed tropic bird usually found on Lord Howe Island made a landing at the Tenterfield Memorial Baths to the surprise of the local manager.
“I arrived at the pool in the morning and I saw this bird sitting on the grass, it was a pretty big shock,” Jeff Moss said.
“It is not something you expect to see in Tenterfield.”
Mr Moss said he called the National Parks and Wildlife office in Tenterfield who got in touch with the Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) in Ballina who have been looking after the bird for nearly a week.
“He is doing pretty well and eating fairly steadily now,” ASR manager Keith Williams said.
“We usually see one or two of these birds a year but I think Tenterfield is about as far inland as they’ve ever come. I don’t think we’ve had one from quite that far away before.
“He probably got caught right in the middle of the strong north-easters we had earlier… and was taken a bit off course.”
The bird (pictured) is believed to be between 18 months to two years old.
Mr Williams said the adult birds have a very distinct long red tail and have a large breeding colony on Lord Howe Island.
“As a true seabird he doesn’t work that well on land so the poor guy would have been a bit shaky on the land,” he said.
“He’s obviously tried to stay near the water though, and I reckon the pool is probably the closest you’re going to get in Tenterfield.”
The bird has been kept under observation at the ASR’s office in Ballina and Mr Williams said he and his team would wait for a slight south-easterly wind before the bird was released.
Calls - Listen
Please check the Videos page for all videos of the Eastern Rosella's calls.
Unusual vocalisations of one lone Eastern Rosella
Eastern Rosella
has tricked me into believing there were Bell Miners
Bell Miner
here in Tenterfield. But that is not the case. After a bit of time I discovered the true maker of these Bell Miner calls......
It all began around the 16-22nd January 2012 when I began hearing the calls of Bell Miners here in Tenterfield. There were 1-2 calls in the beginning. The closest population of Bell Miners (that I'm aware of) to the Tenterfield area is about 45 minutes drive east of here, just passed Drake, in the Great Dividing Ranges rainforest area. It took me a while to figure out that Bell Miners were not in the area, nor had they moved into Tenterfield but at first I thought they had.
The Local birds - Bell Miner mimicry calls video clearly shows an Eastern Rosella practising it's mimicry sounds of a Bell Miner with other Eastern Rosellas present even though no actual birds can be seen in this video, not clearly anyway. I was actually on my way to Bi-Lo when walking passed the back of ST. Joseph's Catholic Primary School I heard these rosellas calling out to each other. So I started filming and surprisingly got more than I bargained for, with the bird's full range of vocalisation that I could not actually hear myself. You can clearly hear the rosella starting its mimicry sounds with a few other rosellas not doing it.
The confusing part to all of this was hearing the sounds of more than one Bell Miner calls in Tenterfield before and after this video was taken. Tenterfield sits in a sort of bowl shaped formation with hills on 3/4 of its sides (it reminds me of a crater actually), and is lower than the surrounding areas. Sounds travel across town VERY EASILY and quickly, and in many directions. You can always hear the echoes of just about anything in town coming back at you from just about any direction during the day and night, if you are in the right location to hear it. This is what I was hearing - one bird's calls but many echoes.
Why this mimicry call is happening I do not know, as I have never known Eastern Rosellas in Tenterfield to make mimicry sounds of other birds or animals. This particular call only occurs late in the afternoon from about 4pm onwards and it is not heard for any longer than one hour. Before and after those calls are heard you just hear the normal sounds of the Eastern Rosella.
Maybe something unusual is happening here in Tenterfield, or maybe the birds are evolving or maybe the birds are just bored senseless. It could be a mating vocalisation thing, as a few other birds in Tenterfield also display various vocalisation mimicry sounds. The female Australian Magpie for one! The Bell Miner mimicry sounds stopped sometime in mid to late May 2012, which tells me it may be a mating call variation of it's normal mating call.
These pretty Rosellas are normally very hard to photograph as they are elusive and hide themselves very well in long grass, even on the sides of the road. Only if you walk passed where they are do they suddenly take to the air scaring the pants off of you with all their sudden screeching and wing flapping.
I have seen Eastern Rosellas on Miles, Francis, Douglas, and Manners Streets, as well as other streets in Tenterfield. They seem to like places with few houses on them and areas where there is dense to semi-dense cover for them to hide in. They often frequent areas close to the Tenterfield Creek, which is where I have mostly spotted them in town. They generally are not seen in Rouse Street but can be observed on ocassion in Bruxner Park feeding in the tall trees there. They do not generally feed on the ground anywhere where humans are present. If disturbed they usually flee to tall trees, fences, or power lines if a human is too close for comfort.
They are aggressive birds and will not share food with different rosellas species or parrots. When competing for food Eastern Rosellas always win when fighting other rosellas and parrots. In the past I have seen Eastern Rosellas fight off King Parrots as food competitors.
I have also observed Eastern Rosellas roosting in large Poplar trees throughout Tenterfield when the trees have not lost their leaves. The taller the Poplar tree the better, the birds reckon. They roost about 3/4 the way up the tree in a family group (small flock). They are quite noisy prior to falling asleep, often resettling on a new branch or ten whilst making a bit of vocalisations to each other. Sometimes you can almost hear them making a sound similiar to a sigh or a snore before they fall asleep. It is quite funny. Eastern Rosellas are easily startled prior to falling asleep. If startled they will go to higher branches within the Poplar tree and will settle down again after a few minutes.
Eastern Rosellas seem to stay in the area despite other bird species migrating elsewhere due to a lack of food. They exist in very small numbers in Tenterfield.
This bird (left image) has been mistaken for this
bird (right image) here in Tenterfield. I have not
seen any birds that look like the bird on the left
here in Tenterfield. I have seen one bird that
looks like the bird on the right though.
Calls - Listen
The male Common Koel advertises its presence by a loud ascending whistle or 'koo-el', monotonously repeated; the call of the female is a repetitive 'keek-keek-keek-keek'. Males often call throughout the day and well into the night.
I have only seen one Pacific Koel (a male) up close when it happened to be raining earlier this year, and it was about 20-25cms in length. It was thin looking. The bird was about 20 feet from where I stood on the side rafter of the open car garage. It had more of a broad body look with short but wide tail feathers rather than long tail feathers like that of an Eastern Koel and had the deepest of red eyes. It looked and sounded like an Eastern Koel but shorter and stockier than what it was supposed to be recognised as for that particular species. Not being able to get a photo of it I can only guess but I found an image on the Internet that shows the bird I saw. It appears to be, perhaps, a subspecies of the Eastern Koel, or something like that. It also had the noticable red eyes and black plumage but it was more jet-midnight black in colour (like the male Satin Bowerbird or the Torresian Crow), but apart from that it was hard to recognize as it was drenched from the rain and it's feathers were not all entirely in their proper places. So I could not actually determine if it had a coloured tinge to it's feathers or not. When it was raining the Koel was regularly but infrequently calling out to other birds.
As these birds are rarely seen in Tenterfield, and I was fortunate enough to see one up close, I can say that these birds don't look like your typical Eastern Koels which are supposed to exist in town.
All individual specimens of these Pacific Koel birds in the south-western section of Tenterfield appear to be of the male gender. I have heard at least 3-4 males over the summer period in the area but one male seems to have moved permanently into the area roosting in a nearby pine or gum tree at my neighbour's house.
In some instances these Koels do move on to other areas if there are no females to mate with in Tenterfield.
The Tenterfield Pacific Koel population is very small, consisting of at least one permanent male plus a few neighbouring males in the south-west corner of the township, or I am hearing an echo of that same bird coming from many directions at once which is also time lagged.
A few years back some Pacific Koel males did move out of Tenterfield due to the drought. There is a male Pacific Koel that has a large territory of at least 2-3 kilometers. The known local permanent resident is known to roost in nearby tall trees. It can be heard calling prior to the sun rising every morning, as well as late in the afternoon from around 5PM onwards. They seem to prefer the taller trees, specifically Eucylptus species to roost in. They mostly spend their time in the higher canopy of those tall trees. I have yet to see any bird on the ground.
There are no fruit-bearing trees or shrubs of any sort in the neighbouring area that would make Koels stick around to feed on their fruit. However, during the day the males that are here are barely heard so it is more than likely they are feeding somewhere else outside their own territories. This is more than likely because they cannot tree hop, instead they have to travel great open distances to find food.
There have been no known instances of Pacific Koels breeding in the south-western part of Tenterfield. I have not heard any young Pacific Koels nor seen any foster parents with a young Koel offspring.
Pacific Koels do not seem to mind humans being around as long as humans don't get too close to them. These birds exhibit "no fear" of humans in the south-western part of Tenterfield. They are still relatively shy birds though. These birds are not "opportunist feeders" meaning they will not be attracted to any food you may put out for them or for other birds, not even fresh fruit.
REPOSTED & RE-EDITED ON 10TH JUNE 2012
Updated: Saturday, 14 July 2012 The local Pacific Koel male has not been heard in the area for several weeks. No other Pacific Koels have been heard in the area since then.
Did you know?
Australasian Grebes eat their own feathers and then feed them to their young. This prevents the juveniles from injuring themselves when they swallow fish bones.
Physical description of birds:
The Australasian Grebe is a small waterbird with two distinct plumage phases. The non-breeding plumage of both the male and female is dark grey-brown above and mostly silver-grey below, with a white oval patch of bare skin at the base of the bill. During the breeding season, both sexes have a glossy-black head and a rich chestnut facial stripe which extends from just behind the eye through to the base of the neck. At this time, the eye becomes darker and the patch of skin at the base of the bill becomes pale yellow and more noticeable. When approached, Australasian Grebes usually dive under water.
Distribution:
In Tenterfield, the Australasian Darter is located at the Tenterfield Dam as well as at various locations along the Tenterfield Creek. Although I have not personally seen this bird species in Tenterfield itself, that does not mean it does not exist here. The Australasian Grebe is not numerous in numbers in Tenterfield.
Not a commonly sighted bird in Tenterfield.
General information
Habitat:
The Australasian Grebe is found in freshwater marshes or small freshwater waterways, in Tenterfield (for example), it would be the Tenterfield Dam or Tenterfield Creek. It may also exist in large dams of property owners outside the immediate township of Tenterfield. The Australasian Grebe has been located and identified 70kms west of Tenterfield visiting a property dam.
Feeding:
Food consists mainly of small fish and water insects. Prey is normally caught during deep underwater dives, but some is taken on the surface. Like other grebes, the Australasian Grebe is often seen eating its own feathers and feeding them to its young. This behaviour is thought to help prevent injury from any sharp fish bones that are swallowed.
Breeding:
The Australasian Grebe may raise up to three successive broods in a season. The pale blue eggs are laid in a nest which is a floating mound of vegetation, normally anchored to a submerged branch or reed. The striped downy chicks are able to swim from birth and are cared for by both parents. When parents start breeding again, however, the young of the previous brood are driven away.
Living amongst humans
Instead of flying away from danger these birds tend to dive underwater to get out of harms way. Australasian Grebes live within the range of up to a 1,000 metres altitude of sea level and therefore will be found in various environments in the area.
Physical description of birds:
The Darter is a large, slim water bird with a long snake-like neck, sharp pointed bill, and long, rounded tail. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upperwings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and immature birds are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds. The Darter is often seen swimming with only the snake-like neck visible above the water, or drying its wings while perched on a tree or stump over water. While its gait is clumsy on land, it can soar gracefully to great heights on wind thermal currents, gliding from updraft to updraft. It has a cross-shaped silhouette when flying.
Distribution:
In Tenterfield, the Australasian Darter is located at the Tenterfield Dam as well as at various locations along the Tenterfield Creek. The Darter seems to prefer locations that have trees near the water's edge as well as low lying branches close to the water. It can also be found at various dams on people's properties in the immediate area surrounding Tenterfield, on ocassions.
The Australasian Darter is not numerous in numbers with sightings of less than 10 individual birds at any given time.
General information
Habitat:
The Darter is found in wetlands and sheltered coastal waters, mainly in the Tropics and Subtropics. It prefers smooth, open waters, for feeding, with tree trunks, branches, stumps or posts fringing the water, for resting and drying its wings. Most often seen inland, around permanent and temporary water bodies at least half a metre deep, but may be seen in calm seas near shore, fishing. The Darter is not affected by salinity or murky waters, but does require waters with sparse vegetation that allow it to swim and dive easily. It builds its nests in trees standing in water, and will move to deeper waters if the waters begin to dry up.
Seasonal movements:
Darters can move over long distances (over 2000 km) when not breeding, but populations tend to contract to breeding areas during summer.
Feeding:
The Darter catches fish with its sharp bill partly open while diving in water deeper than 60 cm. The fish is pierced from underneath, flicked onto the water's surface and then swallowed head first. Smaller items are eaten underwater and large items may be carried to a convenient perch and then swallowed. Insects and other aquatic animals, including tortoises, may also be eaten, as well as some vegetable matter. In hot weather, adult birds may pour water from their bills into the gullets of their young chicks when they are still in the nest.
Breeding:
The Darter is usually a solitary bird, forming pairs only while breeding. Breeding is erratic, happening whenever water levels and food supplies are suitable, but most often occurs in spring and summer. Nests are usually solitary, but Darters may nest within loose colonies with other water birds that nest in trees, such as cormorants, spoonbills and ibis. The male decorates a nest-site with green leafy twigs and displays to attract a mate, with elaborate wing-waving and twig-grasping movements. The male carries most of the nest material to the nest-site, which is normally in the fork of a tree standing in water, usually about 3.5 metres above the water's surface. Both sexes complete the nest, incubate the eggs and raise the young. Chicks are kept warm by brooding continously (or cooled down by shading with spread wings) for up to a week after hatching and both adults stay in the nest with the chicks overnight. In hot weather, the adults will even shake water over the chicks after a swim. Chicks can swim after about four weeks in the nest and start to fly at about 50 days.
Living amongst humans
Although the deep, open water bodies that Darters favour suffer less from drainage than other wetland types, Darters are still threatened by increased salinity, clearing, grazing, increased fire frequency and extraction of groundwater. Because Darters often feed on introduced fish species such as Carp and Redfin Perch, they may be adversely affected by attempts to reduce numbers of these fish species. Darters are also often casualties of duck-shooting, with birds being shot or disturbed from their nests and losing their eggs to ravens. Adults may also drown if trapped in fishing nets.
