| Stat' | Notes | Thumbnails: 953. 160 native species listed, with 95 from Ellura |
| Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves) | |||||||||||||||
| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | Chestnut Teal Anas castanea | RA m | ||||||||||||
| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa | Na m | ||||||||||||
| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | White-eyed Duck Aythya australis | NT m |
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| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata | LC mr | ||||||||||||
| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | Black Swan Cygnus atratus | LC mar | ||||||||||||
| Waterfowls Anseriformes | Waterbird Anatidae | Australian Shelduck Tadorna tadornoides | LC r | ||||||||||||
| Nightbirds Caprimulgiformes | Owlet-nightjar Aegothelidae | Australian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles cristatus | LC em |
Nests in hollows. Huge eyes. Lovely grey tones down the back with a buff circle around the eyes. | |||||||||||
| Nightbirds Caprimulgiformes | Nightjar Caprimulgidae | Spotted Nightjar Eurostopodus argus | RA em | Nests on the ground. Uses camouflage for protection. Has very distinctive white stripes on the wings (both upper & lower). When exploring Ellura, we were startled by a medium sized bird on the ground suddenly taking flight. In no time it was hundreds of metres away. A Brown Falcon then decided it was invading it's territory and started dive bombing it. Yesterday (14 Jan 2015), a similar thing happened again. This time it kept landing on the ground. We followed it in circles for about 4 landings before loosing it. Couldn't get a photo, due to the bushes & trees. At one point it was right in front of me and probably could have taken a photo if I could see it. Its camouflage is amazing.
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| Nightbirds Caprimulgiformes | Frogmouth Podargidae | Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides | LC em | Strange bird. Looks like an upright branch stump in a tree. Motley brown. | |||||||||||
| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Thick-knees Burhinidae | Bush Stone-curlew Burhinus grallarius | CR m |
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| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Plover Charadriidae | Black-fronted Dotterel Elseyornis melanops | RA m | ||||||||||||
| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Plover Charadriidae | Banded Lapwing Vanellus tricolor | NT m | ||||||||||||
| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Gull Laridae | Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida | EN c | ||||||||||||
| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Gull Laridae | Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae | LC mrc |
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| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Gull Laridae | Pacific Gull Larus pacificus | Va c |
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| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Gull Laridae | Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii | RA c | ||||||||||||
| Coastal Birds Charadriiformes | Wader Recurvirostridae | Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus | VU m |
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| Storks Ciconiiformes | Heron Ardeidae | Eastern Great Egret Ardea modesta | VU mr |
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| Storks Ciconiiformes | Heron Ardeidae | White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica | RA r | ||||||||||||
| Storks Ciconiiformes | Heron Ardeidae | White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae | NT ra | Tall, long yellow legs, white face, grey feathers, black beak, long grey neck. Immature birds can be differentiated from adults by their rufous breast and less distinct border of the white face. | |||||||||||
| Storks Ciconiiformes | Heron Ardeidae | Nankeen Night-Heron Nycticorax caledonicus | EN mr | ||||||||||||
| Storks Ciconiiformes | Ibis & Spoonbill Threskiornithidae | Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia | EN c | The two specimens here, photographed together, where different. We think the more orange eye brow was a male, as it had a larger bill, while the other was a female. Taken in November, they may have been coming out of breeding plummage? | |||||||||||
| Storks Ciconiiformes | Ibis & Spoonbill Threskiornithidae | Australian White Ibis Threskiornis molucca | VU ma | A large white bird with featherless head, which is black. Under the wing is a bare skin patch that goes bright red in breeding season. Here we show the non-breeding colour. | |||||||||||
| Doves and Pigeons Columbiformes | Dove and Pigeon Columbidae | Peaceful Dove Geopelia striata ssp placida | LC em |
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| Doves and Pigeons Columbiformes | Dove and Pigeon Columbidae | Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes | LC emac |
Timid, white and grey. | |||||||||||
| Doves and Pigeons Columbiformes | Dove and Pigeon Columbidae | Bronzewing Phaps chalcoptera | LC ema |
Native pigeon. Bright, metallic green and bronze wing patterns. Solid dull bronze underwing. Clumsy / scatty. The green and bronze reflections in the wings in these photos are not gender related. Purely the angle of the light. The males have a chestnut cap and beautiful gentle chestnut tones on the chest; with a buff forehead. The females are much more grey (with a very faint chestnut tint on the breast), with a white streak above the eye; missing the chestnut cap & buff forehead. Both genders have a white streak below the eye. | |||||||||||
| Doves and Pigeons Columbiformes | Dove and Pigeon Columbidae | Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis | If a | ||||||||||||
| Doves and Pigeons Columbiformes | Dove and Pigeon Columbidae | Spotted Turtle-dove Streptopelia chinensis | If c | ||||||||||||
| Kingfishers Coraciiformes | Tree Kingfisher Halcyonidae | Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae | LC ma |
What a joke! Big beak, white head & breast, blue wing to grey back. | |||||||||||
| Kingfishers Coraciiformes | Tree Kingfisher Halcyonidae | Red-backed Kingfisher Todiramphus pyrrhopygius | RA em | Typical kingfisher with massive beak compared with its body. White breast, blue wings, red back.
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| Kingfishers Coraciiformes | Tree Kingfisher Halcyonidae | Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus | NT r | ||||||||||||
| Kingfishers Coraciiformes | Bee-eater Meropidae | Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus | LC emr | One of the most colourful birds that visit. Smallish. Black, yellow, blue, green and brown / chestnut. Juveniles don't have the tail extension, while the female's is shorter than the male's. They make their nest underground. We've seen flocks of up to 12 bee-eaters, mostly juveniles, which has been a real treat for us. While the adults have red eyes, the juveniles we've seen have black eyes. They seem to ruffle their feathers, perhaps as some sort of defensive pose, or cooling? Or perhaps the bee gave him indigestion There was no wind in the photo's with the ruffled feathers. They look like woodswallows when in flight, but if the sun catches them, they are so beautiful with the chestnut under wing colours.
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| Cuckoos Cuculiformes | Cuckoo Cuculidae | Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis | NT ema | The chestnut breast is more obvious than the fanned tail. Grey back and wings. Similar to Grey shrike-thrush from behind. The eye ring is difficult to see. Very pretty up close, plain from a distance.
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| Cuckoos Cuculiformes | Cuckoo Cuculidae | Pallid Cuckoo Cacomantis pallidus | NT em | When we first spotted this on Ellura we weren't sure what it was. Having only recently discovered a Black-eared cuckoo it looked very similar, but way too big. It has a dark striped through the eye and no barring on the breast. Grey / brown back and a similar tail to the Fan-tail cuckoo. Males are grey, with no barring. Females are rufous and can be barred. I suspect she'll look like a completely different species.
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| Cuckoos Cuculiformes | Cuckoo Cuculidae | Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo Chrysococcyx basalis | LC ema |
Similar Species: Shining Bronze-cuckoo Regular high-pitched call with brown and white barred breast. Metallic green and bronze back. Camouflages very well in bushes with its green back. Very similar to Shining Bronze Cuckoo, but the Horsfields' bars don't meet at the front. The green back is also duller, but that's hard to compare without seeing both. The males have orange / brown eyes, while the females have off-white eyes.
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| Cuckoos Cuculiformes | Cuckoo Cuculidae | Shining Bronze-cuckoo Chrysococcyx lucidus | Na a | Similar Species: Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo | |||||||||||
| Cuckoos Cuculiformes | Cuckoo Cuculidae | Black Eared Cuckoo Chrysococcyx osculans | RA em | Similar Species: Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
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| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Wedge Tailed Eagle Aquila audax | LC ema |
Large majestic brown and tan hunter. Huge wing span and is easily identified by the diamond-shaped tail. Hunts regularly through Ellura as it is so healthy. We thought the pink gape indicated juveniles, but Nina Maurovic said "They have a pink gape their whole life. Young birds are much lighter in colour and have more mottled/banded coloration in their secondary wing feathers and tail feathers" | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis | NT em | ||||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris | NT m |
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| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus | LC emr | Similar Species: Little Eagle Very large. We thought kites were smaller. Brown wings and buff breast. Juveniles have white wing tips which show up as "freckles". Regular white patches on its back and wings when at rest. | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides | VU em | Similar Species: Whistling Kite | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Eagle & Hawk Accipitridae | Black Kite Milvus migrans | LC em | ||||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus | LC em | Similar Species: Brown Goshawk Has a distinctive yellow eye, and very lightly-striped body (barely visible). | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus | LC ema | Similar Species: Collared Sparrowhawk Very similar to the Collared Sparrowhawk, but has a heavier brow; making it look as thought it's frowning. | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Brown Falcon Falco berigora | LC em | Medium sized bird of prey. The light morph has a buff breast, with thin brown stripes. All morphs have brown back and wings. We have a resident breeding pair of Brown Falcons (mixed morphs) often found perched on the top of a dead tree. They sit there for hours, scanning their surrounds. We have read of studies that the suggest "morphs" are simple age variations (lighter = older). Our photo of a Light Morph juvenile must disprove this? | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides | LC emc | Glad I'm not a mouse. Grey predator; but beautiful like a spitfire. | |||||||||||
| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Australian Hobby Falco longipennis | RA em |
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| Birds of Prey Falconiformes | Falcon Falconidae | Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus | RA ema | ||||||||||||
| Gamefowl Galliformes | Pheasant & Partridge Phasianidae | Stubble Quail Coturnix pectoralis | LC m | Extremely timid. They forage in grass & saltbush. As you walk you can get quite close (a couple of metres) and not know they are there. Then they'll suddenly take flight scaring the living daylights out of you Usually they will then fly only a short distance (100m) low over the ground. Smaller than a Bronzewing, with a brown/grey appearance streaked/dappled with white. | |||||||||||
| Cranes Gruiformes | Rails Rallidae | Australasian Coot Fulica atra ssp australis | NT ma | According to Piotr Minias, in his Oct 2014 study, gender differentiation using the size of the frontal shield is only ~70% accurate. Eurasian Coots have lobed feet, not webbed. The lobes, or flaps, fold easily; probably making it easy to 'swim' through water with lots of vegetation. | |||||||||||
| Cranes Gruiformes | Rails Rallidae | Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa | EN a | ||||||||||||
| Cranes Gruiformes | Rails Rallidae | Purple Swamphen Porphyrio melanotus | RA mr |
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| Cranes Gruiformes | Rails Rallidae | Black-tailed Native-hen Tribonyx ventralis | LC mr |
A dusky coloured, large bird, with a black tail that pops up if they feel threatened. Their beak is pale green on top and orange under. Legs are pale red to orange. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Inland Thornbill Acanthiza apicalis | NT em | Similar Species: Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Has a similar rump to chestnut-rumped thornbill, so easy to miss-identify. Striations of the throat go much further past the breast, almost to the legs. If you can see the colour of the eye, it often makes identification easier. Thick buff colour eye-ring, with a red eye (compared to the off-white eye of the chestnut-rumped thornbill). | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Yellow-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza chrysorrhoa | LC ema | A striking black forehead with white streaks / dots which contrasts to pale yellow breast. Olive back. Like the chestnut-rumped, the bright yellow rump is difficult to see. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Striated Thornbill Acanthiza lineata | Na a | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Yellow Thornbill Acanthiza nana | NT m |
The yellow makes it more striking than the other thornbills. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla | RA a | Plain but pretty. Typical thornbill - inquisitive, always on the go. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Buff-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza reguloides | RA ma | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza uropygialis | LC emr | Similar Species: Inland Thornbill Very obvious brown & buff ring pattern around the eye. Striated throat. The chestnut-rump is easily hidden by the wings. Eye is off-white. Eye colour helps greatly when trying to identify a thornbill when the rest of the bird is obscured. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Southern Whiteface Aphelocephala leucopsis | NT emr | Quite timid. The white across the forehead is quite obvious even for such a small bird. Light brown to grey back. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis ssp frontalis | RA ac | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Warbler Acanthizidae | Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris | LC emar | Smallest Australian bird. Very active. Never sits still. Perches with cousin Pardalote quite happily. A mix of gentle greens, browns and yellow make it quite an attractive bird. Beak looks more like a finch's, than a thornbill's. The brow is usually more obvious than shown in this photo. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Dusky Woodswallow Artamus cyanopterus | NT em | The blue beak contrasts starkly with the drab-coloured body. "Dusky" is a very appropriate name, it's almost a sooty-grey coloured bird. There does seem to be some colour variation between the sooty-grey & chocolate brown. We suspected the chocolate brown birds were immature/sub-adult; but Lauren Butler showed us a photo of a chocolate brown pair with their offspring. As such, it's just a colour variation. Fledglings are chocolate brown with "pin stripes". As the fledglings age, the "pin stripes" disappear. They are different to the Little Woodswallow (Artamus minor) as they have a white stripe on their wings' leading edge which is visible when sitting. They are also larger, but this would be nearly impossible to determine unless they were standing next to each other or you were already familiar with the Little Woodswallow. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Masked Woodswallow Artamus personatus | LC em | Such a serious fellow with its blue beak, black face and grey body & wings.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | White-browed Woodswallow Artamus superciliosus | NT em | Often found roosting with their Masked cousins. But never mating together. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Australian Raven Corvus coronoides | NT ema | A great laugh to hear the call trailing off. Sounds like it's falling out of the sky. A large black bird with pale eye. You can see our Juveniles have brown eyes, instead of the adult's white eyes. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Little Raven Corvus mellori | LC a | As its name suggests, smaller than the Australian Raven. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Pied Butcherbird Cracticus nigrogularis | RA m |
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen | LC ema | Black and white. Females have more grey instead of white. Raven-like. Have a gentle warbling song. We get two races at Ellura, one with a completely white back, and the other with a black band across the back. Far more timid in the wild than in urban areas. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus | NT emr | A smartly dressed (in grey, black & white) inquisitive bird. Immature birds can look like Kookaburras. Looking at zzey's, you'd swear the juvenile's face is that of a Pied Butcherbird (as their drawing of the immature Grey doesn't look like ours). But the swirling beige lines around the eye are not identifiers. We haven't been able to tell the difference between Grey & Pied juvenile birds. As such our juveniles on Ellura are assumed to be Grey as we haven't seen a Pied, but have many Greys. We might be able to rely on their call, but we've seen videos of Pied Butcherbirds imitating other birds & sounds (but it's doubtful a juvenile has this skill).
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Crow Artamidae | Black-winged Currawong Strepera versicolor ssp melanoptera | NT ema | Thank you Antoni Camozzato for helping with the identification of this species A brilliant yellow eye helps identify this large black bird. White can be visible when flying, and so easily confused with a White-winged Chough. However, it is often solitary or occasionally in a small (3) family group; unlike Chough's which show a lot more white and are almost always in a large (10-20) flock. Very timid. Once a year, around spring, they seem to gather and stay in a large flock (10-20 birds). We think it is a form of a nursery. They constantly call to each other as they travel around the reserve; not resting in one place for long. Antoni said "this is the subspecies found in our local area, from around Adelaide east to westernmost NSW and Victoria. Visually, melanoptera can be distinguished from other subspecies by their mostly black plumage (rather than grey) and the near/complete absence of a white patch at the base of their primary feathers which gives them their common name. S. v. halmaturina also shares these features but is found only on Kangaroo Island. Elsewhere in SA, there's also intermedia or the Brown Currawong (Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas) and plumbea (western SA into WA)." Well that explains the reason ours are so black! We've know they were Grey Currawongs for a long time, but didn't understand the differences in sub-species. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Cuckoo-shrike Campephagidae | Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Coracina novaehollandiae | NT ema | A fairly large pretty grey bird with a distinctive black face, blending through to grey and then white under. Swoops as it flies. Similar to a Grey Shrike-thrush from the back, but larger. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Cuckoo-shrike Campephagidae | White-winged Triller Lalage sueurii | NT em |
A seasonal traveller through our parts. Much smaller and whiter than a magpie, so it's easy to differentiate. However, the males change their plumage, making them difficult to identify in the "off" season. When not in their breeding colours, they have what's called "Eclipse" plumage; which is brown. It took us a while to work out what was going one with one sighting, when we realised the bird was in the cross-over phase between the Eclipse & Breeding plumage. So nearly black and white with some brown dappling. We've never see the males in exclipse plumage here, probably as they have already starting getting their breeding colours before they arrive. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Quail-thrush Cinclosomatidae | Chestnut Quail-thrush Cinclosoma castanotum | RA em |
Runs a lot. Easily confused with babbler, but much prettier when it stops. Females have a blue-grey breast. In the males, the grey is replaced with a solid black, which contrasts with the white. White under, dark chestnut back. A family regularly visits while we take a coffee break. They no longer seem too bothered by our presence.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Cisticola Cisticolidae | Golden-headed Cisticola Cisticola exilis | EN m | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Treecreeper Climacteridae | Brown Treecreeper Climacteris picumnus | NT em |
Big feet! Vocal brown birds always inspecting the bark of trees for insects and other food. Quite an elegant bird, with pretty buff scalloped breast with dark brown edges. Dark patch through the eye with a pale/buff brow. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Treecreeper Climacteridae | White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea | Na a | Females can be readily distinguished from males because the females have an orange cheek patch. Very timid and we've rarely seen them. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Mud-nester Corcoracidae | White-winged Chough Corcorax melanorhamphos | NT em |
A dark red eye is only visible on the brightest of days. The white wings are only visible when in flight as a band. Very dark brown bird, normally looks black; but the brown can be seen in the right light. Very timid; they post sentries to warn of danger. Ellura has a flock of 30+ birds visit regularly. Very social. Wayne calls them "Chickens of the Bush"; very apt. We've seen them eat a small lizard (skink). Recently Marie found an occupied nest and so I was lucky enough to get some stunning photo's of them. Due to this we now know that the exterior of the Sclera (white of the eye in humans) is pink. The interior of the Sclera (brown, green, blue, etc, in humans) is Deep Red. But in fledglings they are Brown. This species is unusual in that it is Near Threatened locally, but RARE at a State level.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Flowerpecker Dicaeidae | Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum | NT ma | Stunning little birds these with the female being grey-brown with cherry red rump. The male having a bright red throat and rump with dark satin blue dinner jacket. Short tail. They make their nests out of spiderweb! We have presented our photo's here in cronological order to get a perspective of their mating cycle. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Weaver-finch Estrildidae | Chestnut-Breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax | Na a | The 2 reasons for adding this, primarily Queensland, species are that
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Weaver-finch Estrildidae | Red-browed Firetail Neochmia temporalis | Na a |
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Weaver-finch Estrildidae | Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata | EN m | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Swallow Hirundinidae | Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena | LC em | Very similar to the Tree Martin but more colourful, with a beautiful copper face & chin.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Swallow Hirundinidae | Fairy Martin Petrochelidon ariel | RA em | Fairy easy to differentiate between these and the Tree Martins. Tree Martins have a Dark Blue/Black Satin head, where as the Fairy Martins have a chestnut coloured head. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Swallow Hirundinidae | Tree Martin Petrochelidon nigricans | NT ema | Like woodswallows when flying. Rusty forehead + rump, deep blue/black jacket and crown. Brown streaked white breast.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Warbler Locustellidae | Rufous Songlark Megalurus mathewsi | NT em |
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Fairy-wren Maluridae | Purple-backed Fairy-wren Malurus assimilis | LC em |
The male is very similar to the Superb but with a chestnut "scarf". Unlike the splendid, the patch around the female's eye is blood-red. So far we haven't seen the Superb & Variegated in the same area. Last, 2018, these were split out from the Variegated Fairy-wrens. Malurus assimilis | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Fairy-wren Maluridae | Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus ssp elizabethae | LC a | More formal looking than the splendid; like wearing a grey suit with a black & sky blue scarf and cap. Had a nice long chat with Rose Fletcher (she observed a nest daily for about 6 weeks), and there seems to be come conjecture, elsewhere, surrounding the colours & identification of males (non-breeding), females & juveniles. 1. The Downy feathers typically associated with juveniles seem to be a trait of the adults of this family 2. A black beak means it's a male 3. Juvenile males have red surrounding the eye. The very young don't have much red, then they all get more; the males then loose the red as they come to adult-hood 4. Females have blue tails (seems a contentious point with some birders) 5. Males with breeding plumage can have more blue in their throat than those presented here; yet our books suggest we only get the one sub-species | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Fairy-wren Maluridae | White-winged Fairy-wren Malurus leucopterus | NT m | The all blue body on this fellow makes the white of the wings look radiant. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australian Fairy-wren Maluridae | Splendid Fairy-wren Malurus splendens ssp melanotus | NT emr | Ours are the "Black-backed Race" Males are a bright blue, mischievous rascals. Will sing loudly to distract you away from nest and family. The hours we've spent being lead from one bush to the next and back to the first to get a shot As with other wrens, males coming into breeding plumage are a real hotchpotch. Females are very plain with an apricot patch around the eye, if you can get close enough to see it. Her blue tail is easy to spot, though. We get the "Black Back" race. The black back is not easy to see. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis | LC emr | Black & pink beak. Apricot breast bleeding to black & white streaked under. Blue eye. Yellow cheek highlight in juveniles. Has a huge vocal range. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris | RA ema | You could have knocked us over with a feather when we saw one of these in a water bowl at Ellura! We are quite used to seeing them in the Adelaide Hills, but they rarely seem to ventue North/East of the Hills. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata | LC emar | Beautiful white spear patterns on grey/black back. Red wattles under the ears. Yellow patch below the striated breast. Grey patch under the eye with black crown.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Yellow-faced Honeyeater Caligavis chrysops | RA a |
Similar to the singing honeyeater, but the yellow strip is larger, through the eye, and has black below. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Pied Honeyeater Certhionyx variegatus | RA m | Similar to a triller except for the black throat. Larger than the hooded robin. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis | RA m | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | White-fronted Chat Epthianura albifrons | LC em | Female has blue/grey front. Male is painted white face. Both with a black tie & brown jacket. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Crimson Chat Epthianura tricolor | LC em | We were sitting having a coffee and this bright red suddenly started bopping around on the ground in the distance. It's a Mistletoebird ... no a Red-capped Robin ... no it's super chat Never in our wildest dreams did we ever expect to see one of these on Ellura. However, they are found all over the country, from the coast to the deserts. As you can see the males are a bright crimson red with a white patch on the throat and black & white streaked back; which runs around the neck through to the beak. This is individual seemed to be on it's own and at a guess a young bird. Seems "fluffy", but it wasn't cold. The females are brown with a crimson rump; similar to mistletoebirds. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Singing Honeyeater Gavicalis virescens | LC em |
Generally olive with a black stripe through the eye. The black stripe is then highlighted with a yellow patch bleeding to white below the ear. The Ellura specimens seem to have a more prominent white area behind the yellow patch than we've seen before. Its song is similar to a Red Capped Robin. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Glyciphila melanops | VU em | We put a few plant pot bases filled with water out for the birds. We feel we live in a micro-ecology where we are trying to mimic the true natural environment, but with cleared paddocks nearby, climate change reducing the steady rainfall, etc. Generally the only input we make is to remove man introduced species (weeds). But the little birds would have a hard time flying 15km to the river Murray, or get eaten by cats & foxes at local damns. We recognise that research suggests providing water is not "best". We also recognise much research in the past is flawed, and nobody really knows the best course of action to take. Some turn all water supply to native species off, others provide unmetered supply. We actually think it's best if everyone does something different. At least some of us will get it right By providing a little water we have found a wonderful assortment of rare native species thrive here. As such, this specimen got so saturated, it's hard to identify it. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Purple-gaped Honeyeater Lichenostomus cratitius | RA em | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Yellow-throated Miner Manorina flavigula | LC em | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala | LC m | Aggressive to birds. Orange beak & legs. Yellow eye patch. Grey motley breast. In 2 of these photo's of the same specimen, you can see the eye-patch (yellow skin) looks to be very different in size. This is just a matter of the eye & head moving, stretching or compressing the skin. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Brown-headed Honeyeater Melithreptus brevirostris | LC ema | A very small honeyeater. Travels in flocks. A small pale brown, almost mustard, bare skin ring around the eye makes it look bulging. Olive green back, and grey-white breast. A distinctive buff ring starts by the eye and travels around the back of the head. They are always active, never sitting still. If you can't get a camera, or bino's, on to them you'd easily mistake them for thornbills or silvereyes. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | White-naped Honeyeater Melithreptus lunatus ssp lunatus | RA ema | Orange eye-brow, black head, olive back, grey front. Oh, and a white nape. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis | RA em |
Dark olive with rectangular a white patch around the ear.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | White-fronted Honeyeater Phylidonyris albifrons | LC emr | Raucous. Pronounced yellow & white stripes on black wings. Red spot above back corner of eye. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae | LC ema | Very common. Yellow wing coverts. Heavily streaked black & white breast. White eye-ball with black pupil.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Crescent Honeyeater Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus | Na a | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata | RA em | We were looking through some new photo's to try and improve the examples posted when we noticed a bare skin patch at the back of the eye. Similar to the White-fronted honeyeater, but it's grey with the Striped rather than red. Then we noticed on the other eye that the bare patch was on the front of the eye. THIS IS STRANGE. So we looked more closely at the old photo's and found exactly the same thing. Hmmm .... so is this an asymetrical characteristic of the bird, or did we just happen to photograph the same specimen (with an abnormality) some 18months apart? We couldn't find any mention of it anywhere. NO; we reckon we've worked it out. We think the bare skin becomes more, or less, obvious as the eye moves (ie compreses or stretches to follow they eye direction) Wiki says the bare patch is brown. Looks grey to us. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Yellow-plumed Honeyeater Ptilotula ornata | LC em |
Olive head with a thick yellow line (plume) under the ear. Striated, buff breast. The back is striated-grey bleeding to yellow wings. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | White-plumed Honeyeater Ptilotula penicillata | LC em |
Yellow head. A thin black line highlights a thicker white line (the plume) below the ear. Grey back with olive wings. Lightly striated, buff breast. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Honeyeater Meliphagidae | Black Honeyeater Sugomel niger | RA em | A very twitchy honeyeater, which was being harassed by the other local birds. Chris Steeles, the founder of the South Aussie Birding facebook group, said "The dry outback has forced them down south! Quite a few here and there on the Adelaide plains atm too!". He also agreed this was possibly why we also saw a Crimson Chat for the first time a fortnight ago. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Monarch Flycatcher Monarchidae | Magpie Flycatcher Grallina cyanoleuca | LC m |
The genders are easy to differential. The males have a horizontal line through the eye, the females have a vertical line through the eye. Kudos to Bruce Blackwell for the common name. They aren't Magpies and can be found in many areas of SA, away from the river. They aren't larks, or closely related to the Australian Magpie (even if they have a superficially similar appearance). They are a Flycatcher (surprisingly) and so the common name should reflect that. The common name Mudlark might come from the fact they make mud nests. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Monarch Flycatcher Monarchidae | Restless Flycatcher Myiagra inquieta | RA em |
You'd think this was related to the Willie Wagtail. Very similar on first sighting. But they have a white throat, compared to the Willies black throat. From the front they also look like a White-winged Triller. But the Triller has white patches on it's wings compared with the solid blue/black of the Flycatcher. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Pipit & Wagtail Motacillidae | Australasian Pipit Anthus novaeseelandiae | LC m |
Similar Species: Olive-backed Oriole Chestnut scales and grey under. White brow and beard join behind the eye (not always visible). | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Sittella Neosittidae | Varied Sittella Daphoenositta chrysoptera ssp pileata | NT em | Ours are the "Black-capped Race" Often upside down. Very pretty black & white chequered rump. Yellow legs, beak and eye-ring. Orange stripe on its wings when flying. Upturned beak. Female is actually prettier than the male. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Oriole Oriolidae | Olive-backed Oriole Oriolus sagittatus | RA em | Similar Species: Australasian Pipit About the size of a small Red Wattlebird. Sorry for the terrible photo's, but it was through the caravan window & flyscreen. It was gone before we could get out the door. Very difficult to find the id on this one, but that's because it's a juvenile. Adults look quite different. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Whistler Pachycephalidae | Grey Shrike-thrush Colluricincla harmonica | LC ema | What a song. Pretty, but plain-coloured (grey shades) Juveniles: rufous eye + breast markings. Males have a white patch between the eyes and the beak (ie the lores). But this patch isn't easy to see, depending on lighting. So seeing a white lores means you have a male, while not seeing a white lores doesn't guarantee you have a female. The female has a white eye ring. Both genders sing, not just the male.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Whistler Pachycephalidae | Crested Bellbird Oreoica gutturalis | RA em | Females are similar in appearance to a Grey Shrike-thrush. Males are unmistakable with a white chin and black breast. Their song is quite metallic and resonates through Ellura when they visit.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Whistler Pachycephalidae | Gilbert's Whistler Pachycephala inornata | VU em | They throw their voices, so hard to find. Beautiful, loud song. Apricot chin & rump. Has a blue-grey / steel-grey head, with a brown / grey back. Similar to Grey Shrike-thrush from behind.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Whistler Pachycephalidae | Australian Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis | RA ema | A small whistler, with an olive back. The male has a black head that contrasts starkly with the golden yellow under and neck ring. White chin and black throat bar. The female has drab brown tones by comparison.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Whistler Pachycephalidae | Rufous Whistler Pachycephala rufiventris | RA ema |
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Pardalote Pardalotidae | Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus | LC ema |
What beautifully rich-coloured rumps these have; red through apricot to yellow. Male has a deep yellow breast, while the female's is buff. Both have spotted black crowns, white brows and grey-dappled cheeks. Forewings are pale-yellow dappled on grey / black. Hindwings are white-spotted / white-blotched on black.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Pardalote Pardalotidae | Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus | LC ema |
Attractive array of yellow, grey, fawn, black + a red dot. Its monotonous call gets very tedious when raising chicks. Black crown with usually white, but occasionally yellow streaks. A red spot on its wings shows up in photos when perched. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Sparrow Passeridae | House Sparrow Passer domesticus | If emac | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Southern Scrub-robin Drymodes brunneopygia | VU em | Runs a lot. Doesn't fly much. Well camouflaged at the base of bushes.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Hooded Robin Melanodryas cucullata | RA em | Male is black & white. Females & juveniles are grey and white. Very similar to Jacky Winters, but greyer, with white markings on the back. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans | RA emr | Similar Species: Hooded Robin A plain but petite, pretty bird. Unlike the hooded robin they have a white throat. They are also more buff/fawn. When seen from a distance, their breast often looks to have brown sides, with a white vertical stripe. Like it's wearing an open jacket. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Scarlet Robin Petroica boodang | Na a | ||||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Red-capped Robin Petroica goodenovii | NT em | Female is a pretty, petite bird. Male has bright red cap and breast, black wings & back. White under. It's easy to miss the red cap when it is turned slightly away. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Robin Petroicidae | Flame Robin Petroica phoenicea | CR em | Thank you Matt Campbell for confirming the identification of this species | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Babbler Pomatostomidae | Chestnut-crowned Babbler Pomatostomus ruficeps | NT em | Very similar to the more common white-browed babbler. Easy to miss-identify. However the white lines on the back guarantee Chestnut-crowned vs white-browed. Both have white tips on their tails making them look like fan-tails when they fly. Generally run, skip and hop along the ground. A sentry sits up in a nearby bush to warn those on the ground of danger.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Australasian Babbler Pomatostomidae | White-browed Babbler Pomatostomus superciliosus | LC em | Always chatting. Skipping from one bush to the next. A look-out in a nearby tree keeps them out of camera range | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Fantail Rhipiduridae | Grey Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa | NT ema | A great chirpy character. Smaller than Willie Wagtail, with a black "bow-tie" and a fawn breast. The breast colour varies from white to pale apricot. Has a white brow and chin. Listed in Morcombe's as Rhipidura fuliginosa, but there's either an error or it's a change and so a synonym. | |||||||||||
| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Fantail Rhipiduridae | Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys | LC em |
Cheeky. White brow, faint white cheek line, jet-black head, with wing colour trailing to dark brown.
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | Thrush Turdidae | Bassian Thrush Zoothera lunulata ssp halmaturina | Na a |
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| Perching Birds Passeriformes | White-eye Zosteropidae | Silvereye Zosterops lateralis | NT ema |
Pretty green to grey to olive. White eye-ring isn't easily visible, surprisingly. The Ellura inhabitants are more rufous underneath than those in the Adelaide Hills
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| Pelicans Pelecaniformes | Darter Anhingidae | Australian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae | RA r | ||||||||||||
| Pelicans Pelecaniformes | Pelican Pelecanidae | Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus | LC mr | Huge beak to swallow fish whole. White, yellow eye-ring, blue legs & feet, black wings. Big water bird. | |||||||||||
| Pelicans Pelecaniformes | Cormorant Phalacrocoracidae | Little Pied Cormorant Microcarbo melanoleucos | NT r | ||||||||||||
| Pelicans Pelecaniformes | Cormorant Phalacrocoracidae | Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo | RA r | ||||||||||||
| Pelicans Pelecaniformes | Cormorant Phalacrocoracidae | Pied Cormorant Phalacrocorax varius | RA c | ||||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Cockatoo Cacatuidae | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita | LC ma | King of the parrots. Sulphur yellow head crest that raises when threatened. Otherwise all white. | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Cockatoo Cacatuidae | Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea | LC emac | Little terror more like. All white, with blue eye and red cere. Small white head crest. | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Cockatoo Cacatuidae | Long-billed Corella Cacatua tenuirostris | Na mc | ||||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Cockatoo Cacatuidae | Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus | Na a | ||||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Cockatoo Cacatuidae | Galah Eolophus roseicapillus | LC emar |
Pink breast, grey back and wings. Noisy bugger. They have character. The main difference between the genders is the eye colour (male's are black/dark brown & female's are red/light brown). Notice in the photo's both crest up and down, as well as cheek feathers covering the beak or not. The male bobbing up and down is probably a sign of territory defence.
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| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Australian Ringneck Barnardius zonarius ssp barnardi | LC emr |
Ours are the "Mallee Race" When flying away they are an iridescent display of vivid green and black tips. Have a variable width yellow band around their necks. Starts quite thick near the ear to very thin on the back. Beautiful array of deep blues and iridescent greens, with splashes of red & yellow thrown in for good measure. The males have a much deeper blue back than the females. The male's green areas tend to be more lime green as well; but this is not easy to see. | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Musk Lorikeet Glossopsitta concinna ssp concinna | RA ema | Easily confused with the Purple-crowned. The other sub-species is in Tasmania only. | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Purple-crowned Lorikeet Glossopsitta porphyrocephala | NT em | Small parrot. When flying over it's hard to discern the colour. This is because it's pale blue. Easy to miss them being parrots until you hear them. Brilliant yellow cheeks, red lores (the patch between the eye and the beak), green backs & purple-crown (as the name suggests). | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Blue-winged Parrot Neophema chrysostoma | RA c | Thank you Matt Campbell for confirming the identification of this species These are very similar to Elegan Parrots (Neophema elegans), which is not surprising given they are in the same sub-genus. When commenting on the differences between these & Elegant Parrots, Matt said "The blue on the wings appears as mostly one shade (in the Elegant there is a definite two-toned pattern on the wing) and the band across the face does not extend beyond the eye as it does in an Elegant :)" | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans | LC emar |
Colours are highly variable, from dull yellows to brilliant red front with blue highlights (wing coverts, tail + throat). Black & olive dabbled back. Females are duller than their male partner. In the Mallee they are often seen cohorting with Ringneck Parrots. There is often discussion of the Adelaide & Yellow Rosella being a sub-species/race. This changes so often that we've left it at the higher level of species to always be accurate. If it is finally ratified, once and for all, that there is are Adelaide & Yellow sub-species, these would fall into the Adelaide / Fleurieu category. | |||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Eastern Regent Parrot Polytelis anthopeplus ssp monarchoides | EN emr | A beautiful parrot (similar in size to our Ringnecks) with the males being golden yellow. Females & juveniles are olive green. They have very dark blue (almost black) wings (with red patches) and tail that contrasts starkly with the yellows & green. Like a cherry that tops off a fruit salad; they have a large red beak. It is believed we only get the males & immatures here, as the males forage for food to take back to the nesting females. They travel here in a creche in the morning, returning to their nests in the afternoon. This year (Nov, 2018) the've been returning in the PM as well, we've had a drought so perhaps struggling to find enough food Due to our observations & photos, Beyeria opaca has been added to their food list. Normally only visiting from October, due to the very wet summer/autumn we saw them in May this year (2014). We've looked at the food they eat. They seem to eat the green nuts, with dried ones readily falling off the bush with their feeding disturbance. We also found some green fruit on the ground where the nut wouldn't come out, so assume they were too green. Very few dried shells on the ground, most were whole, indicating they don't try the dry fruit very much. When we opened this dry one, it was VERY tough and hard to open, perhaps too much for the parrots.
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| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Red-rumped Parrot Psephotus haematonotus | LC mr | ||||||||||||
| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Mulga Parrot Psephotus varius | NT emr | Chatty colourful birds which nest in mallee tree hollows. Iridescent aqua-green with red & yellow highlights, and intense blue wings. Females are duller than the males, having a red "shoulder". Males have a yellow "shoulder" Juveniles are distinguished by a lack of yellow above the beak (forehead), and are generally duller.
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| Parrots Psittaciformes | Parrot Psittaculidae | Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus ssp moluccanus | RA ema | Raucous. Orange beak, purple head + rump, yellow shoulder, bright green back, red breast | |||||||||||
| Penguins Sphenisciformes | Penguin Spheniscidae | Little Penguin Eudyptula minor | Na c |
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| Owls Strigiformes | True Owl Strigidae | Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae | RA em | ||||||||||||
| Owls Strigiformes | Barn-owl Tytonidae | Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica | LC m | ||||||||||||
| Flightless Birds Struthioniformes | Emu Dromaidae | Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae | LC em | Big ugly bird, in fact the biggest Australian native bird, but perhaps not the ugliest Runs very fast (up to 50km/hr), is very tall (nearly 2m) and timid. They have a scruffy white collar in breeding season. Their lower beak is serrated, designed for grazing. The male looks after the eggs & young. While incubating them he doesn't eat, drink or defecate! It's not generally possible to determine gender visually. | |||||||||||
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