Pied Butcherbird

The birds and wildlife have had a wonderful summer this year, inf act the best in over a decade.  New wildgrasses have sprung up covering the hillsides due to the extended rains and are providing plenty of food and shelter this season in contrast to years of dry, burnt summers.   Check out the pics below to see what they have been doing.

(click on the 'next' button to forward through the slides).

Previous Slide 1/36 Next Willie and Nellie learning to sing against the cloudy skies Lush green grasses fill the paddocks The eagles are a hunting up above while Rainbow lorikeets are sorting out territorial boundaries below The babblers have moved in having negotiated their rights The wallabies are enjoying the rich pickings along with Bertie Vicky Mindy and Kenny Billy's family is happy too Larry and Harrie are singing to glory The Crested pigeons are thrilled to boots Maggie's son Monty has found new friends Kenny wants to get up close and personal Gabriel Tuks joined the bat creche and returned to the colony Charlie Girl is fully recovered and adores Pete Jack is much happier now he can fly further Wallabies relax in the shade at the Long Grass Wildlife Refuge Jack adores Gabi Wild grasses spring up along the roadside the whole valley is green - for a few weeks at least One eyed Curly the currawong is looking healthy and well Gumnuts are a plentiful Butterflies delight Billy's brood is growing up Frieda is all black and white but still as friendly as ever Noisy miner is planning another clutch 2 eggs in here while the nest is being fortified wild grasses abound filling the bushy landscape to the joy of the birds and animals The galahs are keen to show their nest and pose for the camera The peewee too wants to be seen  read more »

            Pied-butcherbirds chicks are usually born in early December.  Peter Gregory rescued a pair of chicks and had to work hard to rescue them, but found it was well worth the rewards of his Christmas gift. Here's his story.

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Last week we lost two of our pied butcherbird friends. Gerry started getting sick first, with what looked like the same problem we successfully cures his relative Butch from last year. His eyes crusted up and it became hard for him to see. Unlike Butch though, Gerry wasn't at all interested in getting caught and taken to the vet etc. So we had to feed him antibiotic-soaked bread as the only way to get some medicine in him. read more »

I told you about the conference the pied butcherbirds held on our mulberry tree. Since then, we have not seen Gerry's parents Freddy and Terry. Remember, Gerry is their nine months old bub. Gerry has been holding the main butcherbird territory all by himself every since. Two of the five of the newcomer birds think they have the right to live there with Gerry, and they have had a few arguments about who is allowed to take food where. read more »

I went outside this morning to say hello to Gerry, our local pied butcherbird juvenile, only to find that on the mulberry tree were Gerry and four adults. Gerry's family only has two adults.

What's up? The other week the intruder group of pied butcherbirds had made a sortie or two over our place and got Freddy, Terry, and Gerry all stirred up, but this time there didn't seem to be any conflict going on at all. read more »

Teddy and Tommy were one year's kids from our darling Butch and Cas pied butcherbird family. You may remember Butch got sick and we had to take her to the vet for treatment, and after she recovered, B&C left one of their eldest kids, Freddy, in their territory and 'went on a world cruise' - that is, they left the hard work of raising another family to their son Freddy. read more »

Georgie Magpie has not returned. The day we last saw her, we were getting some help from a friend doing home renovations, so we couldn't pay as much attention as usual, and our magpies would have been wary of the presence of other humans, so it may be they were trying to tell us where Georgie was going but we weren't listening. read more »

Our pied butcherbirds Freddy and Terry had a baby (Jerry) this season. He's a few months old now, but three days ago he disappeared. For such a young bird, the first concern when that happens is: has something bad happened to Jerry?

So soon after our beautiful Maggie's passing, we were naturally very worried and sad that Jerry had vanished. But today, three days after he vanished, there he was with mum and dad on the washing line in the back yard. So where was he? read more »

Both Larry and Harrie grey butcherbirds and Freddy and Terry pied butcherbirds have brought their new chicks to see us this week. Larry came first with the noisiest bub this season, easily out-squarking all the magpie bubs, which takes some doing, because the grey butcherbirds are so very much smaller than the magpies. read more »

Happy New Year to all! I've been a bit slack posting during December, partly because of all the diversions and partly due to having to chase after problems with our hosting service, which took a lot of time. read more »