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    What's yours Sits, and what's it feeding on?

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      It's a Rainbow Lorikeet, possibly the most common bird in the Greater Sydney region, believe it or not. No idea what the plant is but by the leaves it has to be a member of the eucalyptus family, many of which flower quite flamboyantly. It's growing in a shrubby shape, on the verge outside someone's house round the corner from us. This photo illustrates how a lot of Australia's pollination is performed by its many nectar eating birds.

      Also the apparently outrageous plumage colours start to make sense in this context.

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        Egrets, I’ve seen a few
        But then again, too few to mention

        Big Garden Birdwatch Weekend is here:
        We hadn’t put any special food out but leftover bread and some ends of cheese nevertheless attracted pairs of blackbirds, bluetits, 3 wood pigeon and single magpie, robin and great tit.

        Big absentee is Dunnock who we see in good numbers most of the year

        You're supposed to do one sample hour

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          'Our' sparrow hawk is back, this time its prey of choice seems to be a collared dove which put up a fight for quite a while, not an easy watch but such is nature. Sorry about the quality of the pic but I didn't want to open the (mucky) window and scare it off.

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            Crikey, that must've been quite something, RC.


            Originally posted by Sits View Post
            It's a Rainbow Lorikeet, possibly the most common bird in the Greater Sydney region, believe it or not. No idea what the plant is but by the leaves it has to be a member of the eucalyptus family, many of which flower quite flamboyantly. It's growing in a shrubby shape, on the verge outside someone's house round the corner from us. This photo illustrates how a lot of Australia's pollination is performed by its many nectar eating birds.

            Also the apparently outrageous plumage colours start to make sense in this context.
            Thanks Sits!


            Most notable count in this morning's Big Garden Birdwatch was 13 simultaneous house sparrows, which must be their best showing in literally decades. There always used to be flocks of them around in the late '80s and early '90s, but their numbers had fallen off a cliff to such an extent it was rare to see one in the garden a few years ago. They seem to be making a decent comeback locally (South Wales), if my garden observations are anything to go by anyway.

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              House Sparrows under threat!? Good grief. Why?

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                Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                House Sparrows under threat!? Good grief. Why?
                Disease, there was a massive infection all over Europe, as said above, they're making a comeback gradually.

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                  Wow. I hadn't heard that.

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                    Busy today so didn't have time to do the big garden birdwatch, which is annoying. We've had a lot of jackdaws this winter, scrapping with the wood pigeons for bird table supremacy - our great spotted woodpecker is still a regular visitor to the fat blocks too.

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                      I took another couple of photos of the little egret last week.

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                          Just a gull. But I really liked the light shining through it's nostril (yeah, OK that's weird I know.)

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                            Quite possibly one of the best wildlife photographs that I've ever seen.

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                              That's nuts. It had never struck me as such that since the nostrils are just openings into the hollow bill, you can simply look in one side of the closed bill and out the other. It's something that just doesn't come up often, of course. Great photo Amor.

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                                Thanks guys... I thought it was just me.

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                                  Amazing. And I just noticed the water dripping from the beak.

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                                    I think they're feather fragments, maybe with some moisture clinging to them. Possibly he/she had been grooming themself.

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                                      Ah yes. Of course if you’d managed to focus a bit more clearly...

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                                        Ha! Your comment about the small feathers on the beak led me to Google. They're called Filoplumes apparently:

                                        "Filoplumes are minute hairlike feathers consisting of a shaft (rachis) bearing a few unattached barbs. They are found between the contour feathers, and are used principally as insulation, to conserve body heat."

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                                          Decided to go the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust site at Martin Mere yesterday, thinking it might not be long before they had to close. As it happens I managed to get in on the very last day as they were closed from this morning, which is very disappointing (although I'm obviously chuffed that I had the foresight to get a visit in when I did).

                                          Saw 38 different species, including two new ticks (Great Crested Grebe and Avocet). Managed to get some serviceable photos of some of them, which I'll crop and tidy up and put on here over the next few days.

                                          Starting with the thread title species, the Great Tit.

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                                            Lovely shot TrL, clear as a bell. I'm intrigued though from your description – were those lifetime ticks, or Martin Mere ticks for you? I find it hard to imagine you've never seen a great crested grebe nor avocet before.

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                                              Mmmm nice! The new plumage is always a gift if the light's good.

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                                                Originally posted by Sits View Post
                                                It's a Rainbow Lorikeet, possibly the most common bird in the Greater Sydney region, believe it or not. No idea what the plant is but by the leaves it has to be a member of the eucalyptus family, many of which flower quite flamboyantly. It's growing in a shrubby shape, on the verge outside someone's house round the corner from us. This photo illustrates how a lot of Australia's pollination is performed by its many nectar eating birds.

                                                Also the apparently outrageous plumage colours start to make sense in this context.
                                                It's a Yellow Gum according to me plant identification app...

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                                                  Thanks Willie.

                                                  Now that autumn is here the tiny Musk Lorikeets are in town, flying faster and higher, staying higher in the trees than the Rainbows and twittering a lot more shrilly. Absolutely impossible to get a pic of too.

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                                                    Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                                    Lovely shot TrL, clear as a bell. I'm intrigued though from your description – were those lifetime ticks, or Martin Mere ticks for you? I find it hard to imagine you've never seen a great crested grebe nor avocet before.
                                                    No, lifetime ticks - I don't go birding (except the occasional trip to Martin Mere), I just like to go places that tend to have plenty of wildlife and find out what it is that I'm gawping at. I've not been to Martin Mere at this time of year before, hence the range of species is different from when I've been in autumn.

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