Tawny Frogmouth fledglings

Three Tawny Frogmouth fledglings gather on one branch

Most of the Tawny Frogmouths in Canberra now have fledged young and I have been out watching them, to count the prey brought to the chicks by the adults. Although they have left the nest they are still very dependent on the adults, as they will be for about a month. This brood of three roosted during the day in separate trees then gathered in one after dusk when the adults began bringing in food.

The adult female brings in food 

The adults fed the chick which begged loudest first, not that their begging calls are loud. This is more of a rough rasping, coughing call, not shrill like that of most diurnal species' chicks. This is probably an adaptation to reduce the risk of attracting nocturnal predators such as owls which can detect prey by listening for such sounds.

The adult male lands with more food - one chick is fed a t a time, while the others watch on

The adults brought in food every few minutes for the fist hour, then gradually reduced this as the fledglings eased off their begging. Slowly they settled down and remained still most of the time apart from occasional wing stretching exercises. I could tell when an adult was approaching with food as the chicks would see them coming before me and begin fidgeting and calling again.

I use flash to photograph the prey which I can identify later at the desk

I watched under the light of the full moon and I could see the adults hunting not far off as my eyes quickly adjusted to the light level. I do not like using torches or spotlights to watch wildlife at night. All one can then see is what is in the beam, we are blind to anything beyond the white. With two weeks of moon larger than a quarter, there are plenty of nights for good watching. I used the flash here to see what prey the adults were bringing in. With flash I can grab an image and identify the prey species later at the desk. And there is no need to use full flash either. I do not like images of nocturnal animals like up like Christmas trees in bright artificial-coloured flash. I like to photograph what I see - softly flying birds in soft light, silent as ghosts (apart from the chicks' spooky low growling).

Mum with two of the kids under a full moon

White-browed Scrubwren nest

A pair of White-browed Scrubwrens Sericornis frontalis, male behind

A pair of White-browed Scrubwrens nested successfully in our garden this spring and I took a look at the nest once the young had fledged. Two chicks were reared from three eggs, the third did not hatch, as often happens with birds. So all was well and the birds are all still foraging about the garden three weeks later.

The domed nest in situ, hidden at the base of a clump of irises

The birds took over a week to build the nest, the female doing all the work while the male escorted her as she collected material from the garden. She would only go into the nest once there was no danger of predators watching her. Yet she must have made the journey thousands of times.

The nest laid on top of a hat to show the scale of the nest

The nest was large and oval, about the size of a hat crown, with a side entrance well hidden from above by an overhang of grasses. The nest was predominantly made of grasses, including bamboo leaves, and most of the outside was covered with lawn-cuttings mixed with leaves. It looked just like a clump of leaf litter lying in the garden.

The dark interior of the nest betrayed by a single Eastern Rosella feather.  The nest had a well-defined doorstep, seen here laid out to the left of the entrance, and a pronounced overhang above the door which was opened up by the fledglings on the last day when they sat at the door before fledging

Once the outer covering was removed the internal dome could be clearly seen as a separate tightly-knit dome of finer grasses. This was the true nest-chamber, and it felt warm when a finger was placed inside to check the contents.

The inner dome is seen here with the cryptic covering laid open

When opened up, the inner dome was found to be densely lined with feathers and the single unhatched egg
lay there, pale against the dark background. These feathers were wrapped all around the inside of the dome, not only in the nest cup.

The inside of the inner dome was lined with feathers and held a single unhatched egg. The feathers seem pale in the sunlight, but in the complete shaded nest they were dark.

The feathers of the lining were well-flattened into a mat by the large nestlings trampling on them - they were in the nest for two weeks. This and the feather scales in the nest were a sign that the brood had likely fledged successfully.

The fine white feather scales on the nest lining are an indication that the nest held well-grown chicks - for this is the shreds of feather sheaths cast off as the young birds' feathers developed

I then pulled the nest further apart and counted the feathers used in the lining. There 230 feathers; 7 (3%) from Red Wattlebird, 25 (11%) from our backyard chickens, 33 (14%) from Eastern Rosella, 34 (15%) from Crested Pigeon, and the majority 131 (57%) from Australian Magpie. (This might seem like a lot of feathers, but in Europe, the Long-tailed Tit can add 2500 feathers to its nest lining).

Most (222, 97%) of the feathers were dark (dark grey or black) or had a dark base, as with those of the Rosella and Pigeon feathers which were otherwise light-coloured. The few white feathers (8, 3%) were from chickens. Yet there were four white chickens in the flock and only one black, and magpies have light feathers as well as dark ones, so why did the Scrubwrens use so many dark feathers and so few light ones? It might be that the dark background aids the Scrubwrens to see the contrast of their pale eggs and or the light yellow of their nestlings' gapes. Or it might help the adult birds distinguish any cuckoo eggs or young and evict them early. I shall study this further.

All the feathers from the lining laid out

Tawny Frogmouth Trio

A Tawny Frogmouth flies onto her nest with a large spider to feed to her chicks

During my study of Tawny Frogmouths Podargus strigoides I have collected 342 nest records and most of those have been by pairs of birds. However, four have been by trios of birds, one of which from this year is shown here.

The two females have roosted together all breeding season, about fifty metres from the male on the nest

Two females have been together with a male since the beginning of the nesting season and they are readily identifiable from one another as one bird is grey and the other has much more rufous in her plumage, especially on her wing coverts and scapulars. I didn't know whether these extra birds in breeding groups take part in rearing the young, so I watched this group over a few nights to see if all three birds fed the chicks. Under a quarter moon, there was enough light to see the three birds fly in and feed the chicks and I recorded the incidents with flash photography for confirmation.

The male sits on the nest all day - note his bold markings on a pale grey background plumage colour 

The male was easy to identify as his markings are very bold on his overall light grey body plumage, especially on his breast. At night, under flash, these contrasting markings are even more boldly emphasised. He, like all other male frogmouths which I have recorded at nests, regularly took his turn at feeding the chicks.

The male is readily identifiable by his large size, strongly contrasting plumage and well-speckled breast

When the birds landed with their backs to the camera, they could be identified by the colour of their wing coverts and tail feather patterns. The females were noticeably smaller than the male and they could be seen to bring in prey and feed the chicks which gave soft begging calls as they took the food from the adults.

The red female feeds the chicks 

Here the red female can be seen feeding the chicks, then nine seconds later, the grey female flew in and the red bird took off to the right over the camera. The incoming female can be seen carrying a beetle in her bill.

The red female leaves the nest as the grey female flies in with food

One feature that could only be detected with the photography was the difference in wing feather moult between the two females. The red bird had complete, fully grown primaries, secondaries and tail feathers. The grey bird was moulting three inner primary feathers, with moult scores of 4, 3 and 3, all the rest were complete, more likely old rather than newly-grown as most birds moult post-breeding.

The grey female leaves the nest, showing that her inner primary wing feathers are in moult

These differences in the birds moult were best captured in shots of the birds leaving the nest when they had opened their wings fully on take-off, compared with when they closed their wings on landing.

The red female leaves the nest, showing all primary, secondary wing feathers are fully grown and her tail is complete 

Other data which I collect when watching these birds at night are the frequency at which the chicks are fed, over the whole night, by the different sexes of adult, under various weather conditions etc. It will be a while before I collect all that data though.

Another shot of the red female leaving the nest and showing her complete wing feathering

Sun Orchids

Trim Sun Orchid Thalymitra peniculata 

The current warm and sunny Spring seems to be suiting the local orchids as there are thousands of them in flower in the woodlands around Canberra at the moment. The shy Sun Orchids are the species that I have particularly noticed this year on Black Mountain. This is a great place for orchids in number and variety with about sixty orchid species recorded in the woodlands there. I don't go out looking for them especially, I simply notice them while in the woods looking for Tawny Frogmouths, my main study species here in Australia.

Trim Sun Orchid in woodland habitat

Some orchids grow in small colonies, however the Sun Orchids are usually found singly and as they are slow to open their flowers every day, and only if the sun is bright, they can be easily missed. The tallest of these plants was the Trim Sun Orchid which stood erect at about 40cm, which was just about the same as the surrounding grasses so it was well concealed until it opened up and displayed its bright purple-blue petals.

Large-spotted Sun Orchid Thelymitra juncifolia

The most difficult to find species of those shown here was the Large-spotted Sun Orchid as they were growing in partially shadowed woodland, where the dappled light hid them in the partial shadows - always tricky conditions for our eyes to detect anything due to the loss of detail in the contrasting light.

Large-spotted Sun Orchid on forest floor

The one species I found out in the open grassland on the edge of the forest was the Slender Sun Orchid, the smallest of those here with a flower only 15mm wide. They were growing in quite tight flower spikes and reminded me in their form and soft hue of alpine gentian species.

Slender Sun Orchid Thelymitra pauciflora 

I might have found these orchids difficult to find but the local herbivores seemed to find them alright. There are Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Swamp wallabies and  rabbits all in there munching away. When I passed through the area a few days later, the flowers were gone, the plants were gone. So they weren't just not open or gone to form seed and even more tricky to find, they had been eaten. What a beautiful meal.

Slender Sun Orchid plant in grassland

I thank Dennis Wilson for help with identifying these orchids, he is always so patient with me.

Noisy Miners

Two Noisy Miners - a pest or a successful adaptable species?

As a woodland species that favours clear ground with not much shrubbery, Noisy Miners Manorina melanocephala have adapted well to the human-cleared woodlands around Canberra. They nest in loose colonies with their nests about a hundred metres apart, and as they as very demonstrative against intruders they fit their name. Although we can tolerate their mobbing and chasing, smaller birds can't and many parts of the woods which hold Noisy Miners lack some of the usually more common bird species.

A typical clutch of three Noisy Miner eggs lying on a lining of kangaroo hair

A secondary factor which also helps the miners dominate parts the woodland is the grazing of the understorey and grasses by Eastern Grey Kangaroos Macropus giganteus. These large herbivores have grazed the ground cover down to very short swards and bare ground in some places. And in the absence of a predator, the kangaroos numbers are abnormally high. The local authorities do cull some animals but the population was allowed to build up to such a high level previous to this that it will take many years before the vegetation is restored to a more balanced composition of ground cover and shrubbery, which in turn will support a wider range of animal life including those missing species of birds.

But the Noisy Miners are happy and they further benefit from the kangaroos by using their cast fur as a lining for their nests. So, can these two species be regarded as pest native species, due to their abundance and effect on the woodlands and other bird species, or are they simply successful adaptable species that can thrive in a human-created landscape.

A group of Eastern Grey Kangaroos in Canberra woodland with little understorey

Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Zipped up the back

Here is my humble entry and semi-finalist photograph in this year's Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. I never thought it would win, but it is good fun to take part and when we view the winners, there is lots of inspiration on what to shoot, or a good simple, 'I like that'.

Another shot I entered was a close up of a Tawny Frogmouth perched on a branch, showing how the plumage merges so well with the bark.Only the claw gives the game away, which I deliberately captured. I also kept a bit of bird shape to show the similar form of a branch, part of the bird's camouflage.

Bird and bark

I was tempted to crop in even closer, but even if I had I would not have caught such a powerful image as that by Jess Findlay, 'Pauraque study'.  His subject and lighting give a much more striking image - well done Jess. I won't submit any more 'brown' images in future.

Once again, the overall winning shot was of a top favourite animal species, in this case lions. The competition is linked and promoted by the BBC Wildlife Magazine and as any editor knows, competitions are partly run to promote the magazine and increase sales. So they would like popular animal subjects wouldn't they. The winning shot is a nice shot, but would it have won if the subjects were slugs? However, the important points are, the Museum gets publicity, which I agree with, the magazine gets a wider readership which is all good for the wildlife and conservation issues it promotes, and the photographers get media coverage. So we are all winners and what can I say but thank you to the promoters for inspiring we photographers and making us keep improving.

My pick of the shots are the arty ones by Andrew Lee, 'Edge of creation'. and Herfried Marek, 'Golden birch'.

Lunar eclipse

What I like about a red moon is how, when viewed through binoculars, we can see it in a three dimensional effect with the stars beyond - much better than that through a telescope, or when the moon is too bright.

Last night, October 8th, at about 2150 hrs, I photographed the Lunar Eclipse as the blood red colour began to wash off the lunar surface. A night with a  full moon is usually a good time to watch Tawny Frogmouths, or any other nocturnally active animal as they can be seen without artificial light or night-vision equipment. Not under a red moon though, it was too dark. I don't normally take flash photographs of frogmouths, but I took this one to see if there was a chick beneath the adult bird sitting on the nest. I just couldn't see for sure. However, the camera didn't help. Yet there was one, as I saw a little later when the bird's mate, the female, came in with some prey and passed it to a tiny chick hidden by the nest rim. The adults red eye-shine reminded me of the red moon.

Grey Butcherbird

A Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus arrives at its nest with food for its young

The bird breeding season around Canberra is a protracted affair, with some birds like the Wedge-tailed Eagles and Superb Lyrebirds laying their eggs in winter, as well as a few small birds such as, for example some Buff-rumped Thornbills. At the moment a White-browed Scrubwren is incubating eggs in a nest in our garden - due to hatch any day now. However, Spring is the main breeding season and for most species; whether building nests, laying eggs, incubating them, feeding nestlings or caring for fledglings, some part of their breeding programme usually occurs then. It simply makes sense, timing their offspring's fledging and dispersal into the population to fit the period of the year when most of their food is abundant. Depending on species, the birds' food can be flower nectar, fruit, insects or other smaller animals such as, well, young birds. And each species times its breeding period to fit their young fledging when their food is most abundant

I often find these birds in the woodlands when I am monitoring the Tawny Frogmouths,
and this pair were nesting in a small tree next to a Frogmouth nest tree

Insects are becoming more abundant every day as the weather warms up, although flying insects can be difficult to catch and often it is their larvae that are bigger and more nutritious than the adult forms, such as moth caterpillars. Butcherbirds catch most of their prey on the ground, like the big fat grub that this one caught.

All butcherbirds have hooked tips to their bills - for catching and holding prey efficiently

There is a reason for all bird behaviour and all bird anatomy. Evolution if driven by efficiency

But birds' bills are sensitive organs and the butcherbird thrust the food
deep into its chick's throat without the slightest bit of harm

Double-pink

Double-pink sitting quietly in her roost 

Double-pink, a female Tawny Frogmouth that has been breeding within my frogmouth study area in Canberra now for three years. She was released by the RSPCA after a road accident and subsequent treatment, and it was they who put the two pink colour-rings/bands on her legs. These are obviously not having any effect on her as she and her partner reared two chicks two years ago, then another last year.

Now she is back in the same home range and the pair again have eggs in their nest.

One of her pink rings - she has one on each leg

The eggs were probably laid last week, and incubation takes about a month. So it might be a while before I post any updates on their progress, but keep in touch. Last time I posted on their breeding there were lots of viewers.

Her partner sits on the nest all day

Buff-rumped Thornbill fledglings

A brrood of three fledglings is typical of Buff-rumped thornbills.

It is always worth paying attention to the numerous calls of the bush, as they all mean something to someone, and they can lead to a little bit of wildlife action. Yesterday, I heard a busy series of thin squeaking coming from an acacia shrub. It could have been almost any small bird creating a fuss at my approach, but I stopped and listening more closely. Then with experience of bird calls gathered over my lifetime, I knew that it was a begging call, although more complicated. A bit more time soon broke the calls into the same type from more than one individual, and I could also now make out an alarm call, so that clinched it. There was a brood of small young birds close by, and after a minute or so watching for movement, I found a brood of Buff-rumped Thornbills Acanthiza reguloides.

There were three fledglings huddled together on a branch making begging calls for their parents to feed them. I stepped back a few metres and soon an adult bird came in and fed them. They were quick, I barely saw a flick in the back of the shrub, then a bird was popping food down into a chick's throat. And then it was gone. The whole procedure only took seconds. Then the other parent came in and repeated the process. I took some optimistic shots and managed to capture a couple of food passes by holding the camera with the chicks in frame and focus. I watched their behaviour and when I saw them become excited and focused on something out of frame I pressed the shutter release which was set on high speed continuous shooting  mode.

The adults were soon foraging farther for food and the impatient chicks began to fidget and eventually could not wait any longer. They jumped from their perch and followed their parents into the next clump of foliage. In a few minutes they were well away as the family worked their way through the wood. Only their calls told they were there.

A parent bird thrusts food down into a fledgling's throat

Cockatoo Sunset

I was out yesterday sunset watching the sun go down over the Brindabellas, our local hill range, when I saw this pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos Cacatua galerita come in to display and call in an old dead tree. Dusk is a wonderful time of day, with so much wildlife activity going on. And these birds certainly drew one's attention with their raucous calls - they don't sing too well.

They looked so splendid with their crests erect against the pink sky - terrific birds. I like them despite their reputation for wanton vandalism and noisy neighbourly behaviour.

And now, if you have a song in your head click here and sing along ........

Echidna

Echidna spines - quills - there is a layer of soft fur between the quills for insulation

The warming weather has brought out all sorts of animals and this echidna was busy grubbing for food yesterday. She was a big one, about 4-5 kilos and probably hungry after the lean months in the cold Canberra winter when she would likely have spent much of the time in torpor hidden in a burrow. I found her by following up the alarm calls from an Eastern Rosella and a mob of Noisy Miners, not that she was a threat to them.

She was slowly working her through the undergrowth

I could see that she was busy with her head down and a she was walking in my direction I knelt down to lean the camera on a fallen branch, then watched as she came closer and closer, to a few metres away, still quite undisturbed by my presence.

Echidnas spend spend much of their time tearing open old fallen branches in search of termites

It was such a treat to be able to watch this echidna from front on, so often they see or hear us first and either scuttle away offering a rear-view, or they quickly dig themselves down into the ground, curl up and hide. I could see just how powerful those limbs are as she dug around. The limbs are shortened for more strength and the bones in the feet are fused into tight pads. Only the extreme digital bones protrude and they are sheathed in thick claws - pretty tough finger nails.

The thick strong claws and highly adapted snout

Their eyesight is not poor, but not much more than adequate for detecting potential predators or recognising their way around their home range. They do have a wonderful nose though, with finely tuned touch, smell and electrical receptors. The whole modified mouth parts including the nose are covered in a leathery skin and I watched as she poked this snout into the soil, surprisingly firmly for such a delicate organ. Every now and then i caught a glimpse of her long sticky tongue which whipped in and out to catch termites or any other insect which I could not see as they were all out of view down in the holes.

The hind claws point backwards with long curling outer claws.
These are used for grooming between those long quills

With so many quills and as they use the evasive action of curling into a ball for protection, any large external ears structure would be a disadvantage. So echidnas have simple ear-holes hidden within the fur and quills. I had good views of these as this one stretched and bent at my feet. They hear most people approach, as people are generally noisy, and they go quiet and still til the threat passes. Yet, I can recognise the distinctive shuffling sounds which echidnas make, and I turn the tables to stop still and watch them. That is usually from a distance, though, not as close as with this one.

The echidna's ear is hidden below  the quills

After about twenty minutes of undisturbed behaviour watching, I shuffled off myself. The echidna stopped still as I stood up, but I was gone before she felt any need to dig for safety. She then walked off unconcerned.

 An undisturbed echidna carries on with its own business