Thread: Post your birdlife shots

We have had a Major Mitchell Cockatoo hanging out with the Galahs and eating grass seeds across the road from my house the last few weeks in suburban Sydney. My daughter reported it to me and I thought it may have been a Galah Sulfur Crested cross (I've seen these before) but once a saw it I recognised it. It is a long way out of it's range so it may be an escapee. I'll try and get some photos using the camera instead of the phone this week.

Originally Posted by 101RRS

I put a little house for my local Rosellas to stop them chewing on the wood under my eaves - didn't work but they like the house. Not sure if they are actually nesting in the box but they visit it a lot and go inside.

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Garry

Its been raining for a week and I have not seen the Rosellas so I decided to risk having a look in the box.

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Nut sure if it is one or two chicks but by the size obviously hatched a while ago. I wonder if the eggs that are visible are left over from the original laying or are a subsequent laying. With all the rain I have not seen the parents where I was seeing them all the time before, so I hope they have not abandoned the nest and the chicks.

Even though the nest box is made of marine ply and painted with linseed oil on the outside I need to look at water proofing - the access hatch is in the top so maybe sealing just the top will work. Definitely do not want to use paint.

We're moving house to just 200 metres up the road, downsizing to a 'house block', and it's amazing the difference in the bird life between the two properties. The King Parrots have got it all worked out though, they know when they're onto a good thing and actually follow us, but birds we've never seen before are common 'up here'. Currawongs, Wattle Birds and these little New Holland Honeyeaters for a start. I'm going to miss the Butcher Birds though, we've had a family living 'down the back' for the last 40 years or so and they're really part of the family.






New Holland Honeyeater



Deano & Kaye

So checking the nest box I find I have got three chicks and a couple of dead eggs.

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Last week I woke up to all the birds in the neighbour hood squawking and carrying on - the reason was the Currawongs were arriving en mass from the ranges to look for new born chicks to eat - they do this every year and the other birds know what the Currawongs are likely to be up too - hence all the commotion.

My neighbour has Wattle Birds nesting in his shrubs and the Currawongs were in there trying to steal the chicks so the neighbour starting shooting the Currawongs with his shanghai with quite a few hits saving a few Wattle Bird chicks- dont kill the Currawongs but them being an intelligent bird they soon learn to stay clear after they have been hit with some shot.

I have been watching if the Currawongs have made any move against my chicks but they stay silent unless you open the box and the box is probably too deep for the Currawongs to get at the chicks.

Pic of a Currawong

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Not really a bird pic, but,sort of.With our youngest granddaughter,Lettie.

This Maggie,as its called, the dog found on the ground, under a tree, at the local park.There was a nest way up in the tree.We put it back in the tree, but half an hour later it was on the ground again,just a ball of fluff,couldnt even stand up properly.So we took it home and rang a couple of carers, they couldnt take it as they were too busy.

So my son and his partner fed it that night with a mixture they made up,found out what to do on a Magpie site on google, used a heat lamp with an electronic controller to keep it warm overnight.Next day it didn't look good. I told them to force feed it, which is what they did, as we had done to young birds when we were kids.
By lunch time that day, it had chirped up and was calling for food, and has continued to get stronger and grow.It is now the boss at their place, and has just started to get interested in insects, worms,etc.
They live on 2 acres in a rural area hopefully it will eventually look after itself.

A couple of Tawny Frogmouths have raised two chicks in this nest for at least the last four years.
This was one of the two chicks yesterday afternoon.

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Originally Posted by vnx205

A couple of Tawny Frogmouths have raised two chicks in this nest for at least the last four years.
This was one of the two chicks yesterday afternoon.

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The son has them at his place as well, about the same age.
The nest is a long way up,in the fork of a tree, similar to your pic, least 20 to 25M.

Every year there are three chicks,one gets thrown out of the nest,when very young, and two survive.
We thought this year,as it has been quite wet,and there would be quite a lot of food for them all, the three would survive, but not so.

Kookaburras do the same at our place, one or sometimes two of the young are thrown out the nest when very young.

It seems the chicks have pushed Mum and Dad out of the nest.
This morning the chicks were about a metre from the nest on the same branch while both parents were in another tree a few metres away.
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