aussiebirder

We are back visiting Wagga Wagga again in the south west of our state, where we were caring for my wife’s sister in recovery from recent surgery. First impressions around the usually green grassed lake area under the river gums, were dry dying grasses and a lake that was slowly receding. Our last visit in late November saw a very full lake surrounded by reeds and lush grasses, habitated by many water and tree birds, but this is not the case now in the hot dry Summer of the west.

There are always plenty of the territorial locals, especially the Australian Magpie families calling to one another in their beautiful uniquely Magpie, dual tones. As you can see from our feature photo with junior in tow. The juvenile seen below is brown and will eventually, during the next moult, begin showing the pied feathers of maturity and by the second year start looking more immature than juvenile.

As I have shared previously, the Australian Magpie is uniquely blessed with a dual syrinx. This enables it to call with two blending notes at the same time. Listen carefully and you will hear why these unique birds make such a beautiful sound, which is known here as carolling when they declare their territory.

As I walked around the lake early morning before the heat of day, I noticed these Red-rumped Parrot feeding off seed from a small bush by the lake. The male is beautiful turquoise blue/green with a distinct red rump, and the female a pale green brown with a distinct green rump. These birds are numerous on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, and look stunning as they catch the morning sun rays. This bird is distinctly different from the Turquoise Parrot.

These birds nest in tree holes in the River Gums and spend most of their time grazing on grass seed on the ground, often being unseen by those walking bye and then flying off suddenly in a flash of color, to the surprise of both human and bird. Click on photo to enlarge it.

The reedy banks of the wetland area of the lake have an abundance of Australasian Swamphen which have bred well this Spring/Summer. Here one displays how they remove and eat the woody end of the water weed, quite capably with the aid of their large feet.

Under the trees in the shade stood a small flock of about 20 Masked Lapwing. These Plovers are quite amusing in their behaviour. On the approach of anyone, the entire flock flies off and does a circuit over the lake as they loudly call, and then return to the sane area.

As you can see they all stand motionless at a distance from one another, as if all standing watch, displaying their extreme territorial nature which they are known and hated for, as in a similar way to the notorious Magpie swoop, they do likewise when nesting.

You will see below that their are many this season’s juveniles among them. You can also see the so called yellow mask.

It was sad we did not see any Woodswallows and Yellow Rosellas on this visit, but we did get a special bird which we never see east of the Range, the Yellow-billed Spoonbill. We always seem to only see one lone bird when we do see them, unlike their cousin the Royal Spoonbill found near us, which is a flock bird. It was resting standing high above the lake on a dead tree along side an Australian White Ibis.

Also resting on dead trees nearby was a flock of Great Cormorants with an Australasian Darter at the top, and on a log below this was a second Australasian Darter also resting from a busy morning fishing.

Also nearby at the top of another dead tree in the lake was this beautiful Little Egret. These smaller Egrets have the long dark legs and the one below has the fine wispy breeding plumage on head and back and with a distinctive pale yellow/salmon/orange lores.

Its cousin the more stocky short legged Eastern Cattle Egret has been roosting at the top of these eucalypt trees on the other side of the lake. If you look carefully, you will notice that two of the Egret have the remains of their classic bright orange breeding plumage, as these birds nest in late Spring and Summer.

While I was by the lake viewing the above birds I heard this very strange whining sound. Finally I realised that this young Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was winging to its parent who was trying to ignore its cries. Occasionally the parent would pretend to feed it in the hope of silencing it, but to no avail.

Welcome ! if this is your first visit to my blog and website. Explore my website via my Home Page to find out more about birding, learn great tips and how it can improve and maintain your health.

Have a great week and stay cool as best you can. It is heatwave conditions today here as I write this post. I just witnessed a juvenile Grey Butcherbird trying to enter our house suffering heat stress, but went up the tree near the birdbaths on my approach. The birdbaths will be busy this afternoon giving relief of thirst and heat, since immovable feathers cover their bodies, which keep their body heat in.

What Birds Teach Us – is a beautiful introduction to Australia’s most popular birds and what we can learn about them as well as from them. This book is specially designed for the Primary School child from ages 8 to 12. It is designed to equip and empower the reader with helpful skills that will assist them in making wise life choice . Click the image beside to find out more.

These last weeks I have been challenged with the need for mentoring young people in the community, in schools and churches. In particular those who are struggling, and are suffering the consequences of dysfunctional family of origin environments. These youngsters need much encouragement and words of hope spoken into their lives to break the destructive negative self talk which produces low self value which many experience partly as a result of poor parenting and cruel peers.

I have a rather different finish to my post this week. I’ve been going back through some of my earlier history in the many songs I wrote in my more vibrant and passionate earlier years, and this one recorded with The Encourages caught my ear. This is the original test recording. I apologise for my unusual voice, but hope that the message will come through regardless.

Opportunities to speak positively into the lives of the people that we meet each day, not only encourages and blesses the receiver but also the encourager. My experience has shown that speaking positive words which recognise the good traits in children who are disruptive or difficult, and coming alongside them with genuine interest, asking their help and involvement often brings positive response and the seeds of change in the life of the child. Children see the world differently to adults, and often experience fear, anxiety and stress confronting people, experiences and places with which they are unfamiliar or insecure with. This requires much understanding and quiet calm controlled compassion and a desire to place ourselves in their shoes to seek to understand something of what they are experiencing emotionally.

My second book Flight of a Fledgling deals with the aspects of child raising and how to encourage loving behaviour. It also compares the two different forms of parenting: the judgmental/performance based/dysfunctional (discouraging) form with that of the loving/gracious/encouraging form of parenting. Click on an image below to find out more about this book and how to purchase it. If you would like to find out more about us click here. All my links will open in a new page so you can always return to the post.

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Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

To introduce people to our unique Australian birds,

And learn from them how to live a healthy and happy life.

NOTE: All photos, videos and music used on this website are photographed, composed, performed  by the site owner and remains his copyrighted property, unless otherwise stated. The use of any material that is not original material of the site owner is duly acknowledged as such. © W. A. Hewson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.