Janet, I am loving your pictures, taking me back to all the familiar birds of my childhood in England. I enjoy hearing the call of the Wood Pigeon on a lot of English television programmes, although we don't here or nearly as often as the cackle of the Magpies. My mother always used to say that the wood pigeons say "Take two coos taffy, Take two coos taffy, Take".
I had a stroke of luck the other day. When I lived in Tasmania, I used to see and hear the Pallid Cuckoo a great deal, but they seem to be a great deal less common here in Victoria. Just recently I have been hearing one in Mathison Park, where we walk several times a week. The other day, I heard the Pallid Cuckoo's distinctive call and Fay spotted it in some gum trees, in a paddock just across a fence from the track we were on. I had a large dog on a lead (not ours we were walking it for a neighbour), so I had to get Fay to take the dog. I then crawled through the fence, but being on the wrong side of the bird light wise, I had to try and circle round to get into position for a picture. I almost got within range, but it flew to the next tree. I approached again and again it flew to another tree. Before I could begon to approach it again, it flew away up the paddock out of site.
I heard its call again, and just as I was about to abandon the chase, it flew back, landed on the nearest tree in full sunlight and sat there seeming to say"go on, get your pictures over and leave me in peace".
Here is my first ever picture of an adult Pallid Cuckoo:
Piccies Vol. 25
Wallaby1... how big are your Black Birds? In the pics they appear much lrger than ours.
kennedy1............fantastic pic of the cuckoo.
Funny story Ken! I had a good laugh imagining you crawling on your kness through the bushes! That is one heck of a good picture, it must have been worth the effort, if you hadn't done all that crawling it wouldn't have sat for you! LOL! I will have to listen to the Wood P's call now to see what it says! I miss the yodel of the Magpies, the Willy Wagtail is another, I had learnt it's call and it was a regular.
sybil, the Blackbird is fairly large, about the size of a SongThrush, I don't know what to compare it to that you would know!
Perhaps this will give an idea, the male and female were wanting the cat food for their babies!
I get a lot of grackles and they have those comical looks like your black birds.
playing ostrich?
wallaby - That bird doesn't seem very bird-like!
I tried to find out some info on squirrel nests - all I saw were pics of nests built mostly of leaves. Crow nests were described as approx. 12 in. in diameter. This nest is bigger. We are wondering about the hawk - how would I have missed that all spring and summer long? Not likely - yet - this is the first I have seen this nest. Hmmm...
sybil, squirrels do use leaves amongst sticks, it looks to be more sticks, I guess it must have been covered by leaves which have now fallen! It would have to be a very large bird too, the Hawk does look big but is it THAT big? Perhaps the bird watching group would know.
Where I grew up wood rats made similar nests. Also opposums.
This message was edited Oct 19, 2007 5:46 PM
Wow I love all these pics!
Nice ones of the Blackbird wallaby; their a very handsome bird!
Blackbird thinks he's handsome too!
Wallaby1...based on the last pic of your
Black birds I'd say they are comparable to ours.
I hear they have a wonderful song wallaby!
Description of Red-shouldered hawk.
Size: 43-61 cm (17-24 in)
Wingspan: 94-111 cm (37-44 in)
Weight: 486-774 g (17.16-27.32 ounces)
Not a small bird!
I'm not sure if they are the same family adelbert, does yours sing?
Yes pelle, they have a beautiful song, similar in ways to a Song Thrush.
The nest could easily be that then sybil! I found a pic of a possums nest in Australia, and from what I read elsewhere they make it of grass and leaves.
http://www.auswalk.com.au/photo-gallery-mornington-peninsula.html
great shot of the Cardinal!
I didn't know possums made nests.
kennedy- Thats a wonderful shot of the cuckoo!!!
Good Cardinal pic Frank!!
Third time lucky f_chisolm! It was well worth the effort, wonderful shot!
sybil, a link to possums, they need a nest for their babies too I guess, and somewhere to keep warm in winter.
http://www.holoweb.com/cannon/opossum.htm
There's lots of info on the next link for the Red-shouldered Hawk, the length there states up to 58cm, that's a good 23"! There should be two of them too, and they often use the same nest so keep an eye open next year!
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Buteo_lineatus.html
Pics of the nest,
http://www.toledo-bend.us/index.shtml?hawk
Thanks for the info wallaby. If the nest does belong to the Red-shouldered hawk, it is perfectly positioned. The fenced area of our yard backs up to a wooded acre or so that descends to a marsh off the edge of a lake. From what I read in that article, this would be a wonderful hunting environment for such a hawk.
It's home range is 1.0 to 3.4 square kilometers so that puts it in my back yard most of the time. Questions remain. Why is it here? Why is it so north of its normal territory and why has it not migrated to Mexico?
It's all quite curious to me and exciting too!
Post a Reply to this Thread
More Bird Watching Threads
-
Eastern Bluebirds...Success/Disasters and Things I learned too late
started by bluejeanmamma
last post by bluejeanmammaJun 30, 20240Jun 30, 2024