202.) Grumpy Old Men

The incessant rain is getting old - even the birds are grumpy and shunning the camera's view!

201. More old and new

Dollarbird

Some recent jaunts yielded more cool birds.  Dollar birds migrate south from PNG for the summer.  They're called Dollarbirds because when they fly you can see distinct blue-white spots underneath their wings that could be construed as 'dollar coins.'  We think this bird is a juvenile, because his upper mandible is still brown.  Adults have bright orange bills.

Sacred Kingfisher

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Carpet Python

Sacred Kingfishers are our most commonly seen kingfisher, other than the Kookaburra.  We think this bird is a male, because he has lots of buffy plumage.  Females are whiter.  Despite their name, they, like most of the kingfishers in Australia, are tree kingfishers (Family Halcyonidae).  The forage mainly over land.  In comparison, Autralia has two river kingfishers (Family Alcedinidae), the beautiful Azure and Little Kingfishers.







Channel-billed Cuckoos also are summer migrants from PNG (Papua New Guinea), and are sometimes called 'Stormbirds' along with the Common Koel, presumedly because storms occur primarily in the summer when they are here.  Like other cuckoos, this species is a brood-parasite, their real parents' job is done at egg laying time.  Eggs are laid in a 'host' bird nest, with resident eggs being removed at the same time.  This is a juvenile bird, insistently begging for food from his foster parents, a pair of puzzled-looking Torresian crows who are noticeably smaller than their 'foster child.'  I can just hear the male crow saying 'WTF, who did YOU sleep with to get this big kid with the funny-looking nose?!'


This pretty 1-1/2 m python was wrapped up in a tree in the D'Aguilar Forest.  Dirk spotted him on our rainforest walk.  Luckily, he was up there and we were down here, but we didn't get TOO close, in case he decided to drop on us!





This little Grebe was a surprise siting at the local Hinterland Regional Park during our Great Backyard Bird Count.  We've never seen them there, before.  You'll notice the raindrops on the water?  Four days of dawn rain dampened our spirits, but we still managed to get enough surveys in to put Australia as the number 5 global contributor for surveys!!  (We did 10% of them--5 out of 50!  Birdwatchers in the USA did something like 28,000 last time I looked...)  But I digress--this pair of Grebes were building a nest.  A soggy looking one, but we hope they successfully nest!!

Australasian Grebe

Australasian Grebe

Slightly grumpier looking, tired of being spied upon?  We were trying to get good pics to submit to the photo contest.
















I've gone to the dark side...An iPhone!  But it's been great, using the new ANZ birdlog app to keep talleys of my bird surveys in the field!!  Easy submittal to eBird, I'm a convert!!

Birdlog app

200). World wide Back-yard Bird count

Laughing Kookaburra

Who's laughing now?!  No more Mr. Nice-guy!  Or what happens when a Laughing Kookaburra has a bad hair feather day?

Pale-headed Rosella

Today is the Great Backyard Bird Count (http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc) a citizen-science project to create a snapshot of where the birds are, world-wide, at one point in time (four days).  We went to two local wetlands to make our contribution.  These Pale-headed rosellas are the beauties of the day!  Enjoying a little flower snack.

Ummm.....which way did he go?  

 

Five purple swamphens (Porphyrio porphyrio--purple purple) and a Pacific black duck.

199. Parts south -Melbourne

Spotted Crake

This is old but I unintentionally didn't publish it...

I had sabbatical work and a conference in Melbourne so Nancy flew down for a long weekend of southern birding. One of the great sightings was of this Spotted Crake at what some call Australia's BEST birding site! But I get ahead of the tale

We first headed to the Dandenong Ranges and Bunyip National Park








We were excited to see a Long-billed Corella, even if it was in the wild bird-feeding area along with a bazillion sulphur-crested cockatoos and other tourists.

A fine Scarlet Robin - we get these (rarely) up north and can differentiate them from our Rose Robins by the black (rather than grey) wings












This fine Tawny Frogmouth was snoozing near the ranger station in the You Yangs - an odd little clump of rocky hills (with actual climbing!) between Melbourne and Geelong.

198) Backlog

Night Heron

A fine fellow watching me from dense bushes in the Kahana Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, Maui 

197) Island life

Kilauea Crater

A few (well one) of my best and dearest, suggested I have taken to the Island Life and started slacking. Let me assure you that is not so. I have doggedly chased about in search of birds in the farthest reaches, slogged in the rain across high craters, braved blazing sun on glassy basaltic plains, stood out in Vog (yes that is real - look it up!) waiting for the poisonous sulpher fumes to clear and the stars to glimmer (why people think flash will help is beyond me...)


At the end of a long dirt road is is the Hakalau Wildlife refuge at 6500' on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I'ivi were in abundance but notable was this Hawaii Elepaio flycatcher.

 The petroglyphs at Pu'u Loa in Volcanoes Nat'l Park were quite excellent. Though how the carvers found this little knob in that huge lava plain is a mystery.














An Apapane having a bath

OK - maybe a little slacking... Sadly no Beach Boys on the radio.... crusin' with the top down.....

196) The backup-set for the Mordor film site

Haleakala Crater

Kai ready to begin the traverse of Haleakala Crater. 12 m, 3500' down and then 1000' back up. Not exactly a splendid weather day with lots of spitting clouds.

At least he had a nice NoCal hat to keep his ears from freezing...

The ridge in the clouds behind his head was our start... the euro-do-rag was his idea....










And the rains moved in. 12 miles is a long way to go wrapped in a  beach towel.A pathetic sight.

Almost enough to make me offer my spare jacket.

Almost.