Ravens nesting

It's still mid-winter in Adelaide but I have seen nesting behaviour - gathering sticks, courting displays and so on lately.  Yesterday on my walk home, I notice two Little Ravens on top of a Stobie (telephone) pole, one of them with a large multi-branched twig in it's beak.  They were being dive-bombed by a gang of Noisy Miners.  Noisy Miners do seem to pick on certain birds and gang up on them; they maybe have their reasons, but it's commonly seen around Adelaide.  Anyway, the Raven with the twig eventually flew away, and it's mate stayed to take the flak from the Miners.  There were about 6 or 8 of the Miners.  I've also watched them dive-bomb my cat as soon as it walked out the door into the garden, and often seen them pick on Australian Magpies and other birds - size is no object, a Raven for example is twice the Miner size.  They will also appear to deliberately annoy a single Magpie or pigeon, whether on their own or in a gang.  Entertaining for me but not for their victim, I'm sure.  Here is my sketch.  The Raven's body is a bit short, but you get the idea.

Little Raven being dive-bombed by a gang of Noisy Miners 

©Christine Linton

More and more birds ...

I have just been adding to the Birds of Linear Park page, and I'm up to 32 now.  One of the largest birds I see there is the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo.  This sketch I made for a quilt featuring this lovely bird, which I then appliqued on to the quilt.

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

©Christine Linton

New Page

I have just added a new page to the blog, after sitting down and listing all the birds I have seen at Linear Park, here in Adelaide.  I have so far only walked part of this park, which runs along the River Torrens on both sides, and is a rare example of how successful co-operation between several council areas can be.  I found 24 birds in my memory immediately, all seen often.

Nicobar pigeon

I'm very fond of pigeons, I think they are rather appealing.  I just discovered a pigeon from South East Asia, from the Nicobar Islands, called of course the Nicobar Pigeon.  This is a gorgeous bird.  It has beautiful long feathers from it's head and iridescent feathers.  There are a number of You Tube videos but this one seems to get the best close-up view.  If not for copyright, I would have loved to post one of the many online images available right here.

Red Wattlebird

I snapped this Red Wattle bird from the footpath underneath the tree before it flew off.  I was so pleased to get clearly the yellow belly patch.

Red Wattle Bird, Adelaide 

©Christine Linton

Australian Grebe

They don't stay still for long, keep diving just as you bring the binoculars up - Australian Grebes live on the nearly wetland at Lochiel Park.

©Christine Linton, Australian Grebe

Last year I watched a pair displaying mirroring behaviour - fascinating as they seemed to know exactly what their partner was about to do.  This video is of Great Crested Grebes which is also lovely to watch.