GALAHS LOOKING FOR REAL ESTATE...

I was heading home from Maleny Precinct a couple of weeks ago and spotted a couple of galahs in some almost dead trees along the way...

 

so stopped for a closer look because it'd been a while since I'd seen any galahs. They were checking out the middle tree at the time.

I realised they were looking for a nesting spot around the back of the tree...

Noticing the heart shaped hole in the tree later I thought it was a shame these love birds weren't looking at that as a potential nest. Perhaps someone else had already put down a deposit...

How fitting would that have been?

Not sure if the bird trying to enlarge that small hole is the male. They were too far away to check the eye colour (female's having a pink iris) but it seemed like one was urging the other to try harder. They flew off shortly after, perhaps deciding against that bit of real estate.

IF IT MOVES SHOOT IT...

I thought I'd post a few videos of some of the wildlife I see nearly every day. Often I take a video because it's too hard to get a still due to the amount of foliage or the swiftness of the subject or I think others might be interested in hearing what bird it is they hear but don't see. The behaviour of the creature is also of interest.

Here, two spotted doves were canoodling but I thought it interesting that the ?female? was clearly irritated towards the end.

This is a rakali, or water rat, Australia's answer to the otter. Fascinating to watch but so quick any still photography I've tried has been blurry.

Two new nestling willie wagtails visible for a short time when the parents changed over. Just hope this pair do better than the last few attempts at raising a family, due to weather or predation.

I heard this guy, male leaden flycatcher, long before I spotted him and then, too late, realised there was a female just above him which I missed.

Two fledging welcome swallows wait for their parent to literally drop their food into their mouths. I had to slow down part of it because the parent is so fast. A few days later, I saw the 'drop and swallow' being done on the wing. The parent does a fly past and the fledglings fly up to meet them where the food is exchanged. I haven't managed a video of that yet unfortunately.

Eastern whipbirds are so frustrating. They can be in a shrub right beside you but you can't see them to photograph. They love the gloom of the undergrowth so I took a video of this one foraging instead.

Azure kingfishers are so quick when they dive for their food, I'm in awe of people who publish photographs of them. I've taken lots of them sitting, watching and have managed a few videos of the dive. This one shows the freshwater prawn it caught too. 

Always a thrill to see platypus reacting with others as they're normally a solo animal. I've posted videos of them interacting with cormorants previously but here is part of the mating ritual. Normally the male will grasp the female's tail and it's a bit of a chase before the actual mating happens but here he's missed the tail and has her rear foot.

A neighbour alerted me to a large python in her yard so out I went with my camera to capture the action. I was pretty close to it and fascinating to watch it move.

I'd heard this bird for a couple of years before I actually saw one so videoed it so others would know what they hear.

MARY CAIRNCROSS RESERVE VISIT...

Recently, I returned to Mary Cairncross Reserve very early in the morning with a friend. The idea being there'd be fewer people around to spoil shots. 

This is the view from the Cafe there where we had a much-needed coffee at the end of our visit. By then the light was better but not by much. It was very gloomy along the paths although I managed a few decent snaps of some of the wildlife. I promised myself I'd go back when the weather is sunnier. It's worth the visit.

A little juvenile scarlet honeyeater enjoying the pink evodia at the entrance to the Reserve. His head will be bright red when he matures.

These Wonga vines have a strong visual impact. Nature's sculpture. The vine below has had to be strapped up as it had fallen across the path.

One of the pathways showing various fig trees along the way.

I spotted this galah high up in a dead tree. It spotted me too.

This tiny critter is an antechinus of some sort.

These are brown gerygones and were a "first for me". Tiny little birds.

Another first was this russett-tailed thrush. Its camouflage is so good I was focussing on clumps of leaves at one stage instead of the bird. It certainly has picked up a good breakfast.

Of course, due to the nature of the rainforest and the recent wet weather, lots of fungus was spotted.

A little grey fantail was flitting around with several others.

We saw a few pademelons and initially thought this one was ill but when it heard noises would raise its head and then go back to sleep. Cute little things.

There was a shallow pond on the grounds full of dark tadpoles but these two caught our attention.

Rufous fantails are notoriously hard to photograph in low light because they rarely sit still but here we had a captive audience as they were sitting on a nest. I couldn't get a decent shot of one of the many yellow-throated scrubwrens, just too quick.  Next time!

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS...

Just a few of the birds that have caught my attention during my exercise walks of late...

 The spectacular azure kingfisher is one of my favourite birds.

The colour of the plumage hasn't been altered. Quite a thrill to see a flash of purple as it flies into view.

 I finally got a good shot of the eastern whipbird. I tell people it taunts me as I walk around, calling out "Ha ha, you can't see me".

 It's quite a common bird around these parts. The two part call with first the "ewwwww-whip!" and then "chew chew!" is in fact the male calling and then being answered by the female. Now that I have a good shot I'm not so bothered by the taunting...

 A black shouldered kite, looking for breakfast. They're often on this pole and sometimes it's their meal table.

The chestnut breasted mannikin is a pretty little finch.

And this finch is the red-browed finch or firetail finch, very common it seems. 

 It's a bit like I'm Pavlov's dog when it comes to the green cat bird. Aside from the caterwaul from which they get their name, they also use a high pitched 'peep' and when I hear it I'm out the door with my camera. They're hard to see in the green foliage and the 'peep' is a bit of a heads up that they are around.

 Some people confuse the female satin bower birds with green cat birds; both a greenish colour but look at the difference in the eyes.

Another favourite is the willy wagtail, happy little birds that will pose nicely and aren't scared off easily.

This is the grey fantail, very similar although smaller and that's probably why some think they are baby willy wagtail.

WALKING WITH NATURE BANISHES THOUGHTS OF COVID19...

 This magnificent bird is a grey goshawk white morph. It's the only white bird of prey apparently. 

Looks like a bit of a face off between these 2 blue dragonflies.

 Red dragonflies are a favourite though...

 Cheeky galah was on its own, unusual.

Leaden flycatcher gave me the eye, maybe he thought I was a fly...

An orange jewel sparkling in the morning sun turned out to be a tiny spider...

A male red-backed fairy wren enjoying the morning sun...

 

The female red-backed fairy wren surveying her territory...

A pair of red-backed fairy wrens canoodling in the trees... 

Lesser wanderer butterflies, inside so different from outside...

My first striated pardalote in this area.

This tree fern frond is praying for sanity in a suddenly insane world.

Feel free to join us..

GOOD INTENTIONS...

I was full of good intentions regarding blogging last year but looking back I'm startled to see it's been six months or so since posting. I've been more into instagram of late so that's my excuse. This year I'll try to post more here...

  After the exteme heat and lack of rain during our summer here on the Sunshine Coast, we are now in the midst of ongoing rain. Not complaining. But these colourful rainbow lorikeets do cheer one up on a gloomy day, with a cheeky look as he attacked the callistemon that grown in the median strip.

For comparison is a scaly breasted lorikeet. We don't see as many of them here so it's lovely when we do.

MEET COOCHIEMUDLO ISLAND...

 A friend lives in Redland Bay and suggested a trip over to Coochiemudlo Island by ferry when I stayed overnight with her recently.  I'm always up for a visit to a new place (also one I don't think I'd heard of before), especially when the weather is perfect, so off we went, catching an early morning ferry over at the grand price of $5.00 return each (pensioner discount applied).  

Above, it's low tide as we walked towards the ferry with Coochiemudlo bathed in sunlight.

The channel markers are popular perches for the many and varied water birds in the Bay. On this one, pied cormorants...

We turned right off the ferry, deciding to walk at least part of the Coochie Track, before breakfast at the local café. It is an easily negotiable track but after a while we went onto the beach. We could see some mud flats at the end of the island with a flock of black cormorants and some pelicans flying around. 

There were lots of birds in the bush as well but very hard to get clear shots of them. This is one of the many noisy friar birds we saw.

 "Coochie" itself was a first for me and so was this sweet little bird, a striated (or maybe a spotted) pardalote, apparently intent on making its nest in a dead tree on the beach. 

It wasn't too worried about us.

Not many people around at that time of day, approx. 8.30am, and we found a seat on the northern end to watch the world, and the birds, go by.  

 Another 'first' was this bush stone-curlew which was foraging for crabs along the shore where we were sitting. There was another nearby but it was too shy to come out from under a tree.

 Such a funny bird, pulling funny faces as it strutted along...

Plovers (or masked lapwings) were everywhere as well.

 I hadn't noticed the fish breakfast before putting the photo of this magnificent bird up on the computer. Brahminy kites have featured here before of course as they are one of my favourites birds of prey.

This was a second kite which eventually landed in an adjacent tree. We left before seeing what, if anything, would happen. 

On our way back to the café for breakfast we saw a few more birds including this little white breasted wood swallow, also building a nest somewhere...

 Very noisy sulphur crested cockatoo followed us back... "Hey you, I want a cracker!"

Someone with a sense of humour started a thong tree apparently.

Waiting on our breakkie spotted a blue-faced honeyeater in a nearby tree.

Reasonably priced, delicious breakfast, with a view of the Bay, at the Curlew Café.

Waiting on the ferry home I finally managed a shot of a butterfly [meadow argus]. We'd seen a few on the walk but couldn't manage a photo. 

Main Beach, if we'd turned left off the ferry.

I'd love to go back and do the rest of the walk we didn't do and if you ever get the chance, take a ferry to Coochie.  Highly recommended and if you want a quiet holiday spot there are places to rent.