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Tag: bird books

Australian birds 13

Joint Bird Mobbing Party – The Powerful Owls

Thankfully my wife and visiting grandson managed to have a walk in our local nature reserve on a day that rain was predicted, but unexpectedly turned out to be a beautiful sunny winter morning. On our walk we were told by other birders that our Powerful Owl was quite visible, so we quickly made our way to the nesting tree, […]

Australian birds 9

Hooks on Beaks – Intelligent Design III

Another interesting aspect to Intelligent Design in bird morphology is the appearance of hooks at end of particular species of birds and what they are used for. As is the case of meat eating raptors, which have a small hook on their upper mandible for tearing their prey into swallowable pieces because they lack teeth to chew their prey. You […]

Australian birds 8

The World’s Best Mimics – The Lyrebirds

Australia is blessed with some of the world’s best mimicry birds. Many of our endemic birds have the ability to mimic and understand the language of other bird species that share habitat in their territories. Should one visit the rainforests in the National Parks along the east coast of NSW and Victoria, Australia, they may be surprised to hear flowing […]

Australian birds 12

Purpose Built Bills – Intelligent Design

This week, after last weeks bizarre anti-birding weather, our focus is on the Intelligent Design variations in the bills of some of our fresh water waders . The feature photo is of the Red-necked Avocet, a flock bird of around fifty to several hundred birds. They use a fast scythe action to scoop from the bottom of the shallow lake […]

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Reflect and Project – Clearing Our Heads for 2026

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve we just wanted to get out of the house and be out in the fresh air again, so my wife and I took off to the Nasho for our last walk of the year. Time to reflect and project into the coming new year, seeking our all wise God’s direction. It was a lovely […]

Australian birds 6

The Last Post 2025 – Australian Magpie Family

With Christmas gone and the New Year looming, it is time to play the last post for 2025, and what better way than to have a family tribute to my local Australian Magpie family who frequent my birdbaths to wash, drink, cook off and sing to me in beautiful melodious dual noted caroling. Father, mother and this Spring’s juvenile offspring. […]

Australian birds 4

Summer Babies Everywhere – In The ‘Nasho’

Taking a quiet walk in my local Nasho park, It was interesting that most of the birds I saw on the walk were juvenile, or at least they were being guarded by very invested parents. But before my visit I watched our two juvenile back yard Crested Pigeon as they rested together on the rooftop, which was their favorite place […]

Australian birds 8

Birdbath Babies – Crested Pigeon Surprise

Our backyard has become a nursery for three of our local native bird species that frequent our birdbaths. In the last few days we were surprised to find two juvenile Crested Pigeon emerge with both parents. We thought something was happening again in our courtyard Bottlebrush tree that overhangs the birdbaths, where these birds usually nest each year. We were […]

Australian birds 7

The ‘Kidnapping Birds’ – White-winged Chough and Apostlebird

Firstly I want to thank those who visited me at my pre-Christmas book signing event at Harry Hartog Bookstore – Miranda last Saturday. It was a wonderful time of sharing, answering questions and introducing my books. This week we will focus on two very peculiar endemic Australian bird species called the White-winged Chough (pronounced ‘chuff’) and the Apostlebird. Both species […]

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Riparian Birds of the Royal National Park – Azure Kingfisher

After a peaceful walk by the Hacking River in our local Royal National Park, fondly known as the ‘Nasho‘, I decided to feature the birds we saw today and have seen in recent days that dwell along the river banks. The word riparian is a quaint word we seldom use which means ‘by the river‘. Birds use the river for […]

Australian birds 6

The Black-necked Stalk – Endangered in NSW

In the last post we saw Endangered bird species from the west in Perth WA, this week we focus on an endangered bird in rapid decline in the east, meaning our state of NSW where before the early European invasion and settlement Black-necked Stalk (Australia’s only endemic stalk species) also falsely known as the Jabiru (The South American Stalk), were […]

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Endangered Western Australian Birds – Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo

My wife and I recently took flight to the west coast of our vast continent to Perth WA (currently 3 hours behind our east coast time), to visit my son and cousin as well as visit some other sights around Perth, including their zoo and famous King’s Park. Thankfully the Aveley Community Festival 2025 was also on the day we […]

Australian birds 4

Growth Progress – Young Grey Butcherbird

We have been away this week on the other side on the west coast of Australia in Perth WA to visit family and also to photograph the occasional bird, so a post is not forth coming this week except for this follow up of the young Grey Butcherbird featured last post. which I saw and heard begging today after our […]

Australian birds 4

Our Spring Baby – The Grey Butcherbird

One morning shortly after our return from our Far North Queensland tour we heard the persistent calls of a juvenile bird begging for feeding from somewhere in our back courtyard. We looked in our Bottlebrush tree but could not find it, we looked and there in the flowerpot it was, still apparently with some remaining nestling feathers having not fully […]

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Birding Cape York Part 5 – To the Tip & Torres Strait Islands

This is the final post for this series featuring several more lifers and the important cultural and spiritual connection between one bird species and the people of the Torres Strait Islands just north of Cape York, which we visit after finally standing on the very Tip of Cape York, Australia’s most northern mainland point. This is the sign that awaits […]

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Birding Cape York Part 4 – Lotus Bird Lodge Billabong

This week we travel further north up Cape York Peninsular through the town of Laura to the Lotus Bird Lodge where we stayed in a special retreat accommodation by the small lake known in Australia as a billabong where thousands of water birds of many species gather during the dry season and harmoniously dwell together, resting on and by the […]