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    Great Tits

    Australian Brush Turkey on Sunday's walk. Colloquially known as the Bush Turkey. Baiting of feral foxes in recent years has meant they are seen more and more frequently in suburbs close to the bush, like ours. Much maligned by many gardeners as they can make a hell of a mess. Nice to have around though, and they send the dog into a frenzy:

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      Great Tits

      I love the bush turkeys! When I lived in Queensland we used to have a pair that raked our back yard for us. They had a huge pile of leaves and mulch in the gully down the back - it was quite impressive.

      Melbourne's dreadful winter weather has kept me from doing too much birding lately, but a work trip to Perth meant I snagged a couple of decent photos. The yellow-billed spoonbill was very obliging, while the Nankeen night-heron stayed tucked between the trees cautiously peering out.



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        Great Tits

        Awestruck gyp. Gorgeous. Got any black cockatoos?

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          Great Tits

          When you were in Queensland did you get these (Orange-footed Scrubfowl)? (Not my photo):



          When we go on hols in North QLD they're a family favourite, known (by us) as Coconout Birds as they're often seen around fallen coconuts and, stood still from a distance tend to blend in.

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            Great Tits

            I saw them on a holiday around Cape Trib a few years back, but my photos were all rubbish. Similarly I've not had much luck with the black cockatoos either in Melbourne or Sydney - the best I've managed was this blurry YTBC in the rainy Blue Mountains.



            I've only really got excited about the photography side of things in the past year or two, and am gradually working out how to get the most out of my camera.

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              Great Tits

              Thanks gyp. I'd be pretty chuffed with that photo.

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                Great Tits

                All my years living in England I wanted to see a Little Owl, and never did. Yesterday evening, driving between Okehampton and Lydford, Mrs. S did. I was focusing intently on the road ahead, and missed it completely.

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                  Great Tits

                  Cockatoos, in clover:

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                    Great Tits

                    Nice.

                    We've a group of about 25 young independent sparrows feeding in our garden at the moment. Apparently this is quite normal, and they will break up and separate in the autumn when they create their own family units.

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                      Great Tits

                      That's lovely Sits; where were they??

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                        Great Tits

                        Well, they're nowhere now. Tinypic have started playing silly buggers. No time to sort it out All mine will have gone.

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                          Great Tits

                          Ah, all back to normal.

                          Thanks VA, they were just grazing by the side of the road when I was walking home from the station yesterday evening. So to be specific, Lindfield NSW,

                          They are pretty nonchalant about people and dogs when in that sort of situation, unless lunged at.

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                            Great Tits

                            Love this thread! I've been getting out and about a bit more now that Melbourne's weather has started to improve. Still just local city parks, but there are lovely birds to be found even in the midst of industrial suburbs like Brunswick.

                            Australasian grebe


                            Red-browed finch


                            Superb fairy-wren

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                              Great Tits

                              The weather has really turned now, and I'm getting more and more confident with this camera. We had a weekend at Lorne (a small coastal town about 2 hours out of Melbourne) recently, and I spent far too much time tracking down interesting birds.

                              Gang-gang cockatoo (which have the most wonderfully creaky call).


                              An Australian king parrot.


                              A male superb fairy-wren.

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                                Great Tits

                                A sad picture. A Winter Wren flew into a glass door yesterday. Poor little bugger:

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                                  Great Tits

                                  Nipped along to Martin Mere on Friday to take some photos of the waterfowl...

                                  Whooper swans







                                  Pink footed geese

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                                    Great Tits

                                    Oooh, that last picture is very nice.

                                    I've been waiting to get a decent view of the Snow and Brant Geese this year but it just hasn't happened yet.

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                                      Great Tits

                                      Some awesome pictures on this thread and page, thanks for sharing.

                                      I've had some good aviary action from my balcony earlier this week, with a pretty intense episode of a peregrine falcon pair hunting the local pack of pigeons, but I don't have the gear to capture that. It looked like the falcon had a successful hunt, which doesn't happen that often, healthy pigeons being very good flyers.

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                                        Great Tits

                                        Seconded Linus. I was amazed when we moved to a high rise office to see that Peregrines live high up in the centre of Sydney.

                                        Other recent (non photographed) treats have included yellow-tailed black cockatoos, and my daughter walked out to the car the other night to find a tawny frogmouth sitting on it. A strange, spooky bird looking like a cross between an owl and a nightjar. Not my pic:

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                                          Great Tits

                                          gyp wrote: I saw them on a holiday around Cape Trib a few years back, but my photos were all rubbish. Similarly I've not had much luck with the black cockatoos either in Melbourne or Sydney - the best I've managed was this blurry YTBC in the rainy Blue Mountains.



                                          I've only really got excited about the photography side of things in the past year or two, and am gradually working out how to get the most out of my camera.
                                          A crap day awaits at work today, but my mood was lifted by seeing one of these big buggers float past my office window just now, the 18th floor in the middle of the city centre. I have never seen one anywhere near the city before.

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                                            Great Tits

                                            This picture isn't really worthy of posting, but I've been trying to photograph the elusive Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos in our area. They are not especially rare, but stay in the bush and don't venture into residential areas. The other issue is you don't know they're there until they've almost gone. Unless they've found a particularly tasty pine they fly quite high, soaring and keening like eagles.

                                            Which is exactly how I saw these; heard them, looked up by which time they were above me, fumbled for the iPhone, pointed it, didn't have time to focus (which shows) and they were gone. Lovely big birds.

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                                              Great Tits

                                              Oooh, I didn't know about this thread!

                                              So, speaking of elusive, I tracked this Blackcap for about half an hour when I was out on the Downs a couple of weeks ago. Every time he let me get close enough to get a low quality shot but moved before I could take anything better. This was probably the best one.

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                                                Great Tits

                                                Oh I remember blackcaps. Well SDR now you know about it there's a second home for your kite.

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                                                  Great Tits

                                                  See quite a few Black Redstarts in the garden here, but in the last 2 days have also seen 2 actual Redstarts (30km apart, so definitely 2 separate birds). They are bloody gorgeous birds.

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                                                    Great Tits

                                                    Only ever saw them once, in the New Forest. They're like a robin's better-looking cousins. Distinctive call too if I remember.

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