franco
Trail Wise!
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Post by franco on Sept 2, 2021 14:15:11 GMT -8
The Black Shouldered Kite landing, from yesterday.
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Birds!
Sept 6, 2021 14:05:01 GMT -8
Post by franco on Sept 6, 2021 14:05:01 GMT -8
I mentioned before that I do talk to the birds. This is me yesterday having a talk with this lovely swan. Not sure were her mate was, he did not come close.
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Birds!
Sept 15, 2021 14:48:29 GMT -8
Post by franco on Sept 15, 2021 14:48:29 GMT -8
I was waiting for someone else to post.. Anyway, this is a Brown Falcon, from yesterday
looks better if you click on the image.
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GaliWalker
Trail Wise!
Have camera, will use.
Posts: 3,698
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Post by GaliWalker on Sept 17, 2021 10:00:46 GMT -8
I was waiting for someone else to post.. If you insist! I was recently on a trekking trip in the Karakoram Range when I noticed these birds flying around our campsite at ~14,000ft, which looked a lot like crows but weren't. They had a yellow beak and red feet, their tail feathers were differently shaped and they cried rather than cawed. I asked the local people what they were called and they said "crows". When I pointed out the differences, one of them offered "mountain crows". Yeah right, sez I, but upon returning home and Googling, I IDed the birds as Alpine Choughs, which is, in fact, a cousin of the crow. Evidently, or so Google said, they are some of the highest nesting birds around; we saw even bigger versions later at 17,000ft.
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franco
Trail Wise!
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Post by franco on Sept 17, 2021 14:18:41 GMT -8
Very good. Corvids are often mistaken, for example here most call our ravens crows. Our choughs here are the White Winged type. We had two flocks on our property in the country. (in fact they are not a true chough, they belong to a different family) They live in small flocks of 10 to 15, only one pair will reproduce, all the rest help in bringing the offspring up. Each flock has its own ,slightly different, song. The peculiar part with our two flocks was that they were on he different side of the trail going up to our dam, so I would here one song on one side and the other on the other side.
They make a nest on an horizontal branch so that all can land there to feed the young ones. Often the last on the line will look around and with all the others having left , it will eat the food instead of giving it to the little ones. I have seen them doing it.
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Post by Coolkat on Oct 5, 2021 11:40:22 GMT -8
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Post by franco on Oct 5, 2021 20:02:37 GMT -8
A couple from this morning. Royal Spoonbill and Whiskered tern.
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Post by franco on Oct 15, 2021 0:18:42 GMT -8
A photo my wife took today. This is a young Magpie, I am guessing the first day on the ground. As we were getting closer to it, dad arrived , fed the young one some grab and then turned towards us for a good look. This is the time of the year when magpies become very agressive towards people close to their young ones BUT they do not harass people they know. This was in an area we walk by four or five times a week so there is a very good chance that the adult does know us very well (we talk to them as we go by) . As I was talking to them the young one moved towards us and dad just stoot there looking. I thought that was nice. In the meantime cyclists were scooting by with their "magpie proof " helmets. As you can see in the photo, no matter the helmet , the bird either likes you or it does not...
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franco
Trail Wise!
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Post by franco on Oct 15, 2021 0:26:38 GMT -8
Another similar corvid. A Raven. This one flew to a close by post for a good look. Then his mate came to collect him. Yesterday one was just ahead on the trail we were on . I took a couple of photos , then the bird proceeded to walk ahead of us for about 30 metres or so with us taking photos as we were moving ahead.
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Post by franco on Oct 15, 2021 15:43:13 GMT -8
This is from about 3 years ago hen we had a property in the country. It came up on FaceBook the other day. Late afternoon, my cat Sonny watching a pair of Pacific Ducks across the small frog pond. By then Sonny had given up chasing birds and was happy just to watch. (took me a couple of months to teach him that) Not long after they had 13 chicks and one morning I saw mother duck leading the procession down the hill towards a much larger dam my neighbour had. Most were later eaten by foxes (I think...) but five survived and one day they all flew away.
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Post by downriver on Oct 19, 2021 17:44:00 GMT -8
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Post by franco on Oct 19, 2021 21:59:14 GMT -8
Today was a special day for us because we finally found the elusive Crested Shrike-tit.
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Birds!
Oct 20, 2021 5:47:42 GMT -8
Post by trinity on Oct 20, 2021 5:47:42 GMT -8
Today was a special day for us because we finally found the elusive Crested Shrike-tit. Congratulations on the find and the great photo! What a beautiful bird.
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franco
Trail Wise!
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Post by franco on Oct 20, 2021 13:51:20 GMT -8
Thank you. Yesterday was a special day because we were looking for two animals that some have spotted in that area but us and most others have failed to find. Not only we found the bird we found the skink and in three places too. All spots that I had already inspected before. That is about a foot long, as large as they get. but here is another bird photo. The swan family. One of those signets we have spotted in the last few days taking a ride on mom . The swan female is smaller .
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franco
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,297
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Post by franco on Oct 22, 2021 14:06:00 GMT -8
Two from yesterday. Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo. The Black cockies will go back North soon but we just spotted the first two Bar Tailed Godwit. These fly all the way from Siberia or Alaska in one single flight.
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