Last but not least in Linda’s series of Australian bird drawings, an Australian icon. We see them often on our washing line, spying for a worm or other delicacy. The Kookaburra’s call is iconic and hard to miss. They don’t come for a drink, so I haven’t captured one on the camera yet…
Linda has set us a challenge today by posting this beautiful rendering of that tiny bird. Never seen one “in the flesh” but I think I heard one the other day. I thought it was a Bellbird at the time, but checking its call on ebird just now, it probably was one of these cute little creatures.
Another lovely rendition of one of “our” birds by Linda. I keep encouraging her to add audio to her art, to no avail.
We hear them more often then we see them.
Here about this bird:
* Whip…
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere about the Whipbird:
* Australian Museum
* Calls
Linda has drawn one of our favourites, the Galah. We don’t see many around Blaxland, presumably because of the dominance of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos…
Our dirty little secret is that, we had one at home as a companion when we lived in the City . Mind you, their voice is pretty loud when it competes with the TV … Anyway, we accidentally left the front door open and it deserted us! When we moved to Blaxland, we learnt to enjoy birds in the bush, except for the cockatiel which turned up one day…
Other Birds:
* Blaxland Birds List
More about the Galah:
* Wikipedia
Ahhh…. the Noisy Miner. An absolutely lovely rendering by Linda! While we love all birds, they’re a bit of a pest, really… Never by themselves, always mucking around. I think they’re probably the reason we don’t see the Indian Minah (earlier Linda subject) around our place.
More about the Miner:
* Five Miners Having a Drink
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere:
* Australian Museum
* Calls (Youtube)
Linda‘s lovely drawing doesn’t really show the reason why it’s called a Bronzewing… Have a look under its wings on the video below. They are regular visitors to our water bowl as they need lots of drinks, particularly during summer.
More about the Bronzewing :
* Drinks Hierarchy
* Taking Turns
* Three is a Crowd
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere:
* Wikipedia Entry.
The Wattlebird is of our favourites and regular visitor when the gum trees are flowering, It is named after the wattle (earlobe) not the wattle (popular flowering tree). Linda has again done a lovely job with this drawing.
It has a very distinctive call:
More about the Wattlebird:
* At the birdbath
* Blaxland Birds Listing
Elsewhere:
* Wikipedia Entry
* Red Wattlebird Call
They are a pretty common sight around our place. I still need to add a “water bowl” video , but a still photo is here. Mind you, Linda, when you mention Rosella around here, some people still associate it with tomato sauce…
The little Willie Wagtail was too big for one page in Linda’s sketch book. Or did she want to wag its tail?
This beautiful sketch by Linda can’t do justice to its real talent, the superb mimicry of the songs of its competitors. Turn the sound up and have a listen:
And yes, we’ve got them on video scratching around our “bird bath” . For far away readers, “wij hebben geen tuin” [ we don’t have a garden], but a national park :-). Anyway, video from behind our house:
My full Lyrebird post here or the boring details on wikipedia.
