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The Australian pipit (Anthus australis) is a small, terrestrial bird found in open habitats such as grassland, farmland, roadsides, dry river beds, dunes, and open woodland. This individual was encountered on the Peron Peninsula, in WA, where it was observed to be foraging for invertebrates that were exposed or injured by 4WD vehicles driving along a sandy track.
Australian corticolous myxomycetes , no bigger than the end of a pencil. A single-celled organism in the phylum Amoebozoa
Australian Hobby
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The young bird safely did a food transfer from the adult, on another branch.
It flew back to find a quiet spot ot enjoy its meal.
Australian Hobby
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Just about to come out of a stoop. The wings folded back for top speed.
From a tall tree it was dropping to hunt grasshoppers or dragonflys in the paddock below.
Taken in the dawn light at the Hillary's boat harbour. This is straight out of the camera. No edit. No cropping. It was a calm morning before the sun rose. The light was beautiful
The Darter is a large, slim water bird with a long snake-like neck, sharp pointed bill, and long, rounded tail. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upperwings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and immatures are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds. The Darter is often seen swimming with only the snake-like neck visible above the water, or drying its wings while perched on a tree or stump over water.
Australian Pelican
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I know I've said it before but there is something of the fascination of flight watching these birds work in the air.
A dry foreground, so I made use of the Barossa Australia＂ painted sign on the road, at the timer of The Tour Down Under.
Australian Hobby
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Form the Great Christmas Day Carpark Caper.
They were only a day or so out of the nest and were still intrigued by each other
Australian Hobby
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These two Hobbys have been on the wing for just a few days.
While everyone on Christmas morning was opening presents, cooking food, and perhaps sleeping in, we left at sunup to go to the carpark.
Not a vehicle to be seen.
So we were able to enjoy a couple of hours with the young Hobbys in relative peace, in the empty carpark.
Here they were watching a Wattlebird sail overhead.
The one of the right seems to be larger already, so its pretty safe to assume it is female, and the smaller is a male.
Australian Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus australis
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Sometimes you can sit for hours around a noisy reed bed and never get a sighting.
This one came out quite quickly, announced its presence and... was gone.
"But Why?"
She is not sick. The whole family have taken a liking to lying on the bit of bare ground in the corner where I am trying to get grass to grow. They spread themselves out like this, and will stay dead still for up to quarter of an hour, then get up and toddle off as right as rain.
Admittedly she does look a bit scruffy, but she has just finished rearing a bub or two, and is moulting.
Urban Canberra, Australia, 2019.
Australian Magpie
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This lass in her fine mottled back feathers must be well advanced in nest building, as she is now seeking fine soft furnishing.
For non-Aussie viewers, Bunnings is a large hardware supply chain.
This exquisite work of art known as the Mosaic Angel by Debora Halpern in 1985 stands on the banks of the River Yarra and stands at an height of 10 meters. The sculpture with a Picasso style exterior originally was on show in the moat at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Australian Hobby, Willie Wagtail
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Both birds have a family to protect.
This is ithe male of carpark family. Willies have a nest on a nearby tree.
So any threat to their family has to be dealt with.
I'm sure that falcons simply see this harassment as part of the costs of doing business.
Australian Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus australis
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And then with a wing flick. It was all over.
Australian Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax varius
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With raindrops on the windscreen, I took the risk to walk to the water's edge.
There must have been a shoal of fish working in close on a high tide, and the birds were continually moving along the water to the next likely spot.
Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen
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Looks like an uncomfortable way to begin a nest, but this female took quite awhile to select the right piece of boxthorn, and then to manipulate it on the ground for the best fit in the new nesting site.
My guess is it forms part of the foundation of the nest, and the prickly bits work in her favour to strengthen the construction.
Australian White Ibis
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Ibis in Australia get a really bad rap. Hardly their fault. Humans leave loads of waste food laying about and the Ibis have settled into cities for the easy pickings.
I grew up in irrigation country and was always fascinated by their feeding abilities among the wet paddocks.
This couple were working the shoreline and dropped down for an easy landing on the beach.
An Australian Pelican arriving early at Charis Seafood, to get the taste buds set for a nice feed of free fish.
Do you prefer the portrait or landscape version ?
Lake Mungo, NSW
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Australian Hobby
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This Hobby had been sitting quietly when a flock of Ravens seemed to bother it, and it shifted to the opposite side of the road.
Acrocephalus australis
The Australian Reed Warbler, a bird that is hard to see in the open or mostly never seen but heard very often
Australian Hobby
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The female came in with a meal for the young. First she needed to prepare it. She had tucked it in the Y of the branch and I couldn't move anywhere to get a clear shot of what it might have been.
The Australian pelican is a large waterbird in the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It is a predominantly white bird with black wings and a pink bill. It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It mainly eats fish, but will also consume birds and scavenge for scraps if the opportunity arises.