Too little, too late - (Little corella) - Photo of the day

2 May 2009 - St Kilda

So, another disappointing picture of a corella, sadly the best one that I have in Melbourne. Not as many pretty colorful birds here as in WA, and when they are around, it is a smallish flock flying overhead to a far off tree. Saw these above a football field next to the farmers market we went to a few weeks ago.

Safety Is the cootie wootie (Australian (Eurasian) coot) - Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

Ok, so they are super common, I know. Most parks and waterways have them. There are a lot more of them than moorhens too, which I always mix up with coots.

She's a rainbow (Rainbow lorikeet) - Photo of the day

2 May 2009 - St Kilda

I haven't seen as many parrots and parakeets in Melbourne as I did in western Australia. But there are a few pockets of them. There are a few that seem to always hang out in a tree overhanging the railroad tracks a block away from here. It is hard taking a good picture of them, they are prettiest when they are in flight, otherwise they are hidden in the trees.

What is it up in the air for? - (White plumed honey eater) - Photo of the day

13 April 2009 - West Gate, Melbourne

I'm pretty sure this is a white plumed honey eater but am not completely sure. It never settled down long enough for me to get a good look. It zipped all over then was diving in the water and up and around for another run. Just sort of caught one of its splashes in the water.

Mongoloid he was a mongoloid - (mallard/Pacific black duck hybrid) - Picture of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

They are pretty but they appear to be a little bit of everything. I think this one is a mallard/Pacific black duck hybrid, or some other duck combination.

There's a big bird over my house - (Australian pelican) - Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

Ahh, pelicans have been a nice thing to see. When they are flying, they tend to circle up high, looking a lot like a bird of prey. When they are up close and in the water, they are generally scooping up water and seeing what they have caught in their beak, like this one.

Posing at the Roundhouse - (Red wattle bird) - Photo of the day

8 April 2009 - Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne

I don't see them all that often, but when I do, they seem to be great at posing for pictures, not moving all that fast and being right out in the open.

Gotta let this hen out - (Dusky moorhen) - Photo of the day

11 April 2009 - Melbourne

Ok, kind of a crappy picture, I know. It was running off on the side of a bike trail. Not ideal conditions to get a good picture. There are zillion of coots around but not so many moorhens.

Ol' yellow eyes is back - (Spur winged plover) - Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

I have been mistaking these for lapwings for the longest time. I just don't think of them as plovers either considering I usually see them in parks and not wading in mud and they seem too big to be plovers. They are fairly common around the area.

Diver down - (Little pied cormorant)- Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

I quite like cormorants. They are one of the few of the sea birds that I thought were so cool in the UK, like guillemots, razorbills, and puffins, the cormormants (shags are being phased out in naming conventions) are one of the few carry overs of all of those in the southern hemisphere. You either see them hanging out on the end of docks with their wings spread trying to dry them out or out in the middle of the water constantly diving and diving again.

Poisoning pigeons in the park - (Crested pigeon) - Photo of the day

2 April 2009 - Melbourne

So, I'm not such a huge fan of pigeons in general but the crested pigeons are much prettier than the normal ones. They are not quite as common as other pigeons, so I've only seen them a few times here.

Swan Swan H - (Black swan) - Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

So, if you are in Australia, you will see the black swan at some time. Up until their discovery, swans were always white. The black swan has become a saying for something unexpected that changes everything. They are nice looking swans too.

Fashion plague - (Indian myna) - Photo of the day

April 2009 - Melbourne

So, I'm pretty much over the myna bird. They seemed charming and cute when we were in Thailand. Now in Melbourne, they are all over and are worse then pigeons. Apparently in the 1860s, somebody had the bright idea to introduce them as insect control for the markets. They didn't do a very good job of that but adapted quite well to urban life and then just became incredibly invasive and negatively impacted a lot of the other native species. Oops.

Thus quote the raven, nevermore - (Pied or grey corrawong) - Photo of the day

1 May 2009 - Windsor, Melbourne

I didn't get a great view of it, this one was taken through a window, so I'm not completely sure if it was a pied or grey. Either way, they look totally cool.

I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman - (Whistling kite) - Photo of the day

2 May 2009 - St Kilda

Ok, this one was pretty cool too, a whistling kite leisurely wandering across the sky, followed by a few other birds, paying no attention to them.

I am the owl (Southern boobook) - Photo of the day

3 May 2009 - Albert Park, Melbourne

This was probably my favorite bird sighting so far in Australia. A small owl, the southern boobook, who was startled out of its tree, stumbled around in the daylight a little bit before finding its way back to its hiding place in the tree.

Everybody's talking (Melbourne birds)

Birds of Melbourne

I know what everybody is thinking, bird pictures. Have you seen any birds in Melbourne? Funny you should ask, I have seen a bunch of them and even compiled a list as well as some photographs of them, which I'll post in the next few days.

Rainbow lorikeet
Pied (or grey) currawong
Pacific gull
Silver gull
Little pied cormorant
Little black cormorant
Rock dove
Indian myna
Starling
House sparrow
Song thrush
Blackbird
Australian (Eurasian) coot
Dusky moorhen
Willie wagtail
Butcher bird
Welcome swallow
Spur winged plover
Whistling kite
Black swan
Little corella (?)
Mallard
other ducks
Southern boobook
Austrlian pelican
White plumed honey eater
Red wattle bird
Crested pigeon

Plus a lot of other small things I haven't identified yet.

Where the hell is Bill? (Short billed black cockatoo) - Photo of the day

12 February 2009 - Nornalup, Australia

Just walking outside the Valley of the Giants campsite, there was a grove of trees with 3-4 cockatoos up in the trees. This one was the lookout, keeping an eye out while the other ones went about their business.

The tooth fairy and the princess (Splendid fairy-wren) - Photo of the day

12 February 2009 - Nornalup, Australia.

Maybe the prettiest bird I've seen so far is the fairy-wren. I know the parrots and parakeets are pretty but the male fairy-wrens just glow. At the Valley of the Giants campsite, there was a group of rather tame ones, the male with his harem all feeding their chicks, who would walk right up to you and cheep at you.

Lady Water and the hooded one (Hooded plover) - Photo of the day

23 Feburary 2009 - Pallinup, Australia

Hooded plovers are endangered and quite uncommon. So, it was nice to see a few of them wandering around the beach.