Colour! Lorikeets and gum flowers

They're still at it ...

Six weeks ago I posted some pictures of Rainbow lorikeets feasting on a flowering Silver princess gum in our front yard. That post heralded the start of winter flowering period of this tree. Looking back at the shots I can see that they were taken with some late afternoon sunshine.

Well there is precious little winter sunshine in Melbourne these days. Instead we have the expected dull cloudy skies, wind and daily showers.

Every now and then we have some higher cloud and the camera comes out ...

Got the itch?

Putting things back in place after a good scratch.

Flowers hang, so feeding is upside down!

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Bird on!

Suburban White-necked heron

Over the last 18 months White-necked heron seem to be popping up more frequently in southern Victoria. I went several years prior to this without seeing one at all.

They are even appearing in in the suburbs. This one was spotted at a man-made chain of ponds fed by freeway run-off alongside Heatherdale Creek in Ringwood (Melbourne, Victoria - see geotag).

White-necked heron Ardea pacifica in non-breeding plumage. There is a little of the plum colouring that would indicate a breeding bird but the absence of colour on the breast and line of spots down the front of the neck tell otherwise.

White-necked heron beside the Eastlink bike trail, Ringwood

A very "suburban" view!

In my earlier years I remember this bird going by the name Pacific heron which somehow seems a better name! Some sightings data ....

2001 and 2004 look to be the best years in recent times for White-necked heron in Victoria (screen grab from www.eremaea.com data). The data also suggests that the spring months September - November are the most likely.

And a few other birds photographed this day ...

New Holland honeyeater

Eurasian coot

Pacific black duck

Bird on!

Cattle egret

The bird that has attracted my interest this week is the Cattle egret (Ardea ibis on the Australian fauna list, Bubulcus ibis everywhere else!). The interest arose after a highway sighting of a good sized group near Grantville in southern Victoria. I had seen them in the same spot two weeks earlier so was braced to slow from 100kmh, make use of a couple of U-turn lanes to get back to the spot for some roadside photos.

Cattle egret - today's pictures have them at the treacherous end of the cows!

From a Victorian's perspective Cattle egret are a little novel. Their presence is somewhat seasonal appearing mostly in winter and not in the numbers seen up north. They are a relatively recent arrival in Australia (about 1950 I think I have read) and as many would be aware the global range of this species has increased dramatically over the last 100 years.

I am yet to witness breeding plumage in Victoria but I have seen others' photos of birds in Victoria with much colour.

I counted around 90 birds in this paddock which is far more than I have seen before.

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Bird on!