Zebra Finches

Male Zebra Finch Julia Creek North Qld Australia

A flock of zebra finches has moved into the outskirts of town since the rains ended.  They are a busy flock with a noisy joyous song.  One moment they are ground feeding with utter focus, the next moment bouncing into the air as if with one mind and zipping off to some other destination a short distance away.  They are one of Australia’s most loved and most recognisable finches with a range that covers most of the Australian continent, so rare is the person who has not been fortunate enough to come across a flock of them at least once in a lifetime.

For more information about zebra finches go to the following websites:

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=8678

Claire Wood

Just Claire Wood 

Email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

longlines,  In The Atmosphere 

 

Rainbow Bee-eaters

 I have a special fondness for Rainbow Bee-eaters.  Many years ago while looking after a friend’s European bee hive I was overjoyed when an entire flock of bee-eaters moved into a big gum tree in our front paddock and entertained me with their joyous songs, their colourful twisting flight.  Within what seemed an extraordinarily short time they decimated the bee population and then carelessly moved on, leaving me forsaken and friendless for my lack of guardianship of the beehive.  

They still entrance me and the bee eaters that have moved into the Julia Creek area are some recompense for the loss of the company of the sunbirds that live in my Bucasia back yard. 

I think they are nesting near the waterhole at the free camp, burrowing into all that softened clay beside the creek.  One of them swooped me the other day.  I have never been swooped by a bee-eater before.  They seem to be a usually placid bird.  If they are nesting does this mean the end of the all too brief rains?  Residents here are hoping for February rains to see them through the Dry.  This area is has been drought declared for a long time now.  Bee-eaters are supposed to nest only before and after the Wet. There are a lot of Bee-eaters along the banks of creeks and rivers here. Hopefully they consider this period the before the Wet.

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.