aussiebirder

Taking another walk through our local park and meeting several birding couples was a great delight. It was great to see the male Powerful Owl with the remains of last night’s Possum prey. The male usually eats the head and keeps the body for the female and nestlings, finishing off any leftovers. Click on image to enlarge it.

It was great to see a small family flock of Royal Spoonbill had returned and were resting and preening between tides at the ponds. It always amazes me how they can preen effectively with such a large broad bill.

Later we visited our local National Park we know as the Nasho where we saw several species of nectar eating birds enjoying the currently flowering Banksia spinulosa known as Hairpin Banksia. This Banksia is characterised by fine needle-like leaves and a long flower head with hairpin-like petals. The three main honeyeaters seen in our more quiet autumn/winter forest are the Eastern Spinebill, Yellow-faced Honeyeater and the Scarlet Honeyeater. We watched this Eastern Spinebill from some distance feeding from the nectar rich Banksia flowers which is the main flowering nectar plant in this park during Autumn.

The Eastern Spinebill is one of the few honeyeaters that has the long curved beak capable of extracting nectar from long tubular flowers with ease. The only other current flowering plant, the small Bush Fuchsia, is an example.

It was unusual to find a Green Catbird in amongst the Banksia flower head also. This bird is not a nectar eater but a fruit eater, however it may, out of curiosity, being a very curious bird, have tried to copy the Spinebill as birds are clever and learn from observation. This bird usually only dwells in deep dark rainforest where it is well camouflaged and able to see you up close without seeing it. It is very shy of humans. It sounds like a cat but more of a large jungle cat due to its dual syrinx.

The other bird we saw was not a honeyeater but a White-throated Treecreeper which are very prevalent and noticeable this time of year. The fly to the bottom of the tree trunk and slowly walk up the trunk using its curved beak to extract insects and grubs from under the bark of the tree. As it ascends it usually makes its repetitive call. When it reaches the top of the tree it flies down to the base of another repeating the process.

Find out more about our various honeyeaters and what we can learn from them in my book “Flight of a Fledgling” click on image below to find out more.

Wise King Solomon in his words above, knew as the birds do, that nectar (honey) gives life and health, in a similar way to kind words. When we speak encouraging, positive and appreciative words to family, friends and even strangers, it promotes healthy emotions and a sense of affirmation and acceptance which all of us need to stay well. Kind words also assist in bringing health to our bodies, strengthening our immune system, lowering our blood pressure, destressing us and helping our body processes to function well.

It is more important for people in authority to show kindness to those under their care. Kind and gentle words spoken will always get much better results and achievement in work and relationship responses. So it is important to have a right heart attitude toward others. This comes from an attitude of gratitude and perpetual heart of peace and joy which Jesus brings through the indwelling Holy Spirit to those who put their trust in him. The Bible clearly defines the truth about our tongue and how our selfish unpredictable natures can defile us in James chapter 3 of the New Testament. A kind heart is also joyful, humble and peaceful.

When we speak kindly we reflect God’s kindness, especially that of the Lord Jesus when he walked our earth and was known for his kindness to everyone, including the sinners, lawbreakers and misfits that no one showed kindness toward. God sent Jesus to bring everyone who turns from their wrongdoing their selfish Godless life to accept his kindheartedness of forgiveness, grace and mercy toward them through faith in the life, death and resurrection his son Jesus. You can learn more of this in my Birder Sanctuary pages.

“In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. “ – 1 Peter 5:10

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud” – 1 Corinthians 13:4

“For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.” – 1 Peter 3:10 (NLT)

“Indeed we all make mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” – James 3:2

“And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” – Romans 12:8

<<< Back To Top of Page >>>

Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

Member of Birdlife Australia

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, 2025, 2026