Within hours of arriving in Australia I had seen birds that I had never seen before and over the holiday I saw many that I had never photographed before. So far as I am aware only a few of the birds (The Darter, the Little Pied Cormorant and the Crimson Rosella) appear in New Zealand.
Red Wattle Bird
Pied Currawong
Darter
Yellow Crested Cockatoo
Ibis
Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka
Noisy Miner
Currawong
Kookuburra
Magpie Lark (Peewit or Peewee)
Australian Pale-Yellow Robin
Crimson Rosella
Australian King Parrot
Lyre Bird
Black Cockatoo
Australian Rainbow Lorikeet
Australian Honeyeater
Posts
gooooorgeous !!! I used to love Rosellas up in Whangarei. Our birds seem dull compared to having Lorikeets around
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten, Fiona, that we have Crimson Rosellas up in the north of North Island. I've seen them in Tauranga.
DeleteSuperb photographs. I am glad the Kookaburra exists. I thought it was a made up word.
ReplyDeleteThank you Adrian. Big Bertha would have done better if she had been on hand but all mine were spur of the moment opportunistic shots. I saw more Kookaburras than I realised existed. They are as common as their Kingfisher cousin is here around The Cottage.
DeleteNow I remember why I thought NZ birds were so quiet and colourless when I first arrived in this country. This post has made me really nostalgic.
ReplyDeletePauline I sit here so often listening to the Tui and Bell Bird and perhaps our birds are not so quiet (the Australasian Magpies that plague the area are, of course from Australia so don't count). I agree, however, that New Zealand's birds are certainly not colourful!
DeleteI think the Bell Bird would have to be one of my favourite bird calls ~ if the NZ one us the same as the AUS one. I wonder?
DeleteFrom what I can gather Carol the Australian Bell Bird or Bell Miner is completely different to the New Zealand bird. You can see and hear the NZ one here although when I hear it near The Cottage it's much clearer and continuous.
DeleteWow - that's all I've got so say - Wow!
ReplyDeleteGosh CJ. Mind you if you'd been with me I'm sure we'd have got a lot more.
DeleteYou and your camera certainly make a good team! I can't say I know any of these even if I do recognize two or three names (like 'parrot'!) I did not look them all up, but checked the ibis. I thought that was a stork (or kind of). However (from the Swedish wiki article) I now learn that while it used to be counted with the storks, it is now considered to be a pelican. I get very confused when They keep changing Facts like that... ;)
ReplyDeleteMonica I think that the long focus high magnification bridge camera has been one of the most significant camera developments since digital all but replaced film.
Deletewat heerlijk om zulke mooie vogels tegen te komen.
ReplyDeleteBas ik nooit stoppen worden versteld staan van de nieuwe dingen die ik zie als ik op reis.
DeleteThey're all so beautiful....you did well....this post was worth waiting for.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting since we don't have any of them on the island.
Virginia Australia and New Zealand both have a plethora of creatures not found elsewhere although many species have been introduced since Europeans came.
DeleteSuperb pictures GB! What a wonderful avian gallery. My particular favourite was the Australian Pale-Yellow Robin.
ReplyDeleteThank You YP. That little chap certainly has a great deal of charm that the others do not have however spectacular they may be.
DeleteIt is a spectacle each year when the red-tailed black cockatoo migrate North. You captured birds that even I have not seen GB ~ the Red Wattle bird and the Pale Yellow Robin. Lovely looking birds.
ReplyDeleteThe Wattle Bird happened to be on the balcony of the next apartment Carol. An amazing 'find'.
DeleteAwesome shots. They certainly have much different birds than we have.
ReplyDeleteYes Red. The indigenous birds in Australia and New Zealand are a world apart from those in Europe and North America.
DeleteOooh these are fantastic, and you've just identified a couple of birds I photographed in 2005. I saw at least half of these on my trip to Australia, but definitely not the kookuburra or honeyeater. That honeyeater really is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of assistance Helen. I could not believe how many Kookaburras (I seem to have originally spelt it incorrectly) there were.
DeleteYour pictures could really be used in a book about birds, they are great! I think the Lyre bird is my favourite.
ReplyDeleteThanks Meike. The Lyre bird is a rather unusual bird and a Fiona was quite thrilled that we'd managed to see one.
DeleteFascinating birds. The rainbow coloured lorrikeet is what I'd love to see flying past the window, but I do find kookaburras most extraordinary looking, although quite attractive as they always seem so neat, trim and self contained, somehow. I love the magpie lark too; it has a slightly "raggamuffin" look. The Currawong obviously has a lot of personality, of some kind or another - wouldn't quite like to venture a guess as to what it is saying there!
ReplyDeleteJenny the lorrikeets fly so fast I just saw a streak of colour as they flew past the apartment's balcony where I used to sit. I like your descriptions of the others. Given that the Magpie Lark was wandering around our feet gathering up crumbs your description is all the more apt.
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