Blue-faced Honeyeater

Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Noisy Miners belong to the same family - hard to believe just looking at their faces.  Around our yard they seem migratory, appearing during late winter and early spring.  They are an assertive species and stand up to their Noisy cousins. Each season after a period of negotiation, the two species settle for a time-sharing arrangement of the plants in our backyard.

The Blue-faced Honeyeaters were particularly good friends with Fatty the King Magpie (and Maggie's foster dad), his Queen Molly and their family and could often be seen sitting next to them on the trees sharing a yarn.  Although these birds are shier than their Noisy cousins and are not as chatty with us, we have been very fortunate in witnessing some very interesting events about their interaction and relationship with the magpies. These involve the code of conduct amongst bird species and support for their territorial rules amongst the magpies. 

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Previous Image 1/4 NextBlue-faced HoneyeaterEnjoying a drink of nectar

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Bowerbirds

The male Satin bowerbird has a lovely blue-black sheen hence the name.  The birds love the colour blue and the male bird builds a bower and decorates it with blue objects to woo the female.  We first saw these beautiful birds in the Bunya Mountains. 

The bowerbirds are shy and tend to be seen more often in late winter or early spring.  One of the female bowerbirds began to answer to the name 'Jackie' and would come when called.  She stopped coming when the days got hotter and the drought worsened. We think they may have migrated to cooler temperatures or followed the fruit circuit. 

We were lucky to spot a female come out of the bush for a bath.  She was soon joined by another female and a male. The pair only had a drink and the male helped himself to the early blossoms on the double- may bush. 

Take a look at the slideshow below for a peek at the birds.

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Previous Image 1/5 NextBowerbirds - FemaleA cool swim on a dry day

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Brush Turkey

Buffy the Brush Turkey appeared out of the bush one fine day eager to make friends and have a taste of what the other birds were eating (....much to their dismay).  Being a much bigger bird, he could gobble up huge amounts of food in no time, leaving them with crumbs.  A few days later we caught a brief glimpse of his female friend.  We were surprised at how tame, unafraid, self-assured and intelligent Buffy was, you would think he had spent his life amongst people, but we had never seen these birds before in the region.  Buffy loved digging into the pots and pulling the plants out (...much to my dismay). Not being a great gardener at the best of times, I started to call him Buffy The Pot Plant Slayer.  Our friend and neighbour really liked Buffy and enticed him to her verandah for snacks (...much to all my birds' relief). Buffy is now quite contented to potter in the vegetable garden down hill and my potplants too are much safer now (...much to my relief).

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Previous Image 1/5 NextBrush TurkeysHere comes Buffy The Brush Turkey

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Crested Pigeons

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Previous Image 1/3 NextCrested PigeonsThrough the glass door

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Crows

Crows are surprisingly shy birds, despite their size and loud talk.  They can make a varitey of sounds and use their limited vocabulary quite imaginatively. 

Crows are interested and friendly and always show their gratitude. They are very intuitive birds and are quick at understanding one's words and intentions.

Crows love to communicate, negotiate and help people and birds. They are very responsive birds and quite often let the smaller birds boss them around.  We have many stories to share with our readers.

Previous Image 1/4 NextCrowsA quick look around

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Currawongs

Currawongs tend to lead nomadic lives.  They are very good at hiding in the dark shadows in a tree and are hard to spot, even though you have seen them go in and know exactly where to look.  They are big and sneaky looking birds, but actually quite shy and surprisingly timid.  Even juvenile magpies and pied-butcherbirds can boss them around quite easily.  All our youngsters of both species, (especially Dimpy  the pied-butcherbird), have delighted in bossing  the currawongs. This is a picture of Karitu (left), who grew up in our yard. Karivon his twin looks very identical.

    On their annual migration to the South a big flock of White Cockatoos fly over our region each year. They like to stop in the trees for a rest. The Currawongs get most upset on seeing them. This is one time when they all come out of hiding and collectively chase the cockatoos. Part of the currawong action is to "show and tell" the cockatoos that the trees are already occupied by them and so not available for the taking. I would love to see more of the cockatoos.  But they don’t get to spend much time in the trees on these occasions and the whole visit lasts for no more than twenty minutes.  From their interaction during this time, it appears as if the Cockatoos and Currawongs probably compete for the same  types of food in the bush and like to inhabit the same parts of the trees.

    Currawongs have such big beaks and can eat by the shovel load, given half a chance so I always ask them to wait till later. Most of the time they listen to us without any problems, and wait when we tell them to, so that the smaller birds get a chance to feed. The magpies and currawongs are good friends.

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Previous Image 1/5 NextCurrawongsQuite tall when they sit up straight

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Friarbirds

Friarbirds visit our yard in spring for a few weeks.  They have an unusual call which sounds like they are talking to you and saying 'What ya doin?" and they repeat it often as they sip the nectar in the grevillea bushes.  They also like the nectar in the lemon and orange blossoms.  The first year of our friendship with Maggie (magpie) I would often sit outside at the front of our yard in the mornings and chat with Maggie, while a pair of friarbirds would be busy drinking at the back.  One morning, one of the friar birds left the grevillea bush, perched himself on the roof and joined in our conversation.  So, there was me sitting on the chair, Maggie standing on the grass in front and the Friar on the roof having a three-way chit-chat.  We enjoyed our discourse for over a week before the friarbirds migrated to fruitier pastures.

The following year I noticed a very interesting interaction between the friarbirds and the noisy-miners.   A pair of friarbirds had been enjoying the grevillea flowers for several days.  A few other friarbirds had tried to join in, but had been chased away by the original pair.  This spring too the friarbirds had engaged in light chatter with Maggie and me.  A noisy-miner tried to join them in the grevillea bush and got severely admonished by the friarbirds.  The noisy-miner tried negotiating for over an hour.  There were plenty of flowers and it would not have been a prblem to let the smaller bird have a drink too, but the friarbirds were not prepared to share.  The miner bird seemed to give up and left. The next day, the same pattern repeated itself. This time however, the noisy-miner left briefly to return with a flock of three friends.  After much heated discussion, the friarbirds left.  The noisy-miners are also natives of Australia and are well-known for ganging up on other birds.  I was really sad to see the friarbirds unwillingness to share the shrub with others of their own species as well the miners.  I wonder if the outcome would have been different if they had been friendlier and more willing to cooperate with them instead.

Take a look at the slideshow below for a peek at the birds.

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Previous Image 1/4 NextFriarBird

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Galahs

Pretty in pink, Galahs are small cockatoos.  They love playing in the rain, swinging upside-down like acrobats and gymnasts from the most awkward spots.

They are quick to issue warning signals at the slightest hint of danger with their customary loud and screechy sqawks. Though they can boss the much bigger currawongs off the water bowl by the mere spread of their wings. 

On one occasion, I have seen a galah give chase to an eagle at a great height and over a long distance - a feat normally reserved for magpies. 

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Previous Image 1/5 NextGalahsLook at my beautiful wings

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Grey Butcherbirds

    This is a picture of Larry our beautiful grey-backed butcherbird. 

Grey butcherbirds are much smaller in size than their cousins the Pied-butcherbirds.  The two species do not share the same territory.

We first met Larry and his mate Harrie in July 2002.   Maggie our magpie had brought his new queen Vicky to the paddocks below the hills where they formed their new breeding territory.  Magpie territorial rules prevented Vicky from coming to our yard, so once or twice a week we used to trek across the fields to see her.  Larry and Harrie were Vicky's friends and would come with her to say 'hello'.

Both Larry and Harrie were very friendly from the start.  A few weeks later when the eggs in their nest hatched, they showed us their babies and loved us photographing them. One of their pictures is in the banner.  Five clutches of their kids have grown up and visit us from time to time.

These two birds have always been keen to demonstrate that food has never been one of their primary reasons for friendship. Often they take only the tiniest pieces of food, and each year they do not come to eat for several months.  Yet when a snake was approaching us, Larry, whom we had not seen for weeks, appeared from nowhere and attacked the snake! Such a remarkable bird.

Even when they don't eat in our yard, they love to call us when they get the chance and invite us to visit their nest.  And when we do, there is no mistaking their excitement at having us visit and their gratitude towards us for making the effort.

You can view a slideshow of these beautiful birds below:

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Previous Image 1/5 NextGrey ButcherbirdsSide view - showing the soft grey coloured wings

We will be sharing many stories about Larry, Harrie and their family.  To view a slideshow of one of the snakes click here.

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Grey-crowned Babblers

 Babblers are flock birds. They flit about enormously and are very hard to catch for even a second's stillness. I guess they rely on their constant movement to confuse any predators. When they saw me trying to photograph them, at first they were nervous. Then they liked the attention and actually stood still for half a second and I managed to get a few reasonable shots.

Visit the Feathery Tales section on this webiste to read about the babblers relationships with our dogs Scotty and Benny and also with the magpies and other birds.

The bablers are a close-knit family and the magpies help keep an eye on teir babies too.  Read about a babbler family rescue in the blogs and see a slideshow here.

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Previous Image 1/5 NextBabblersLet's take a peek through the branches

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Koels, Cuckoos and Coucals

  Popularly called storm birds, many species of cuckoos live around the region.  The birds themselves tend to be shy and elusive as they are not too popular amongst the birds due to their infamous breeding habits.  The crows have fallen victim more than once and yet lovingly raised several channel-billed cuckoos.  The experience has made them quite wary and they do tend to chase the cuckoos when they can.  But the cuckoo is a persistent bird and quite devious in its ways.  I've seen the male keep guard while the female checks out the nests of other birds.  I would have shooed them away except I knew the nest was empty.

The cuckoo birds around our yard are intrigued by the friendship other birds have with us and have been forthcoming in making friends with us too. The female koel (left) was hiding in the mulberry bush, hoping the crows would lose interest.  But when I spoke to her and asked her to come out for a shot, she shyly obliged.  Not only did she come out and pose for the camera, but stayed for a quite a while overcoming her nervousness and anxiety of humans and crows.   Her male friend (below) would hide in the tree and make his mating calls incessantly for weeks.  He needed more encouragement, but eventually did let me take some shots before finding a partner.

The Pheasant Coucal too couldn't resist posing for the camera for a few brief seconds.

Take a look at the slideshow below for a peek at the birds.

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Previous Image 1/8 NextKoel - maleHiding in the bushes - a good disguise

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Kookaburras

Kookaburras are the famous Aussie icon with their merry laughter echoing through the gum trees. When Maggie (magpie) was a youngster, he and a Kookaburra we called Kookie used to play a lot together in our yard.

I read in Australian Nature magazine that Kookaburras keep their young for four years. I also read somewhere that they make the laughing sounds when they are in the midst of territorial disputes. In my observations that certainly seems to be the case. Although there are many kookaburras around this part of the bush, they are mostly quiet and draw little attention to themselves. Once in a while, you see a flurry of activities and a group of them fly from one tree to another chasing another group or sit on the electric wires and sing their renowned laughter song.

Kookaburras are also well known for eating snakes; making the bush safer by keeping the snake numbers under control. The magpies and butcherbirds are fairly diligent in chasing the snakes out of our yard. If the snakes are resting in the trees, they keep a continuous guard on them and provide an alerting service for the rest of us, making sure that no one mistakenly goes near the snake. For this reason, I think that the kookaburras don’t get as much natural food in our yard as they do outside our fence, so we tend to see more of them in the trees just outside our yard, than within. 

They are well camouflaged in the gum trees as you will see in the pictures below and it can be quite hard to get the camera to get a clear focus because they blend so well with the dappled light through the trees.  Young Kookums has become more friendly  as a result of Wendy magpie's efforts and so Kookie too has allowed us to get a bit closer. 

Take a look at the slideshow below for a peek at the birds and click here for a close-up of Kookums.

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Previous Image 1/7 NextKookums and Kookie - new friends

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Magpies

Here is Maggie - our male mapgpie - standing on the post.

Contrary to public opinion Magpies are a very loving, generous, adaptive and communicative species.  Well known for their beautiful voices and loud carolling, they can also mimic a variety of other birds and sounds.  They are caring and dedicated parents being very protective of their young, whom they nurture lovingly.  Magpies potter on the ground, digging up worms and bugs just under the surface for food.  This means they need space for themselves and their young to teach them to feed themselves and survive.  During breeding season they are notorious for swooping on people in their attempts to clear some space for themselves.  This act has earned them their notorious reputations.  The species is protected in Australia, and if an offending magpie dad is removed, the  foster dad helps in the care and protection of the chicks.  Extremely intelligent, flexible and adaptive, magpies protect the smaller birds in the bush from predators and also mediate with the larger birds. Magpie dads take huge risks, placing themselves in great danger when they chase eagles to heights greater than the crows can climb, in their attempts to drive them away from the breeding zones of all the other birds.

We have learned an immense amount about the lives, loving hearts, relationships and services within the lives of birds from Maggie and his family.  This website is dedicated to improving the understanding between birds and humans because of the extraordinary capabilities of this bird and his species.  As you can see, we are avid fans and ardent admirers and hope to influence many.

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Previous Image 1/5 NextMagpiesAn artistic take-off

To read about the birds and see a slidehsow of the birds chasing snakes click here.   To read the story and view video of the birds chasing eagles click here.

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Noisy Miners

Minnie was the first Noisy Miner to initiate a conversation with us. Noisy Miners are one of the commonest flock birds in eastern Australia. Some folks call them 'mickey birds'.  We call ours 'Minnie birds' as umpteen generations of Minnie's kids have grown up in our yard and delighted us with their play, song and interaction with the magpies, butcherbirds and others. 

People have mixed reactions to these birds as they are known for ganging up on smaller birds and pushing them out of an area.  Scientists in Victoria conducted a study where  they removed these birds from a eucalypt forest area, in their attempts to give the other birds a chance to thrive.  To their amazement , they discovered that the gum trees began to die from insects that would have normally been kept under control by the presence of these birds.

In our experience, these birds are friendly, quick to form partnerships and provide services to other birds. They would accompany our dogs on walks long before they formed a named friendship with us. We have many stories of their activities with other birds and ourselves.

Previous Image 1/5 NextNoisy MinersUnique patterns on the back

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Peewees (Magpie-lark)

Magpie-larks are more commonly called Peewees and from a distance can be mistaken for butcherbirds.  But they are part of the 'black and white' Monarchs.  They can be quite endearing until  they notice their reflection in the glass, and from then on attacking the 'intruder' becomes an obsession and they incessantly crash into the glass windows or doors of the house or car.  Quite dangerous for them and annoying for us. 
Their relationships with the other birds varies.  The noisy-miners and butcherbirds are quite happy to chase them away.  Juvenile magpies will chase them occasionally, but as they grow older, they seem not to and things turn around. We've seen the peewees repeatedly attack Maggie leaving scars and even blood on his head without provoking a reaction from him.  There seems to be a sense that the magpies being bigger and stronger birds must not react aggressively towards the smaller birds.  But Maggie has chased them out of  his nesting tree during  breeding season.  I've also heard anecdotes of the peewees' nests being broken by other birds. Life is not easy in the bush for any of the birds.

One of our readers, Annette, invited Ron to take some photoggraphs of a peewee nest opposite her office window and we were lucky to get some good shots through the looking glass. Thank you Annette for giving us this opportunity.

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Previous Image 1/8 NextPeeweeCan you see my babies?

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Pied Butcherbirds

Magnificent songsters, Pied-butcherbirds are common through most of Australia.  Butch and Cass came into our yard by invitation in June 2002. Little did we know of the joys and rewards that followed, when when their kids began appearing the following year. 

Their chicks are the cutest, sweetest bundles of delight, from their earliest days in their nest. Four sets of butcherbirds babies have enthralled us with their playful activities, beautiful songs, friendliness towards other species, cheekiness towards the bigger birds and vigilance towards protecting us from snakes.

Here you can see Butch and Cass with one year old Dimpy.  We have many stories and slideshows to regale our readers about our butcherbird families.

To see a slideshow of one of the snakes click here.

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Previous Image 1/5 NextPied ButcherbirdsOne year old Dimpy with the first black dot on his bib

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Rainbow Lorikeets

Rainbow lorikeets are such brightly coloured birds, but when they decide to hide amongst the gum leaves they can be really hard to spot.

On a cold winter morning we stopped and talked to this pretty bird.  Not only did he come out and show himself, he also showed us his mate and their baby. 

A few days later we heard some bird call out to us from inside the cape honeysuckle bush.  A couple of heads stuck out of the orange flowers and we discovered the rainbow lorikeets.  The orange band round their necks, their purple heads, along with the dark bands on their abdomens and their green backs give them the perfect camouflage when they go rummaging amongst the flowers and fruits of the gum trees.

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Previous Image 1/6 NextRainbow LorikeetWho are those two humans down there?

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Rosellas

Eastern 'Pale-headed' Rosellas live in the gum trees.   Some of them call out to us while flying overhead. At other times, one of them has perched on a branch nearby and talked to us.

They love to stop for a drink but have consistently ignored seed bells placed in the trees for them.  This year was an exception and two of them decided to join the crested pigeons for a feed on the lawn.  Being very shy birds, they would fly off at the slightest hint of movement anywhere near.  After watching us photograph the other birds in our yard  (such as the noisy miners, butcherbirds and magpies), they decided we could be trusted after all.  To our delight they descended from the trees and actually posed for some shots.

View the slideshow below to see them having fun.

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Previous Image 1/7 NextRosellasI think it's safe to come out of hiding in the trees

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Rufous Fantail

A pair of Rufous Fantails flew all the way from some shrubs across the open car park and stopped right in front of Ron one morning.  They twittered, saying hello, spent a few more moments with him before returning from whence they came.

Small and vulnerable though they are, they pay more attention to their environment and fellow neighbours than we tend to credit.  This was yet another wonderful experience with a tiny bird, who make it a point to come out of hiding and talk to Ron in particular.

A few days later, I spotted a Mummy Rufous feeding her bubs in the nest, cleverly built on the waterpipes in a shopping centre carpark.  We returned with camera and were amazed to discover that there was an even tinier chick behind that tall feather.

Close cousins of the Willie Wagtails, the Rufous prefer wetter and greener habitats.

Take a look at the slideshow below for a peek at the birds.

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Previous Image 1/13 NextRufus

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Scaly-breasted Lorikeets

These lorikeets called out to say 'hello' as they flew overhead. Once in the bush, they hopped continuously from flower to flower, moving and bending in and around droopy branches, perfectly camouflaged amongst the green leaves and orange petals while sipping nectar.  They did hang around for me to go indoors get the camera and catch them at their favourite activity. Showing no nervousness towards any of my movements or the opening and shutting of doors, they sensed that they were the centre of attention of the big eye of the camera and made an effort to pose  on the outer branches, without losing a moment's drink.

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Previous Image 1/7 NextScaly-breasted LorikeetsCan you tell my beak from petals?

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Striated Pardalote

This bird is a special friend.  From tip of the beak to the end of the tail the bird is no more than 11 cms long.  Don't let this picture fool you, it has been magnified heaps.

Ron first noticed these tiny birds when they called out to him from the tree behind our house.  They would sing out merrily every time they saw him near the back gate.  We tried to encourage them to visit more often, but the birds were not interested in anything we had to offer.  They just wanted to tell us that they too were our friends.

Then a few weeks later a most remarkable incident took place.  Ron was levelling a big ditch for a water tank.  The hole was few metres deep and Ron was busy shovelling the extra earth over the edge, working as fast as he could.  This bird flew over and sat right at the corner of the ditch, close to where the soil was landing and sang to Ron, completely unperturbed by Ron's movement or the soil flying in his direction.  He sang sweetly and determinedly.  He wanted to say something and was quite certain that he was in the company of a friend.  When I went out to see if Ron wanted a drink and saw the bird, I ran back in to get the video.  The bird continued to sing to both of us, while I handed Ron the video-cam and he shot some film from the ditch (using the analog video camera).  I decided to get the camera as well, and when I returned the bird decided to sit on the post. The sun was behind him and the first couple of shots did not focus too well.  One of the noisy-miners, seeing the camera wanted to pose as well, and I only managed to get one reasonable shot before the litlle bird returned to the tree and disappeared amongst the leaves.  I was quite annoyed with Minnie as the bird would have stayed longer.  All in all the bird must have spent at least half an hour with Ron, singing for most of that time. 

There was no doubt in our minds that the bird wanted to use the opportunity to introduce himself and show us that they had noticed our friendship with the bigger birds.  They too wanted to be friends, even though they didn't eat in our yard or visit often.  Their size or distance did not mean that they were not observant or interested or indifferent to the relationship between the birds and us that had been developing in front of them. We got his message, their species might be small, too small to be seen from the distance, but they were very aware and conscious of the going-ons and wanted us to know that they knew and cared.

We looked at the full photo and thought the bird was a scrubwren and all these years that's what I'd been calling them.  The bird is so small in the standard size photo that it could not be put up usefully.  So, I cropped and magnified it.  In order to compenesate for the shadow, I increased the brightness.  At the start of writing this story, I decided to go back to the bird book and recheck the fine details. Brightening the picture had now highlighted the yellow streaks and I quickly realised that the bird did not quite resemble a scrubwren. A few flicks of the pages and it clearly matches a Striated (Black-headed) Pardalote.

I broke the news to Ron when he got home and he instantly replied, that this is the species that builds its nest under the nest of a magpie (according to Prof Gisela Kaplan's book on Australian Magpies, p50). The bird's desire to connect with us made complete sense once we realised this.

Pardalotes have a partnership with the magpies, in many parts of the country.  The Magpies build their nest a little deeper, giving these birds room to have their nest inside one of the hollows of the bigger twigs that form the magpie nest.  The magpies don't mind the birds going in and out, looking after their chicks.  These chicks would be no bigger than the worms and bugs that the magpies eat for food, but they are safe from their predators, while they are close to the magpies.

Being such close friends of the magpies, they felt it was appropriate to introduce themselves to the magpies' human friends. The assuredness, determination and confidence with which this little bird had left the shelter of the trees, as well as the safety of his flock and single-mindedly demonstrated his desire to communicate, his sense of identity and passion to contribute, is an action that is born out of love and an innate sense of knowing. We are so grateful for his gift.

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A special Friend

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Thornbills

Thornbills or Yellow-bottoms as they are fondly called are no more than 10 cms long.  But their hearts and their awareness can match any human.  One morning, we walked into a freshly turned paddock trying to photograph a couple of peewees on the other side.  Our eyes caught some movement along the ground, almost like leaves rustling in the wind, except these had a slightly bumpier motion.  Looking closer we were delighted finally get to see some thornbills, lighly hopping amidst the new shoots.  In the photographs they are so tiny that one can hardly spot them!

Nevertheless, we thanked them for hanging around and letting us photograph them.  On our return from our walk, the flock flew out of the paddock and landed only a few feet in front of us.  They hopped along in the gravel in front of us till we were almost home, which in their terms was quite a long way from their home territory!  Their mottled-grey backs  providing the perfect camouflage. They had heard our 'thank you' and wanted us to know they too understood and appreciated the sentiment.

A few weeks later, we went out again at a different time of day.  We couldn't see any of the birds.  But on hearing our voice, one single thornbill, unprotected by the company of friends, came out into the open and sang for us.  The bird put himself/herself in such a vulnerable position to show us that we had been recognised and didn't want us to return disappointed.  The bird realised we cared and wanted to give us something in return.

Not even a bird as tiny as a thornbill is without love and understanding of things so much bigger than itself.  Just like the Striated Pardalote, they too wanted to use the opportunity to show their conscious awareness and incredible capacity for love and friendship.  These birds do not eat or drink in our yard.  They get nothing from us, but they recognised good will in an instant.

These photographs were taken almost a year later.  But the birds showed that they remembered us and one again came out sang.  Have a look at the slideshow and also close-ups below:

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Previous Image 1/12 Next

Close-ups:

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Willie-Wagtail

Willie-wagtails are very cute.  They flitter and flutter and never sit still with their tail wagging behind them.  According to some Australian bush legends they are great gossip-mongers (there's a story about that in Wild Bird Talking Issue 3).   Whether or not that's true, no one  can deny that these are very hard working birds.  The first to rise at the crack of dawn and the last to retire at night.  You can still see them catching a  last insect in the late hours of dusk, long after the other birds have settled for the night.

But they are shy birds and their visits to our yard have been few and far between.  Each time they flitter off after stopping by for mere seconds.  The thornbills surprisingly were bolder birds.  On one of our walks, they flew over from across the paddocks to say hello and walk with us.  A willie-wagtail who is much bigger had flown off.  Seeing them being quite at ease in our presence, he returned and said hello too.  But that is another story.

So, we were very priveleged indeed when we received a surprise visit by this bird.  Not only did he drop by, but he stopped long enough to let us photograph him in different poses.  Our challenge was to get a clear focus.  I have not yet learned to hear his message, but I do hope he gives us more opportunities to become friends.

Take a look at the slideshow below of his visit.

(click on the 'next' button to forward through the slides).
Previous Image 1/8 NextWillie Wagtail

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