honeyeater Archives - Green Path

The Dry Season continues

We’re well into the Dry season now and the birds come to water whenever they can. These White-gaped Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus unicolor) came to bathe under the sprinkler this morning.

Rain? What’s that? We had a few drops (almost few enough to count individually) a couple of days ago, but before then?

I had to look at the BoM’s records. They show we have had nothing over 0.2mm on any one day all the way back to early July when we had 12.4mm one day and a sprinkling on the days either side of it. June’s total was … wait for it … 2.2mm and in May the total was only 1.8mm. We had 10 mm in April but, really, it stopped raining at the end of March.

We have had less than 30 mm in a bit over five months. Continue reading “The Dry Season continues”

Extended Honeyeater family

What do you think of when you think of an extended family? Cousin Julie, Uncle John, Nanna and the rest? Or a group of related birds or mammals which is broader than a species but narrow enough to be a natural grouping?

Christmas is fresh in my mind as I write, as it may be in yours, but here I’m concerned with the taxonomic extended family, not the rellies. In particular, I have been thinking about honeyeaters and their next-nearest kin, Continue reading “Extended Honeyeater family”

Young Blue-faced Honeyeaters at play

We have been enjoying the company of at least three young Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Entomyzon cyanotis, since returning from a trip to Canberra and Melbourne before Christmas. They are probably siblings and quite likely the offspring of our resident adults.

The cheek patches give away their age. As I’ve noted before, they change from a yellow-brown to a pleasant camouflage-green and then to vivid blue as the birds mature.

But these three also behave like youngsters – active, curious, sociable and rowdy. Continue reading “Young Blue-faced Honeyeaters at play”

Birds beside Rollingstone Creek

These bird photos were taken on a visit to Rollingstone Creek with Wildlife Queensland a month ago. That visit, like their other monthly expeditions, would normally be reported on the WQ branch blog but hasn’t appeared yet so I will give a little more detail than I usually do.

The location was Rollingstone Creek Bushy Park (Google Maps) and the broad, densely vegetated creek bed beside it. Access to the park (part of which is a very quiet, pleasant camping ground) is from Balgal Beach Rd and the old low-level highway bridge, or from the Servo turn-off, north of the creek.

We walked along the creek – very slowly, because there was so much to see – Continue reading “Birds beside Rollingstone Creek”

Bonanza!

Around this time every year our huge poplar gum bursts into flower, producing a bonanza for the birds which come from miles around to feast on its nectar. We delight in the display, too, even while we deal with the mess the tree and the birds make. Thousands of flowers pop their caps, which litter the lawn like miniature caltrops, then the rainbow lorikeets arrive to squawk and squabble, Continue reading “Bonanza!”