Rufous Throated Honeyeater, White Bellied Cuckoo Shrike, Willie Wagtail

 Early one morning on the day following my son’s arrival back in Australia after three years working overseas he emerged grey faced and jetlagged from his bedroom muttering, “I can’t believe how noisy Australia is.”  As we were then staying 15 minutes from town and the nearest neighbour was almost a kilometre away, I was confused.  He said, “The birds. Australian birds must be the noisiest in the world.” 

I’m not sure how true this is, but in the Australian bush there are dozens of small birds that add layers of sound to the environment.

Yesterday afternoon we made the mistake of taking a picnic out to a floodway on the Old Normanton Road.  Why a mistake?  The sky was blue, the birds were singing, the creek was running, and there were flies in the millions.  Trying to breathe without inhaling a fly was difficult enough, trying to eat without taking in a mouthful of flies was an impossibility.  

Insects are breeding by the billion in the west at the moment.  The trees and grasses are flowering and the bird noise could wake the dead.  So there was some compensation for the discomforting flies.  Peewees, magpies and crows were making a racket.  The usual black kite keeping a close watch on me was joined by a pair of white bellied cuckoo shrike perching high on dead branches and a rufous throated honey eater hiding in the spikey foliage of a Prickly Acacia.  Meanwhile a willie wagtail chattered and complained when I drew too close to her nest.

When we arrived home we had to vacuum out the hundreds of flies that had ended up in the car. 

Notes From Julia Creek - Black Kites

The walk from what is my new home for the next few months to and from the free camp at Julia Creek takes 25 minutes and is only one third of the distance I’ve set for my daily walk.  So far I haven’t achieved my goal since arriving, but I look forward to this dawn ramble.

A black kite continually patrols the skies over the area between the town and the free camp.  Black kites seem to be one of the most common kites in North Queensland, and are definitely the most common kite in the world with an estimated global population of 6 million.  Their rough sticky nests are commonly seen high in tall trees.

They are the kites you see hovering on the edge of smokey fires where they hunt escaping animals. 

Last Saturday we drove out to the Fullarton River Bridge on the Julia Creek -Cloncurry Road.  During the last rains the road was cut because of flooding.  The water has now receded but the channels are still running, the insect population has exploded, small birds are nesting.  A cauldron of black kites was soaring above the river.  There were dozens, possibly hundreds of them.  No other Australian bird of prey is seen in such large flocks and it is a wonderful sight.

Black kites are curious birds.  As I lifted the camera to try to focus on them against the hot blue of the afternoon sky they moved directly over me and floated in ascending spirals watching as I attempted to photograph them with my woefully inadequate camera. 

They are also wily birds.  Each time I try to photograph one as it flies toward me it will come almost close enough for a decent photo and then wheel away at an astonishing speed only to turn and repeat the process.  It is almost as if it is a game for the kite.