Wild Birds of Australia

avondale87 wrote in post #19338936
So nice.
That's the sort of wildlife photos I like. Birds going about their business.
Lovely details and colours.

According to our news you're having a big wet up there! Not sure if that's the case?

Yeah the early part was a bit slow (after the BOM promising us an early and big wet) but the monsoon's well and truly set in now and looks like hanging around for a while. Love it. This is my favourite time of year.

When we do our morning walk we often see the Purple Swamphen, but he is often in the shade. I wanted a photo of him in the sun, the colour is more beautiful.

I think there's a Wild Australian bird there...

Choderboy wrote in post #19339164
I think there's a Wild Australian bird there...

they are amazing birds Dave and well taken

I imagine there's a reason they take to camouflage like that.

How's you other owl 'research' these days? Haven't seen the family shoots you had a year or so ago?

Thanks Richard.
Camouflage is basically their only defence mechanism, so it's very important.
I have not posted the local Powerful owls for a while. They had two chicks last year, fledged late August and as of mid December one chick survived.

I've been busy with other things:

An Australian darter got a rag caught in it's bill. A common problem. they have rearward facing serrations in their bill designed to prevent fish from slipping out of their grasp.
Unfortunately, we deplorable humans deposit lot's of textiles into their environment making this a common, often fatal problem. Ironically, the fabric in this case was Geotextile filter fabric. Installed beside waterways for the sake of the environment. This Darter was living in a local suburban Dam, with two storm water pipes delivering the deadly fabric right to the Darter. We came close (myself, locals, RSPCA and Sea bird Rescue) to catching the Darter but ultimately failed. Not from lack of trying.

I've also been involved in trying to help a local Osprey pair: Trying to get Council to install a breeding pole and also working with DPI, a landowner who owns a crane that they use for breeding on and Council. Long complicated story that one.

Fighting local council who support mountain bikers destroying local bush areas to create trails and jumps, a widespread modern problem but we have, arguably, the worst council in Sydney, maybe NSW.

A pair of White-bellied sea eagles look like they intend to breed nearby, so watching them.

Local Australian grebes bred and first time I have seen that so a fair bit of time watching them.

The Tawny in the photo, that family had two chicks last year. One fell from the nest twice. Rescued the first time, placed back in the nest with a cherry picker. 2nd time it managed to make it's way to a low branch after spending some time on the ground.

sounds a busy but essential and oft rewarding efforts.
It is so sad to see wildlife sporting the junk we proliferate without any due care. That is hard to take

You haven't the MB issue to your local area. They are without fault here and all else bows to their superiority along with their benefits they (supposedly) bring to the communities!
I can never understand how destroying habitat, and making ongoing erosion issues is justified when other developments are prevented because of same issues

A number of us wrote emails to our Council about, not just the destruction to the bush from MTBers building trails, but also the danger to walkers as they ride the walking tracks also.
The Monday after we wrote, this Facebook Page was created. See the "About".
A cynical person might think the Council had advised MTBers about our correspondence and advised "don't worry, Council has your back, go for it".
Lucky I'm not a cynical person.

Council also advised us that MTBers claimed there was aggressive behaviour towards them by people who did not like their activity and that those allegations would be referred to Police. Council did not see any reason to refer this Facebook page to Police. After all, they only promote the destruction of native Flora and Fauna.......

The poor old Darter.
As initially found.

A week or so later.
You can just see the serrations in the upper bill.
Also some of the Geotextile filter fabric. I found that beside a local creek. It was installed well over 20 years ago.


This bloke has rescued many Darters with this problem and fears for the species survival.
https://www.goldcoastb​ulletin.com.au …695ccb7678ecb20​cd3a57e2c5

And now for something upbeat.

Powerful owl chicks, still in the hollow, a few days before fledging.
Bigger chick is about 4 days older and fledged the following day.
I have never seen any competition between chicks but affection like this is common.

Dave one can't 'like' that but I do LIKE what you are doing to help out

I couldn't not try to help.
Significant danger too in attempting a Darter rescue.
They rely on their ability to spear prey with their bill. So if you try to grab one, predictable it will try to spear you and most birds go for the eyes.
There has been a human fatality in Australia due to rescue attempt. I had double layers of safety specs with the outer layer held on my head with thick rubber bands.

This Melbourne Zoo recue clearly shows the same fabric.
https://au.sports.yaho​o.com …e-eat-days-004059808.html

Mention that a rescuer (Mark Keenan) rescued a Darter, removed the fabric, then two weeks later the same bird had a new entanglement.

First time I have seen this. Before I knew they were called fecal sacs, I called these poo packets.
I first saw Butcherbirds taking care of them. Parent Butcherbird arrives at the nest and provides a meal.
They then make their way around the rim of the nest waiting for any chick to 'present'.
The chick will put it's bum in the air and produce a fecal sac. The parent will then collect it in it's bill and take it to a nearby dump site.

Tawny frogmouth chicks manage to jetison their fecal sacs over the nest from a young age so parents don't need to dump them.
A good thing as the Tawny parent does not want to leave chicks unattended and wants to avoid moving during the day as that would attract mobbing from Noisy miners at least.
In this case the chick's fecal sac did not clear the branch so the Dad took care of it the next best, but unappealing way, he eats it.

interesting and amazing behaviour
All new to me, Thanks

With regards to that weed mat material etc not sure what the answer is, but suggest the following.
Theoretically suppression of weeds, erosion control is (should be) only required short term until ground cover, revegetation etc gets established.
In that, weed control should have a use by date timed for such regrowth and naturally degrade and disappear harmlessly into the soil, adding nutrients.
Sounds too simple but with all the conservation efforts around the country it should be mandated and made achievable.

Choderboy wrote in post #19339175
A number of us wrote emails to our Council about, not just the destruction to the bush from MTBers building trails, but also the danger to walkers as they ride the walking tracks also.
The Monday after we wrote, this Facebook Page was created. See the "About".
A cynical person might think the Council had advised MTBers about our correspondence and advised "don't worry, Council has your back, go for it".
Lucky I'm not a cynical person.

Council also advised us that MTBers claimed there was aggressive behaviour towards them by people who did not like their activity and that those allegations would be referred to Police. Council did not see any reason to refer this Facebook page to Police. After all, they only promote the destruction of native Flora and Fauna.......

Hosted photo: posted by Choderboy in
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forum: Birds

It must be so depressing seeing all this go on. When I visit my family in the area I grew up (Yowie Bay/Port Hacking) I often walk along the old creek lines and around the mangroves along the edges of the Hacking River. The amount of rubbish, weeds, fences, pipes spewing foul water, disgusting smells and over-development leaves me shaking my head. That is a big reason I stayed here in the north when opportunity brought me here decades ago. And councils and their pathetic, two-bit, wannabe politicians don't have much power here.