birds birds birds

this year i bought a pair of binoculars and went on a bush walk with mum in search for some birds. we had no idea what we were doing, but we knew we wanted to see, listen and identify birds we came across.

our first bird was magical. we watched as a small, brownish bird sat in the trees singing songs. it had a patch of darker brown under it's beak which made it look like it was yawning haha.
we stood there for so long, all giddy and excited. this bird was an eastern spinebill.

since then we were hooked. we were officially birders.

28/07/24

bird 1: eastern spinebill
it had a high-pitched call, like a pin dropping every .5 seconds. it was sitting on a tree branch alone. it wasn't a tiny bird like a wren, as it was about 10cm large.




bird 2: superb fairywren
the next bird we identified were a group of superb fairywrens. yes that's their species name lol. they are a gorgeous tiny-looking wren with white, blue and black plummage (i recently learnt plummage means a bird's feathers, collectively speaking).
they were quiet birds, but one thing we noted was that they would hang around in pairs, usually female has light brown plummage while the male has the pretty blue/white/black plummage.

04/08/24

bird 3: grey shrikethrush
this bird was pretty quiet so the only reason we spotted it was due to it's sudden movements in the brush. after flicking through my pocket-sized birdbook, i had no idea what this bird could be. unfortunately, i was quickly distracted by another bird, who seemed to steal the spotlight with it's yellow and grey plummage.
i was recording a video and got both of these species of birds in action, so i figured i could eventually ID them later.
the first bird, admittedly i've only been able to identify today (2 months later! i'm writing this in october), is a grey shrikethrush. a fairly common bird found in most parts of Australia, it has a very unique song that is thought of as a quintessential part of the Australian bush. sadly, this bird didn't sing for us.




bird 4: eastern yellow robin
the bird that stole the show with it's bright yellow belly was the eastern yellow robin.

bird 5: australian raven
we see these everywhere and i always called them crows. but recently learnt they are crows and ravens - what's the difference?
anyway, had to document it. feels the same way when i see a bin chicken - meh.




bird 6: silvereye
appropriately named the silvereye, the next bird we saw in some trees had a silver ring around its eyes. pale body, with grey plummage.
we saw a couple in a tree sitting very close - we think they were mating.




bird 7: eastern whipbird
apparently it still counts as a lifer if you hear the bird even if you can't see it. the sound of the eastern whipbird is so iconic to the australian bush.
it's definitely my favourite bird sound i've heard so far. i could listen to it for hours!!!! i don't have a photo obviously so i will share a reference from online.




bird 8: laughing kookaburra
obviously i've seen kookaburras everywhere all the time. but they are so cute and sweet to listen to. we stayed and watched this little kooky for a few minutes, as its was perched on a branch quite low to the ground and very close by us.
this is one of my favourite iphone+binocular lens photos.

10/08/24

bird 9: pied oystercatcher
i never thought about the birds that are local. and i definitely never thought i would discover new birds.
there was a pair of pied oystercatchers hanging out near the water, i'm guessing they were hunting for oysters (?) or something to eat.




bird 10: little black cormorant
not sure why they are called "little". these birds were quite large, with huge wing spans hanging out in huge flocks.
maybe they are called little because great cormorants exist? hmmm.

11/08/24

bird 11: rainbow lorikeet
i'm only documenting this because it's the pride bird and people overseas might think it's cool. these are SO common in australia.

18/08/24

bird 12: australian king-parrot
pretty bird, usually in more rural areas or where there's a lot of trees. i like the red and green contrast.

25/08/24

bird 13: australasian figbird
can't remember much about this bird other than they had a unique birdsong. no field photo, so here's a reference from online




bird 14: maned duck
cute ducks waddling on the grass.

1/09/24

bird 15: australasian swamphen
blue and black farm bird.




bird 16: white-faced heron
cool heron i saw on my walk.

6/10/24

bird 17: red-browed firetail
next big birding trip was in the blue mountains!!
we went on the six foot track, which honestly didn't seem like a great trail for birding.
it was windy and the trail was like the minecraft plains biome. every now and then we walked through some small forests, but it just wasn't enough to see many birds.
we gave up after 3 hours and turned back. and that's when we spotted a bird with a red eyebrow and red tail! a sweet little red browed finch (or firetail)
i didn't get a field photo unfortunately, as i wanted to look at it through my binoculars before it flew away. cosmo and i made a mental note of what it looked like, and decided we could ID it later.
i definitely felt awe when i saw it. especially since we were feeling pretty unlucky with the birds.
here's a reference from online.

3/10/24

bird 18: sulphur-crested cockatoo
this bird is super common but i love how friendly they are. they look like a 70s Cronulla surfer dad.




bird 19: chestnut teal
i spotted this duck with its mate and 2 ducklings, swimming across the river while i was kayaking. so cute!!!