The Daily Good News
BTW. They clearly havent looked in the Tunes thread both Ben and Stu have great music taste and far from mainstream as do many of the contributors here, and in regard to wetsuits, in the recent wetsuit thread, i dont think anyone mentioned Hurley and very few Rip Curl it was all about Isurus.
Beach grit on the other hand is generally just trashy tabloid throw aways crap with comment sections full of one line lame comments and memes.
indo-dreaming wrote:
BTW. They clearly havent looked in the Tunes thread both Ben and Stu have great music taste and far from mainstream as do many of the contributors here, and in regard to wetsuits, in the recent wetsuit thread, i dont think anyone mentioned Hurley and very few Rip Curl it was all about Isurus.
Beach grit on the other hand is generally just trashy tabloid throw aways crap with comment sections full of one line lame comments and memes.
Dont take it too seriously Indo, I found it quite a funny comment.
Bird democracy at work (Disclaimer: I voted for the Hooded Plover)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/sep/27/aust…
What a great article! Since my two favourite Oz birds aren't there (Regent Bowerbird and Azure Kingfisher) I voted for the Pied Currawong because I love their sound. I was torn between him and the King Parrot.
Did I miss it was the Kookaburra absent from the list?
Kooka- fifth from bottom.
How blessed is Oz for birdlife.
The kookaburra was there.
King Parrot FTW. As good as pets around our place.
I’m tied between the currawong and the king too. Maggies are up there but they win every year.
Kookaburra was there.
Birds lurking outside the bedroom window as of this moment.
The two young mates -a baby currawong and baby magpie who love hanging out- and the Big Swinging Dick satin bowerbird who runs his harem in a bower behind the deck.
Gone the Tawny Frogmouth, can't wait to spot one in the wild and photograph it.
Love the Hooded Plover.
Really anxious little birds, that nest on the high water mark on the MP back beaches.
Spotted two powerful owls the other day in the bush behind our block, rare birds and an even rarer event spotting them during the day and on the MP. Ripping a dove apart held in one of the birds talons.
Hard for me to go past the splendid fairy Wren. Have a massive resident gang of them at my place, and they are almost tame, and plucky gregarious little characters. If you want to see some pretty birds in your garden, Callistemon, and grevillea trees in flower are amazing for attracting the nectar feeders. Literally in 15mins I've just watched a Callistemon attract white cheeked/ Leeuwins/ scarlet honey eaters and eastern spinebill. Nice to sit with a cuppa and immerse yourself in nature.
no probs with Noisy Miners chasing off small birds Tiges?
Any nectar around here and the Miners completely dominate it.
need small, thorny shrubs for the insectivores to take hold.
Robins and wrens and fly-catchers.
Lots of grass and thistle here so we've got a ton of Eastern Rosellas around here.
My fav coloured parrot.
Kookaburra all the way for me…nothing more iconic than hearing them laugh in the early morning.
None can beat the NZ Kereru, bird of the year 2018. They are fat slobs that get pissed on fermented fruit…we used to find them sometimes drunk and lying on their backs in our backyard…we would put them in a box to sleep and keep them away from cats, once sobered up they would fly back to the trees and get pissed again.
Superb fairywren. Awesome stuff. A real casanova.
Not only is the male fairywren one of Australia's showiest birds, it is also one of the most promiscuous in the world, with infidelity rates that would put Hollywood to shame.
“ fat slobs that get pissed on fermented fruit…we used to find them sometimes drunk and lying on their backs in our backyard”
Haha!
Went for a paddle down a river a few days ago.
The birdlife was off the hook, so many classic Australian birds, from the usual magpies and kookaburras to wrens, rainbow bee-eaters and what I think was an azure Kingfisher.
The highlight was a wedge tailed eagle with a wingspan of maybe 2 metres.
I assume it was a female, she just hovered above me maybe 30 metres up, pretty much motionless but riding the thermals in the middle of the day.
udo wrote:
Jeeze. So sad isn’t it. Hopefully a good outcome with good people working to save them.
Anyone know what the 3 little animals on the flowerhead are? At about the 50 sec mark
freeride76 wrote:
no probs with Noisy Miners chasing off small birds Tiges?
Any nectar around here and the Miners completely dominate it.
I was going to mention in my original post, that we are fortunate to have no noisy miners on our property. Our last place had a swarm of them, and they just harangued any other birds that came around. Very occasionally get a few around here, but they are quickly given a bit of their own medicine and moved along. Figbirds and currawongs are also encouraged to GTFO, they are relentless on the fruiting trees.
need small, thorny shrubs for the insectivores to take hold.
Robins and wrens and fly-catchers.
Lots of grass and thistle here so we've got a ton of Eastern Rosellas around here.
My fav coloured parrot.
GuySmiley wrote:
Spotted two powerful owls the other day in the bush behind our block, rare birds and an even rarer event spotting them during the day and on the MP. Ripping a dove apart held in one of the birds talons.
Nice succinct description. Can actually imagine this.
... and that's why Hemmingway is great, less is more (sorry Guy not comparing you with him, but take it as a compliment)
Anyone know what the 3 little animals on the flowerhead are? At about the 50 sec mark[/quote]
Roadkill, I think they would be Honey Possums or ‘Noolbenger’
Re the birds in Oz, one of the best things is their sheer noise. Remember my first morning back here after a couple years in Europe and being blown away by this cacophony of Kookaburras, lorikeets etc at sunrise.
Heard my first Koel Cuckoo the other day so the noise is about to go up a notch!
Distracted wrote:
Anyone know what the 3 little animals on the flowerhead are? At about the 50 sec mark
Roadkill, I think they would be Honey Possums or ‘Noolbenger’[/quote]
Thx bro. What absolute beautiful little animals. Aus marsupials are next level.
Distracted wrote:
Re the birds in Oz, one of the best things is their sheer noise. Remember my first morning back here after a couple years in Europe and being blown away by this cacophony of Kookaburras, lorikeets etc at sunrise.
Heard my first Koel Cuckoo the other day so the noise is about to go up a notch!
I’m wondering how long till the channel billed cuckoos return. Those things are next level.
This lockdown we've had a whipbird set up nest in the lilly pilly adjacent to our bedroom window - approximately six surfer's feet from where my head rests on the pillow.
Goes by the name of The Kraken or Mr Whippy, it gets huge delight out of breaking the deep morning silence with its sharp two-tone whip crack.
Looking at the size of it, it's hard to believe that diminutive chest cavity can create such a sound.
I love Whipbirds, with their little leather outfits and studded collars and all.
Yep the sound of a whipbird walking through the bush is one of my fav. Not sure how it would go next to the bedroom ha.
I had one of those bastards next to my share house bedroom when I was 21. I used to work in a nightclub in those days then party with friends late after that. Used to drive me mad so I ended up tying a piece of string to a branch in the tree and running it through the window to my bed. A quick tug of the string would scare it off and then I could sleep till lunchtime
Voted again- today King Parrot for me.
Sad to read about the decline of the Regent Honeyeater.
We stay in a little single room cottage up a dirt and grass road high up in a mist filled valley in the Kangaroo Valley. Last time we stayed there a whip bird had taken up residence under the cottage and each morning just on dawn would spring into a competition with another whip bird across the valley. No whip left unanswered :)
Before Covid we used to visit CloudHill in the Dandenong Ranges especially in Spring and Autumn.
They have a Lyrebird in the bush that surrounds the gardens that imitates many many birds but its party trick is imitating the sound of a chain saw. It's a joy to hear!
If you ever get a chance to visit these gardens please do, they are the best, highly recommended.
The traditional whip bird sound is two birds. The male calling is the whip followed by his main squeeze replying near instantly. He likes to keep a close track of her!
Here’s the sound of a lonely male. The girl would follow up with that rapid Chit Choochoo noise like high tension wires being struck.
Ali ( Alisterus scapularis is his Latin name ) the King Parrot and BSD the bowerbird. BSD has some freaky eyes. No wonder he loses his shit over anything blue. It’s his signature move with the ladies. I sometimes watch him fussing around in his bower getting his gear just right and thinking “you strange little bird”, then I come home and realise that I do exactly the same at my place. It’s bizarre the idiosyncrasies behind getting the aesthetics of our lairs to suit our individual tastes.
Ali is teaching the other King Parrots how to accept being hand fed. It’s amusing and interesting watching them figure it out and the discrepancies in courage and intelligence between the individual birds.
Great pets….no evil cage imprisonment, no vet bills and if I go away or can’t be arsed feeding them they fend for themselves.
What makes those background sounds in your vid Blowin.
Here's the two..
Voted this morning again for the Hooded Plover and was rewarded this afternoon (as I got out the water after a really fun surf) with seeing one on the beach.
Dedicated to good news ....