Singing Honeyeater

The Singing Honeyeater can be found throughout most of the semi-arid and arid parts of Australia. There are 4 subspecies in Australia, all with small subtle differences.

Like most Honeyeaters feed on both, nectar and insects but their percentage of insect take much higher then nectar, which is reversal of many of the Honeyeaters.

Nest is a shallow cup of twined bark and grasses with spiders webbing bound from the rim to a fork.

Photos taken: 1,2,3 Herdsman Lake 4 Swan River 

Glossy Ibis

A bird find in parts of Africa, Asia and Australasia but is monotypic .

The smallest Australian Ibis, his a beautiful metallic bronze gloss when seen in full sunlight. Feeds on grassy edges of freshwater pools, has a preference of shallow waters.

Nests either on flats rafts of reeds located in small swamps or up in paperbark trees on flat twig nests with leaves as base.

Photos taken: 1,2 Herdsman Lake 

Black-winged Stilt

There are only four Stilts in the world and Australia has two of them, the Black-winged and the Banded. Stilts are the longest legged waders of all, with extremely long fine bills.

The Black-winged Stilt delicately prods on the surface of the water for aquatic invertebrates that swim on the surface. If they don't surface feed, they will select muddy areas where they can pick off small invertebrates and worms.

Black-winged Stilt will nest as a solitary pair on a small wetland, or more often just a small colony 5-10 birds.

Photos taken 1,2: Herdsman Lake

Yellow-billed Spoonbill

There are six species of Spoonbill in the world, Australia having two of them, the Royal and the Yellow-billed.

Spoonbills are related to the Ibis but through evolution, have developed a flattened bill with a spatulate end and become what is known as a ''tactile'' feeder rather then developing a probing method of feeding like the Ibis by moving their open bill sideways back and forth through the water.

Nests in tree making a flat stick nest lined with some small leaves.

Photos taken: 1,2 Herdsmann Lake

Eastern Great Egret

Tallest of all the Egrets with very long shaped neck with at full stretch is longer then the body lenght, a useful diagnostic feature.

Feeds on inland wetlands, moist grasslands and coastal mudflats and nests mostly with other egrets and herons in small loose colonies. Flat twig nest placed in a tree mostly over water.

Photos taken: 1,2 Herdsmann Lake  

White-faced Heron

Last edits...

Photo- 4. 29.06.2014

References- 29.06.2014

The White-Faced Heron is mostly light blue-gray in colour, with a characteristics white face. In flight, the dark flight feathers of the wing contrast with the paler grey plumage, making this bird easily identifiable when viewed from below. It has a long, slim neck and a pointed grey-black bill. The legs are long and dull yellow in colour. Sexes are similar. 

When breeding, the birds have long feathers on the head, neck and back. 

The White-faced Herons are similar in appearance to the non-breeding adults, but are duller, with little or no white on the face. They often have a reddish colour on the underparts.

White- face Herons are commonly seen herons in Australia. They are found throughout the mainland and Tasmania, and most coastal islands. They also occur in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The birds can be found anywhere where there is a water, from tidal mudflats and coastal reefs to miost grasslands and gardens.

White-Faced Heron  feeds on a wide variety of pray, including fish, insects and amphibians. Food is obtained in a variety of ways, such as walking and disturbing prey, searching among damp crevices or simply standing in the water and watching for movement.

White-Faced Herons may breed outside the breeding season in response to rainfall. Both sexes share the building of the nest, incubation of the eggs and care of the young. The nest is an untidy structure of sticks, placed in a tree. Normally only one brood of young is raised in a year.   

      

Photo-

Jozef Skubin.  1,2 Herdsmann Lake, 3 Swan River, 4 Cannington river

References-

Field guide to the birds of  Australia

Reader's Digest complete birds of Australia 

The waterbirds of Australia

Little Pied Cormorant

The Little Pied Cormorant is one of the most common Australia's waterbirds, occurring on water bodies of almost any size. Its entirely black above and white below. The face is dusky and, in adult birds, the white on the underside extends to above the eye. Immature birds resemble the adults except there is no white above the eye.

The Little Pied Cormorant is found throughout Australia and is at home in either fresh or salt water. It's often seen in large flocks on open waterways and on the coast, especially where large numbers of fish are present. On inland streams and dams, however is often solitary. 

The Little Pied Cormorant mixes readily with the similar sized Black Cormorant which is also described in this blog.

It feeds on a wide variety of aquatic animals, from insects to fish. On inland they turn to their most favorite food, Yabbies (freshwater crayfish). These are caught by deep underwater dives with both feeds kicking outward in unison. Other crustaceans are also taken, with shrimps being a large part of their diet in winter months.

Little Pied Cormorant on first picture were seen at Herdsmann lake in Perth. For others, me and Monica rented a canoe at Moore river in Guilderton. We saw the birds on the other side of the river, so Monica was sailing trying to approach the boat much closer was possible and I was trying to take the best photos. It was quite cold and windy day and type of boat we were using was for competitions, so a lot of water came in and we were totally wet.                  

Photos taken: 1 Herdsmann Lake 11.05.2013/ 3,4,5,6 Moore river Guilderton 2.6.2013   

Mali lisasti Kormoran je ena najpogostejših Avstralskih vodnih ptic. Po hrbtnem delu telesa ima perje črno, na trebušnem delu pa belo. Koža na obrazu je črne in bele barve na notranji strani, ki se pri odraslih pticah podaljša vse do okrog oči. Mlade ptice so povsem enake, razen bele kože okrog oči.

Malega lisastega Kormorana najdemo v celotni Avstraliji, doma je tako v sladkih kot v slanih vodah. Pogosto ga vidimo v večjih jatah na odprtih vodnih poteh in na obali, predvsem kjer je prisotno veliko rib, na manjših tokovih in mlakah pa je večinoma sam. Rad se druži z Črnim Kormoranom, ki je podobne velikosti in je prav tako opisan v tem blogu.

Hrani se z različnimi vodnimi živalmi, od insektov do rib, v celinskih vodah pa izbere njemu najljubšo hrano, tako imenovano ribo Yabbie (crayfish-jelševec???) Le te ulovi tako, da se z sonožnim odganjanjem potopi globoko pod vodo. Hrani se tudi z raki in kozicami, ki so v zimskem času del njegove diete.

Prva fotografija je bila posneta pri Hardsmanovem jezeru blizu Pertha, za ostale štiri pa sva z Moniko najela čoln ob reki Moore v Guildertonu. Ptice sva namreč videla na drugi strani reke. Monika je veslala in poskušala približati čoln čim bližje ja pa sem fotografiral.

Bil je nenavadno hladen dan in kanu, ki sva ga imela je bil tekmovalnega tipa. V notranjosti se je nabirala voda in oba sva imela riti in noge več kot eno uro v vodi. 

Musk duck

The male Musk Duck is the largest of Australia's ducks and has a powerful build. Musk Duck get their name from the strong musk odour produced from the gland on the rump. 

The female is smaller than the male, both are sooty-brown in plumage, with paler brown barring on the body and fine spots of the head.

They are paler below, becoming whiter towards  the abdomen. The male is decorated with a large bulbous lobe of skin hanging under his bill. This sac increases in size at the start of the breeding season. The female also has much-reduced lobe on the underside of its bill, only visible at a short distance.

The bill is dark gray at the both sexes and the aye dark brown, a tail is the collection of long, stiff feathers which can be held in a fan-shape.

Young Mask Duck are similar to the adult female, but are paler, with a dull yellow tip on bill, and no lobe.

Musk Ducks are found only in Australia. They range from the north-west Western Australia, through the south and east to southern Queensland, and can be found several hundred kilometres inland in some areas.

Musk Duck tend to be found in deep freshwater lagoons, with dense reed beds. They are normally seen singly or in pairs, but may form medium to large groups in the winter. 

Flight usually takes place at night.The bird's bulky-size means a large distance is required for take-off and the landing is quite clumsy.

Photos taken: 1,2 Herdsman lake 

Samec je največji v vrsti Avstralskih rac in ima močno grajeno telo. Ptica je dobila ime po močnem mošusovem vonju iz zadnjične žleze.

Samica je manjša od samca. Oba imata sajasto-rjavo perje z bledo rjavimi progami po telesu in lepimi lisami na glavi. Oba sta bleda na spodnjem delu telesa in skoraj bela med trebuhom in repom.

Samec je okrašen z gomoljastim izrastkom na koži, ki mu visi pod kljunom. Mešiček se poveča v času paritvene sezone pri samici pa se precej zmanjša membranica na spodnjem delu kljuna, kar pa je vidno samo od blizu.

Kljun je temno siv pri obeh spolih in oba imata temno rjave oči. Rep je kombinacija dolgih otrdelih peres katere so lahko sprijete v spiralasto obliko.

Mladiči so podobni odrasli samici z razliko, da so bolj bledi z blago rumenim odtenkom na konici kljuna in brez za samico značilne membranice na spodjem delu kljuna.

To vrsto race je mogoče najti samo v Avstraliji. Njihov teritorij je od severozahoda Zahodne Avsralije, jug in vzhod Avstralije vse do južnega Queenslanda in jih je mogoče najti na nekaterih področjih nekaj sto kilometrov v notranjosti celine.

Njihov življenski prostor so bolj ali manj globoke sladkovodne lagune z gosto poraščenimi ležišči.

Večinoma jih je opaziti same ali v parih, v zimskem času pa se lahko združijo v srednje velike in velike skupine.

Letijo večinoma ponoči. Zaradi močno grajenega telesa rabijo veliko prostora za vzlet, pristanek pa je zelo okoren.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Mainly a ground dwelling thornbill although rarely found on open plans, requires open woodland where it will  occasionally forage in trees, but most of its time is spending feeding on the ground.

It is the largest of the thornbills, and is a sedentary species rarely moving far from its territory except in arid zones where it will move in bad seasons.

Photos taken: 1,2,3, Canington River 

Whistling Kite

Has preference for wooded country adjacent to wetlands in the South West. 

Scavenges more then Little Eagle, eating more carrion but does take live prey particularly in the breeding season, bringing fresh kills to the nest.

Ducks and waterbirds are constantly harassed by the Whistling Kite

Photos taken: 1 Penguin Island 

Crested Tern

A large tern with a black crown and crest, narrow white gap between bill, long forked tail, black legs.

Feed almost entirely on fish hovering in true tern-like fashion just a few meters above the water to look for fish and then dive and catch.

Photos taken: 1 Penguin Island 

Silver Gull

It is however an attractive gull, particularly the adult bird in breeding plumage with its bright red legs and bill. Found only in Australasia, it has adapted well to European settlement and most probably increased in numbers.

Found along the entire Australian coastline.

Pictures taken: 1,2,3 Penguin Island