In the early 70’s, when we lived in Naremburn, Joost Brouwer gave us a Galah to look after. Very entertaining, but not a bird we would keep in a cage today… One day he flew away, preferring freedom over the daily newspaper…
This month, spurred on by distant cousin, @linlovesart, we’ll be doing a social media post every day about birds. First a bit of history with this photo, taken on the Gold Coast a few years back…
Well, that got April Fools out of the way and we can continue with daily posts about Blaxland Birds. No doubt, we’ll get back to Rainbow Parakeets along the way….
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…
* Blaxland Birds list
Elsewhere about this bird:
* Wikipedia
* ebird
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.
* Blaxland Birds list
More info elsewhere:
* Wikipedia
* ebird
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.
More Whipbird entries:
* Whip…
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere about this bird:
* 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…
* Blaxland Birds List
More about this bird:
* 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 Noisy Miner entries:
* Five Miners Having a Drink
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere about this bird:
* 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 Bronzewing entries :
* Drinks Hierarchy
* Taking Turns
* Three is a Crowd
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere about this bird:
* 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 Wattlebird entries:
* At the birdbath
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds Listing
Elsewhere about this bird:
* 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…
More Crimson Rosella entries:
* Colour Contrast
Other birds
* Blaxland Birds List
Elsewhere about this bird:
* Wikipedia
* Rosella (the brand)
