Bird Week Day 5 - A Peregrine & Pardalote Day, Phillip Island birds

"Peregrine" and "Pardalote"- two gorgeous sounding words that also just happen to be associated with the most wonderful of creatures!

Falco peregrinus arises from the Latin per and agri - literally "from abroad" or subsequently "wandering". I gather the northern hemisphere peregrines are inclined to migrate. I had jumped out of the car recently at Oswin Roberts Sanctuary (Phillip Island) and had one of those great car park moments when you know the birds are "on"! Looking up I saw the silhouette of a falcon purposefully gliding across the small arc of sky I had vision of. 'Grabbed the camera and managed one shot:

Peregrine falcon flying over Oswin Roberts Sanctuary

My impression is that the name "Pardalote" is a name known only to birders or those that have had a close experience with these beautifully marked birds. I  gather that Pardalotus refers to being "spotted" and arises from Greek origins. Although I could hear many Spotted pardalote on this day at Oswin Roberts (I am inclined to think of it as Ozzie Bob's) it was the Striated pardalote that was providing most photo opportunities:

Striated pardalote checking out tree-hollow nesting options, September 2013

The next three photos were taken within a minute or two of each other when passing through a small-bird hot spot!

Brown thornbill, Oswin Roberts Sanctuary

White-browed scrub wren, Oswin Roberts Sanctuary

Superb fairy-wren, Oswin Roberts Sanctuary

Oswin Roberts Sanctuary is also good for honeyeaters (in addition to those shown Wattlebirds, White-eared honeyeaters are also common) ...

Still struggling for a decent photo of White-naped honeyeater I'm afraid

New Holland honeyeater

Yellow-faced honeyeater

I generally don't leave Ozzie Bobs without seeing an Eastern Yellow Robin at some stage

Dusky woodswallow numbers are seasonal - they are starting to increase again now that Spring is here

Fan-tailed cuckoo 

Grey currawong

iPhone shot of the park's eastern boundary and adjacent farmland where Swamp harriers and Whistling kite are often seen.

Whistling kite

Even by Ozzie Bob standards this was a pretty productive morning!

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

Bird on!

Birds of the Bungles

Driving to and from the Bungle Bungles from our accommodation close to the highway was a big day out - not a day that lent itself to birding (how can this be true?)!

However I did enjoy a walk the following morning (12 August 2012) exploring along the Spring Creek. This is a tributary of the Ord River. Caravan park, creek and river are all a part of the Mabel Downs cattle station.

You can see pictures, stories and a short video from the family adventures at the Bungles at these posts from the family blog!

• Purnululu National Park
• Bungles video
• Tom's helicopter narrative and photos

But on to the birds ....
It was a great morning for slaking your thirst at Spring Creek!

One of the grubbiest Sulphur-crested cockatoos I have come across!

Peaceful dove

Long-tailed finch drinking and ... well .... reflecting!

Budgerigar

I remember being frustrated and elated at the same time as the small flock of budgies arrived. Elated that they had appeared in the first place and deigned it reasonable to have a drink adjacent to my "perch"! Frustrated that I knew it was not possible to get any closer or make any attempt to improve my position without seeing them off!

In these cropped views I do like the "descending angel" pose of the bird at left!

In my limited experience (about 2 weeks!) I have found that budgies can be hard to photograph! They are small fast and in numbers that bewilder - all characteristics that help them elude predators. Even in dead trees they camouflage well!

Spot the budgie - I just counted 33 in this picture!

If Long-tailed finch sit on a branch they tend to stand out!

Long-tailed finch

The rear view is included because it demonstrates the feature that gives them their common name!

This was another location that seemed to cope with a large number of honeyeater species. Black-chinned honeyeater seen below was a lifer for me. The north and western Australian race laetior is also known as Golden-backed honeyeater - these colours demonstrated in the peculiar pose at right.

Yellow-tinted honeyeater. This back-lit photo was a small spot metering triumph for this photographer - not least because as the swaying branch moved I was being blinded by a direct view of the sun!

Please also meet some other locals seen that morning including Olive-backed oriole, Grey shrike-thrush, Little friarbird and Whistling kite. You can see the complete Eremaea list here.

Bird on!

Barking owl - crowd pleaser!

This Barking owl turned up at the amenities block at Home Valley Station caravan park while we were there in August. My daughter Hannah wrote in her journal:

Last night during dinner we saw a large bird fly into a tree. It turned out to be a barking owl! It was amazing. We attracted a lot of attention. It was quite weird to be standing there surrounded by people right next to a bathroom. The owl was reddish-brown with a brown striped chest and the underside of its tail. It has white flecked wings. Its head is rather flat with yellow eyes.

Black kite, Home Valley Station, WA

Other hunting and scavenging birds were frequent including Whistling kite and Black kite. At the other end of the food chain it was good for me to finally compare Diamond dove and Peaceful dove "face to face" (I keep getting the names mixed up)!

Diamond dove (foreground) and Peaceful dove (rear)

Bar-shouldered dove not far away as well

Although not in the prolific numbers reported in parts of Australia recently it's always nice to have a budgerigar experience!

And it's always fun meeting new friends!

A somewhat shy Bar-breasted honeyeater, HomeValley Station

 Bird on!