Quack, Tweet, Squawk.. click!

[OmicronPersei8]

The other birds clearly avoided that island until they sensed the weirdos impending death

[Majiffy]

Originally Posted by OmicronPersei8

The other birds clearly avoided that island until they sensed the weirdos impending death

explains our low user count

[MSG]

I for one welcome our Sturnus vulgaris overlords



https://www.inverse.com/amp/article/...mpression=true

[nostrum]

oily poop

[borealis]

I try to hate them, because they are responsible in part for the decline of barn swallows, but they are very pretty birds in breeding plumage.

[MSG]

random photo of a common bird

[MSG]

very hard to photograph

[borealis]

Bucket list: birdwatching tour of Australia.

That first pic is so perfect, every flight feather beautifully displayed.

[MSG]

Originally Posted by borealis

Bucket list: birdwatching tour of Australia.

That first pic is so perfect, every flight feather beautifully displayed.

stop 1: literally 10 minutes from Nøyfb Airport

[spruce]

It's like a fowl rainbow.

[MSG]

[borealis]

Mama Merganser and her 76 ducklings.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/...-76-ducklings

Brent Cizek, photographer

[MSG]

following on from the crimson rosella and galah photos from a few weeks back is this beauty

[MSG]

you may remember this bird as Longhair75's character in Bustards of the Bush Mafia

Originally Posted by MSG

Longhair75 has been lynched. Well, basically his neck has been wrung because it's hard to hang a parrot that can fly.

Longhair75 was a Regent parrot -

... and was town.

OmicronPersei8 is your mayor.

Daybreak in 11 hours and 35 minutes.

it's a favourite of mine because it roosts and breeds in hollows of river red gums, but feeds in Mallee bushland. it's a threatened species because land clearing near rivers such as the Murray means there are fewer tree-covered flyways where it can get from the red gum forests to the Mallee. eta and fewer hollow trees to nest in

[MSG]

you may also remember my posting about another bird with a similar name: the regent honeyeater

Originally Posted by MSG

I dreamed I saw a Regent honeyeater (one of our most critically endangered birds) a metre from my face while riding in a car through suburban Nøyfb. I was about to post the sighting on a birding website when I found myself unsure if I had really seen it or if I had drifted off and dreamed it. Then I woke up.


Regent Honeyeater - Photo: Chris Tzaros

Australia also has a third bird, the regent bowerbird

the historical quirk that leads to 3 birds of different families having the same name is that all were named for the Regency period (1795-1837) which overlaps the early years of European settlement of this continent. After George III (you Americans remember him) was ruled mentally unfit to reign, his son, the future George IV, ruled as the Prince Regent, and was known to particularly love the colours gold and black.

Hence all three birds are named "Regent" for the vibrant gold and black plumage they share.

[borealis]

They're all beautiful - though the bowerbird looks a bit intense.

[MSG]

ya think?


Back in the 70s we had a family holiday in Queensland and visited a place called O'Reillys in the Gold Coast hinterland where you could hand-feed literally hundreds of those crimson rosellas. Then a regent bowerbird flew down and fed from my Mum's hand and she could practically have floated off the mountain.

[Timewave]

The family tells stories, back in the day, of getting to O'Reilly's and breaking down.
It was such a long intense trip from north Brisbane. Had to phone other family members to come up to rescue.
It was a good six pack trip or more back then.

[MSG]

you wouldn't get much change out of 3 hours now I wouldn't think

[MSG]

-

[borealis]

Secretary bird, no mascara needed.

[MSG]

Originally Posted by MSG

By the way we found 5 active nests out of 96 malleefowl nest sites in our Bronzewing monitoring site. We would typically find 16 or more being used as breeding sites before the January 2014 fire, but we have had 2, 2, 3 and now 5 since.

So it looks like the dry winter has meant less breeding activity. Only 2 active mounds in Bronzewing this year. Also while the revival of the bush continues, fewer wildflowers than would be usual at the height of Spring.

I shrank the photos down this year before uploading them so I hope that helps Majiffy's download limit

Wildflowers:

[MSG]

Regrowth:

[MSG]

I even thought nest 54 might have been abandoned because the scratching didn't look fresh.


So we revisited a day later, and there was no doubt. Not only had he half-dug the nest out that morning, he was hanging around and grunting at us to rack off and leave him alone.


So that's 5 consecutive years of active breeding since the reserve was decimated in the fire of January 2014. Cheers buddy, see you in 2019.

[borealis]

Lovely, MSG. Those little blue ones look like blue-eyed grass transposed to bush form.

Sorry to hear there are fewer nest mounds.