aussiebirder

Yesterday my wife and I took a walk in our local Royal NP (the Nasho) after several weeks. It was a perfect Autumn day for a walk and thankfully our track, while many boggy water filled patches remained from previous rains, these areas were easily negotiable. Many of the birds we usually see and hear were not seen or heard, as this time of year many of the Whistlers and some other birds become quieter outside of the breeding season. While we could hear the call of a young Lewins Honeyeater, which is our territorial rainforest honeyeater, which followed us covertly along the track we mainly heard the sounds of many very small birds.

I managed the following footage of this honeyeater preening itself. Notice its brown plumage marking its immaturity and watch it move its bi-tubular tongue rapidly in and out of its beak. This is its means of sucking up nectar in a drinking straw like fashion. Most Honeyeaters have this specialized tongue, while Lorikeets flick the nectar into their mouths with their fat tongue.

Some of the flowers we saw out are as follows. Usually the Banksia ericifolia, Native Fuschia and the Mountain Devil provide some nectar for honeyeaters, which include the Yellow-faced and Scarlet which remain throughout the winter months, but which we did not see on this occasion but could hear.

As we walked along the track we saw several families with children enjoying the walk, and we were delighted to meet a mother and her young eight year old daughter who were both keen birders, toting a pair of binoculars each. We always delight in witnessing parents taking the time to seek out and introduce their children to our birds, rather than just walk down the track. The one bird that we saw and heard many times was the Brown Gerygone, (pronounced ‘Ger-ig-on-eee’)a small insectivorous fast moving, fast thinking timid bird, which always presents a challenge to novice photographers. While it looks similar to the Brown Thornbill, another fast moving bird I have shared on here, the distinct facial markings and its unique call “Ger-ig-on-ee” make it easy to identify. Listen carefully and you may hear the fast Ger-ig-on-ee call:

One little bird was capturing insects while hovering in flight.

Recent research into bird neurology has revealed that birds have much more heavily wired and compact brains which allow them to think and act much faster than we can, and have much more acute hearing and sight. They are constantly scanning 360 degrees for danger. Birds live very stressful lives, being always on guard for predation, which features highly in the life of small birds. While you are just sighting the bird, it has already seen you and worked out its escape route. Birds are great adapters and are able to solve many problems faster and more clever than us humans. So don’t let their size fool you as it did many so called naturalists many years ago who spoke foolishly having no basis at all for their foolish untested bird brain hypothesis.

As we walked along the river we saw this common sight of an Eastern Water Dragon sunning itself. These reptiles are great swimmers using their large tail to propel them through the water.

It is always a delight to see the Eastern Yellow Robin, our territorial rainforest robin which flies to the ground to feed and back to the tree. It is also known, along with the many Grey Fantail we saw along the track to follow us along the track hoping we will stir up insects behind in front of us and provide them food. This is my only flight shot of this robin, as it is one of the mot difficult birds to capture in flight due to its speed of departure.

Have a wonderful week and thank you to all of my caring blog followers for your prayers and well wishes during my recent illness, it is much appreciated. If this is your first visit to my blog and website, take s few minutes to check out the pages on birding and other interesting information from my Home Page.

Also, Help your children by introducing them into the wonders of Australia’s beautiful and amazing birds and at the same time teach them valuable life skills to assist them in making wise life choices for a happy and healthy life by purchasing one or both of my two books suitable fro all ages, with a reading age of 8 years to adult. A great Birthday or Christmas gift. You can purchase it here securely online.

One of the alarming facts that has come to my attention, is the death rate of many species of birds, particularly raptors incurred by the so called Wind Farms which generate clean carbon free electricity. Thousands of birds of many species are being killed each year by these machines. This is due to the fact that when birds fly, they are mostly survey the ground, and they generally do not need to look ahead as we do. Raptors and many small birds in particular fly in this way. The losses are substantial world wide as more of these wind machines are installed daily. It is estimated that some rare birds such as the Scottish Eagle may become extinct because of these machines. In a 5 year study in one Californian wind farm, 2,300 eagles were killed and over all California 12,300 raptors and 50,000 small birds met their demise. Multiply that by the number of wind farms now throughout the world. It is bad enough that we are destroying bird habitat and food and nesting sources, as well as filling in the wetlands and tidal flats for commercial purposes in Asian countries where the migratory waders feed on their travels, this is just another which along with rats, foxes, humans, dogs and ferule cats (which can kill over 40 a night) and domestic cats (which kill around 40 a year) extinction of many species per month is not that far away. As entomologists have already stated, if we loose our birds we loose our forests and many of our food producing plants and we will be utterly overtaken by insects, as birds alone keep them at bay for us, as most birds eat large numbers per day. Is this is just the beginning of the end ? We were put on this earth to care for it and be God’s representatives, reflecting his own loving caring character, but our selfish sinful natures have gotten in the way and greed and self interest have made it easy to get this all out of balance. While the history of this world does not end well, as opposed to the many who are deceived into thinking humankind and this world is actually evolving into something better, with the hope that a Global World Order will fix our problems, and the eradication of Christianity, they are sadly deceived, for Jesus Christ offers much hope and restoration of that which is broken and diseased in our world, with the hope of a better life and better world to come when this one eventually is terminated.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ” – Genesis 2:15-17

“ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” – Romans 8:19-21 (NIV)

““See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
 and its people a joy.  I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” – Isaiah 65:17-19 (NIV)

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Revelation 21:1-4

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good.  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. “ – 2 Timothy 3: 1-5

“Since the children [all of us humans] have flesh and blood, he [Jesus God’s Son] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—  and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15

“Now this is eternal life: that they know [love and trust] you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” – John 17:3

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