Wild Birds of Australia

avondale87 wrote in post #19157238
The resident young Tasmanian Native Hens growing up.
They are getting more adult features, colours etc

Today I went out for a chat and it was uncanny. They came together and sat/ stood still for ages gazing about. Lovely to watch, as is the common interaction between parent and chick

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Nice! What age are they now, Richard?

avondale87 wrote in post #19156371
Beautiful. What lovely baby birds. Interesting how well camouflaged they are at such a tender age.
Proud parents shot is a beauty.
Lovely series.
Be interesting to watch them develop.
I get a lot of fun watching our 4 grow and change.

Thanks Richard! Hopefully they will hang around at work for a while, but I suspect they will return to the nearby golf course soon.

S.R.M. wrote in post #19157267
Nice! What age are they now, Richard?

Thanks
First photo I got was 31st October and I'd suspect about 2 or 3 days old then.
So 4 weeks? Wouldn't be any more.

a few from todays walk with the locals
Tasmanian Native Hen

Photo from avondale87's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1075310)

Australian Swamphen

there's about 5 weeks between these two.
Those little blighters are not from the friendly clan and they go like the clappers. Best I've got so far

one of the latest of several baby Tasmanian Native Hens
I looked out the window early one morning and the whole tribe was just outside. Mum, dad, aunts, uncles and the babies.
It was delightful to watch but very hard to get anything decent.

This guy was knocking on the kitchen window before flying off. He did stay long enough to have his photo taken. There is a nest next door in a date palm and I am not sure whether his is one of this years brood.

Rick

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The way these little Tasmanian Native Hens develop is fascinating.
Watching their covering, beak and eye changes is easy to track and something I can't do with other birds that live in nests until fledged.
Juniors beak goes from stripes to grey to pale green, yellow to the final bright yellow

Photo from avondale87's gallery.
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one of the 4 juniors reclining on the grass heap

Sandpipers

male Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo on our Banksia
Calyptorhynchus funereus

another of our beautiful larger native birds is the Tasmanian Black Currawong ~ Strepera fuliginosa

Photo from avondale87's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1077834)

came across this by the dam.
Rather sad affair.

Not sure what went on here, but it looks like the remains of a female Superb Fairy Wren and an intact but dead male.
Do birds pine for the demise of their loved ones and die?

Certainly shows the magnificent plumage of the males

More Tasmanians the Forest Ravens, the youngsters are fully fledged and flying but still getting an occasional feed from the parent birds.