Birds in my Garden Today

[jnorriss]

I had a magic day today when I was standing at my aviary and realised I could see a number of different birds all at the same time....and this was suburbia! I could see the following birds at places around my garden;
Superb wrens...a family took up residence last year and has bred twice in the garden
Brown Honey Eater...also a garden resident...have located one old nest so far
Grey Fantail
Common Bronzewing
Crested Pigeon
Magpie
Pied Butcher Bird
Welcome swallow
Noisy Friarbird
Double Bars
Pale Head Rosella pair
Rainbow Lorikeet
Kookaburra...my wife feed two pairs and a single who visit up to two times each day
All I needed was to see at that moment a Blue Faced Honey Eater, Black faced Cuckoo Shrike, Striated Pardelotte, a Mistletoe bird eating my white Mulberries and a Pheasant Coucal who are around most days Of course we have the usual Crows, Wagtails, Masked Lapwings, magpie Larks Ibis and both Sulphur Crested and Black Cockatoos flying over head and have even had the odd Turkey Buzzard floating around from the bush behind us. From time to time we have Chestnuts and a Koel as well.

As someone who decries the fact that on a bushwalk one often sees no birds and often just silence I thought it was a magic day to see so many types at one time from a single position. Not bad for a suburban location! I had my camera with me to film some of my birds and managed to catch some of the DBs in the feed tray (about 10 others flew off as I took the photo) and the pale head on my balcony rail as I came inside. See attached

[tonytoast]

Looks like a little bit of red on the head of the Pale Headed Rosella.....most Pale's in my area have hybridised with the Eastern so I wouldn't be surprised if it too is a hybrid. I even had a pair nest in a box that I put on the side of my house a few years back....we ended up with a lice infestation.

D/Bars look healthy as well....I wonder what your DBs think when they see them in the garden???

[finches247]

Nice

[west finch]

Well done I love seeing the wild birds around my place as well . what did you do to encourage them to your block ? I see a feed station have you got nest boxes for the parrots ?

[jnorriss]

Hi Westfinch..
We have a reasonable amount of bush nearby but I think the small birds are attracted by the fact that I have made a garden that offer lots of growth to hide in and plenty of flowering natives. I have located two wren nests in the bushes low down and a honey eater nest in a large croton bush. The other attraction are the flowering gums, grevillea , Callistemon, Metrisideous and hibiscus. There also seems to be a lot of insect life as I do not spray etc and leave things to sort themselves out. I have to say also that my garden is a lot of growth compared to neighbours so offers a sanctuary island for the small birds. I have also found that the Mistletoe Bird likes the small white mulberries. I place all my seed waste/husks in the hanging tray and this is visited by the pigeons, Pale heads, DBs and occasional Chest Nuts.