Bowerbirds and an empty nest

An empty nest!  The baby Red Wattlebirds I've been visiting for the past couple of weeks have now flown the nest.  I was amazed at how quickly they had grown up and felt a small sense of loss, my babies are out in the big wide world!  However, I didn't have to look very far to find them both, sitting in nearby bushes waiting for their parents to come and feed them.  One of them was trying some short flights from branch to branch, climbing higher into a tree, whilst the other was happy just to sit and wait in a bush.  I bet the active one was the bigger one in the nest that was always reaching higher for food!

If I'd had a little longer this lunchtime I might have got a shot of the parents feeding these little ones, I tried a couple of times but missed the moment, they are very quick!  I guess before another week is passed they might be fending for themselves. 

I ate lunch close to where I'd first seen the male Satin Bowerbird and after I'd finished I caught a glimpse of him chasing a female through the trees.  I followed them around for a bit, then saw him sitting in a tree - once again he was proving elusive...

...However, I managed to sneak up behind him as he made off towards the female and got a couple of good pictures.  One cheeky young Crimson Rosella sidled up next to him which was quite amusing (I know it is a young Rosella as there is still a lot of green on his wings - when he is an adult this changes to blue).  On my next adventure I will try and find the Satin Bowerbird's 'bower' - here is a link to a flickr gallery of what this might look like.  I like the description from a comment on there of what a bower is: 'they aren't nests. They are dance floors, discos, if you like, for picking up girls!'  So, more like a 'love nest'! The Satin Bowerbird has a fancy for all things blue to decorate his bower.  I've heard that in Canberra milk bottle tops used to be blue, but they had to change the colour as the Bowerbirds were stealing them!

 Just as I was leaving the gardens I couldn't resist trying to get a shot of a cute little breeding male Superb Fairy-wren who was hopping along the path - for once it was quite successful.   He has a few bird rings on his feet so seems he has been part of a survey at some point.  A number of studies of fairy-wrens have been conducted in these gardens by the ANU, some details of this work can be found on Professor Cockburn's webpage at the school of Botany and Zoology. 

The Grevilleas are back

Today it was really warming up in the garden, beginning to feel like Australia should again - hot and sunny! I was determined to go and check on the little baby wattlebirds, despite some outrageously inappropriate footwear (stiletto boots) and a skirt.  So I tottered through the Banksia and around the Grevillea section, which is really beginning to come into bloom.  Some are only just starting, like the Grevillea beadleana, a very attractive 'toothbrush'-flowered variety endemic to a very small region in north eastern New South Wales, which I previously photographed in bloom back in March.  Another 'toothbrush' was in full flower and looking beautiful, Grevillea hookeriana - that species is much more widespread in the south-west of Western Australia.

There were lots of bees buzzing around some of the Grevillea, particularly this Grevillea juniperina hybrid where I managed to get a close up of a bee on the flower:

 Grevillea dimorpha, or the 'red spider flower', endemic to the Grampians in Victoria, was looking very good too - this flowers through Winter to Spring.  I wondered if it was called dimorpha as the flowers looked very spiky on some branches but rounded on others, but according to the Australian Plant Society Latrobe Valley Group 'dimorpha' is referring to the variable leaves.  Although called spider flower due to the shape of its flowers, I quite aptly found a tiny spider on one of the flowers (possibly a harmless garden orb spider?)

I also came across a new flower which is just as stunning as the Grevillea, Calothamnus quadrifidus or Common netbush (endemic to south-west Western Australia), Calothamnus literally means 'beautiful shrub' from Greek! 

Anyhow, enough about the flowers, what about those baby wattlebirds!  Well, I was amazed how much they had grown in just a week.  They have lost their scraggly necks, filling out with feathers and even beginning to show signs of the red lobes on their necks that gives them their name 'red' wattlebird. 

  I also spied what I think is another baby bird taking a bath.  I'm not sure what species he is, maybe some kind of Robin - he has those kind of eyes and beak?  There was an Eastern Yellow Robin nearby which may have been a parent, but really I don't know, anyone out there have any idea?! Anyhow, isn't he cute! 

More snaps of the baby wattlebirds

I couldn't resist going back to the gardens again on Friday to see if I could get some better pictures of the baby red wattlebirds.  I had gone on Thursday without my camera and stood close by as one of the parents visited the nest and fed the babies, I was hoping I could catch that with my camera!  I managed to zoom in and the babies were looking over the top of the nest this time so I could see their little beady eyes, however when mummy or daddy arrived there were just too many leaves in the way - you might be able to make out the yellow on the parent's chest in the last picture below?!

 I will go back again next week and have another go, I guess they will be a little bigger then too!  Lots of lovely flowers are all around the gardens, as well as the wattle of course.  I took a picture of a very pretty yellow flower called Goodia lotifolia - that sounds a bit like some Latin I made up myself!  This bush has a number of common names, the one on the label in the gardens was 'golden tip', which seemed very apt.  Below that is Grevillea corrugata, a relatively rare Grevillea, endemic to a small region in South-western Australia near Bindoon.  Philotheca 'poorinda', an unusual pretty pink cross between an Eriostemon and a Philotheca, in the background. 

 I also managed to get a nice shot of one of my favourite birds, a cute little Eastern Yellow Robin.  I like them as they have a similar character to the Robin 'red-breast' we have in the UK: quite inquisitive and friendly, they like to sit and look at you for a while on a branch - also great for taking a photo too! However, the Eastern Yellow Robin is of the genus Eopsaltria, meaning 'dawn singer', unrelated to the European red robin, related instead to many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, Fairy-wrens and honeyeaters. 

What a load of Wattle!

I have been away on various trips lately and so it has taken a while since my last blog for me to get around to photographing the glorious yellow blooms of the Wattle.  They are simply bursting like rays of bright sunshine across the gardens, Spring is here!  The Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha is Australia's floral emblem - you can read about its significance on the ANBG website here.  I really don't remember the Wattle looking so amazing last year, as a pom I see it as Australia's answer to the Daffodil. 

So beautiful.  As I was wandering around taking Wattle pictures I heard a strange rasping noise I'd never heard before coming from a Banksia bush.  I looked hard and worked out where the noise was coming from - a Red Wattlebird's nest!  One of the parents was nearby (not sure if it was Mum or Dad - both parents feed the young).  I didn't want to disturb the nest or frighten the chicks so I couldn't get my camera very close and used the zoom, but the nest was quite well concealed in the Banksia, despite being at eye-level!  Here are a couple of shots of the chicks (you will have to look hard amongst the leaves in the first photo) and parent on the lookout up in a tree. 

Nearby a kangaroo was grazing, he has a very friendly sort of face (not sure if it is a he but it seemed like a 'he' - no joey in sight anyhow!). 

As I was leaving the gardens I came across a new bird I hadn't seen before, always very exciting particularly in these gardens that I visit so often.  It was a Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, and a fully mature male at that - young males may begin to acquire their adult plumage in their fifth year and are not fully 'attired' until they are seven.  His colour was gorgeous, the most beautiful deep shiny dark blue all over.  He was a bit elusive however, I spent a while chasing him round some bushes trying to get a clear shot but he wasn't co-operating and I had to get back to the office... so this is the best I managed!   Hopefully I will see him again and be able to get a better picture next time. 

A twilight adventure

I have been waiting a year for this evening.  Once a year the botanic garden opens the gates at night to a handful of lucky visitors as part of National Science Week.  Last year I was unlucky and didn't sign up in time, so this year I put my name down and my partner Edd's good and early!  Although today was a bit wet and windy, by this evening the sky had cleared and the stars were out.  It was cold, probably close to zero, but we had wrapped up warm and were armed with torches.  We split into groups of 8, we were with a guide called Will.  As we set off along the rainforest walk it really felt like an adventure. 

The plants made fantastic shapes in the spotlight.  Here an ancient species, Bunya Pine Araucaria bidwillii is lit dramatically from below.   Will, our guide, pointed this out as a special tree, of the genus Araucaria.  The 'nuts' are edible and valued by aboriginal people.  Another ancient species, the famous Wollemi pine Wollemia nobilis, is glowing in the spotlight below.

Next came the highlight of the evening.  we were wandering past the Acacias towards the Eucalypt lawn when one of the group were startled by a large bird sitting right by the path.  The bird flew up into a tree and there he sat for us to watch him for a while. It was a nocturnal bird I hadn't seen in the wild before and I was very excited to see one as it is such a very unique being - the Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides.  Will switched to a red spotlight so as not to bother the bird too much and I was able to get some lovely shots. 

 The Tawny Frogmouth is a nocturnal bird, but it is not an owl.  You can see why it is called a frogmouth, it has a strange frog-like beak you can make out quite well in the first picture. 

After that we came across a little mob of Kangaroos on the Eucalypt Lawn.  A couple of them were mothers with little joeys in their pouches.  I had no idea there were so many Kangaroos in the gardens, Ive only ever seen one or two at a time so I thought that was all of them!

We carried on through the gardens, looking at plenty of acacia which are coming into flower - it won't be long before the gardens are ablaze with their yellow blooms.  The moon looked down on us as we passed under Eucaplytus trees, we learnt how to tell where South is from the Southern Cross, tasted some native plums, smelt some Lemon Myrtle leaves and all the while we were trying to spot the elusive little Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps which are extremely cute little things we were really hoping to see. 

By this time it was getting late and so we headed towards our hot chocolate and biscuits.  Just before we arrived we spied a Brush-tailed Possum Trichosurus vulpecula up above!  With the red spotlight it was possible to get a nice picture without the red eyes I usually get with my flash. 

So, did we see an elusive Sugar Glider?  Yes, we did!! We heard a noise just before we went for our hot chocolates and a sharp-eyed member of our group spotted him.  We couldn't get close enough for a picture as he was high in a tree, he looked like a tiny possum from a distance.  Here is a link to an image someone else has taken of one of these cute little things, though maybe it is an image from the USA, as I believe you can keep them as pets over there (certainly not in Australia).  I was so happy to see all the creatures I had hoped to see tonight, it was really worth a year to wait, I just wish they ran these events more often.  There are two more tours on this week, so if you are free on Thursday or Friday evening sign up!

Baby Kookaburra!

Before I even made to the gardens today I took a look out of my office window and saw this lovely little Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae sitting in the trees close by.  I think he might be a baby, he is so fluffy!  Although not technically in the gardens I couldn't resist posting a few of the nice shots I took, it was great having him at eye-level (my office is on the 1st floor)!

There have been 3 Kookaburras flying about lately, they seemed to be getting quite territorial as they have been 'laughing' a lot!  In the last picture you can see some of the yellow of the Acacia that is starting to bloom in the background.  A quick trip to the gardens after that, I spied a little female Superb fairy-wren so tried (and failed) to get a good picture - the best effort is below as she was stretching up and looking towards me! 

A really stunning flower I hadn't seen before was in bloom and was attracting lots of New Holland Honeyeaters to feed on the nectar.  It is Calothamnus rupestris in the family Myrtaceae, or 'Mouse Ears' as it is commonly known! According to the link above, it is endemic to Western Australia in a relatively small region around Perth.