Aussie Finch Forum

Pretty warm here on Friday, Moree recorded 47.3. My wife's car said 50 parked out the front of the house. All the birds in the garden did it tough. Had a couple of sprinklers going for the day. Grey Crowned Babblers, Apostle Birds, Noisy Miners, Mallee Ringnecks, Pale Headed Rosellas, White Plumed Honeyeaters, Yellow Rumped Thornbills, Double bars, Magpies, Pied Butcherbirds, Kookaburras, Willy Wagtails, Restless Flycatchers, and Superb Blue Wrens all hanging out together under the soaker hose.
These little fellas needed a little bit more assistance. Put them in the cool room for about 20 minutes, then put them back out under the awning where I picked them up. Stayed there for the the rest of the afternoon then went back to the small colony that live near our vege garden.

Look like they've had a crop full of your white wine Will.

I've heared of flocking to the wine bar, but things seem to be getting out of hand at your place.
LML

Poor little tackers, they look just about all done in.

Well done Willy, think I know your location. Over the last 2 yrs I have spent a fair bit of time there because my better half was the boss of the local constabulary. She has now returned back to Sydney. I used to go and fish the Gwydir and turn left just before the Yarraman Bridge and go down to the river. Plenty of those little buggers and Zebs down there. I suspect you may be on the last turn to the right before the bridge, up near where "Red" lives. Any how well done. Wish I had have known before.

Cheers

Ken.

friday 3rd jan in Tamworth was a modest 45c as well willy so felt your pain....
had all the "wild" locals on the verandah most of the day trying to get out of the oven-like wind.
wrens,thornbirds,zebras,honeyeaters,wagtails etc. also watered them down during the course of the day and they seem to appreciate it.
amazing how quiet they became when faced with the conditions.
the usual shade in the undergrowth proved unsuitable due to the scorching wind.
it seems that they all made it through the day and night(was still 40c at 10pm!!).
it seems like the aviary birds coped ok, lost 1 blue-faced parrotfinch though.
at least back to "normal" mid thirties now.

Unfortunately the cool room couldn't even handle the heat, it was about 18 degrees by that stage of the afternoon. Wine would have been a little warm for my liking. Had to take beers out and put them in the freezer for a little bit. The cool room went back down to 3 or 4 degrees later that night. It was still 35 at midnight. The DB on the left was just about buggered when we picked them up. It spent the first 5 minutes in the cool room on its back. Wether or not the shock killed it later I don't know but they both seemed fine in the evening, They were chickens from a nest in a Nepine vine (Capparis Lasiantha) not far from the house. My late grandfather used to talk about extreme heat killing young birds out in the scrub. I know of people around here that had plenty of chooks killed by the heat on Friday.
Ken, I live another 30 km out the Mungindi Rd from Yarraman. Out past Ashley. You obviously spent a bit of time in the P.O. Hotel if you know Red.
Interesting CC how the predator/prey, or the territorial situation goes out the window in extremes. Too hot for the Willy Wagtails to bother the Kookaburras. I never usually see the Restless Flycatchers and the Willy Wagtails in the garden at the same time. In a flood you get the same situation, snakes and mice up the same little tree, spiders, centipedes, and big spur throated locusts all on top of each other on grass stems poking out of the water.

willy wrote: You obviously spent a bit of time in the P.O. Hotel if you know Red.

Certainly did!

Looks like Melbourne will get it's share of the hot weather next week.....39 forecasted for next Tuesday.....ice in water bowls, shade cloth over the front of the aviary and sprinklers are ready

Cheers
Paul

We had official temps of 41.6, 43.8 and 40.2 on Fri, Sat and Sunday. Coolest day for the week was 37.8
No ice, no sprinklers, no fans, but more importantly No losses.
I have about 50 Gouldians including split Blues and Aust Yellows and whilst they went to ground during the hottest part of the day, they were up and about as soon as the temp started to drop.
The aviaries have insulation under the roof and on some walls but not all.
I'm not having a go at people who do supply ice etc to their birds, just giving an example of how hardy Gouldians can be in extreme heat.