Saturday, November 8, 2008

The butcher bird

I have a large pergola out the back. When it rains, as it has been for about ten minutes, birds gather under the pergola to shelter from the rain.

There is a currawong under the pergola, chattering away. S/He's been there for a while, since the rain started. Puppy is mesmerised by the chatter.

You'll find a sound file for the Grey Butcherbird here. This is similar to what he sounds like, although he's a little quieter under the pergola. Just chattering.

Update:
Other birds at my place are:
Common Koel
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Tawny Frogmouth
Grey Butcherbird
Willy Wagtail
Australian Raven (bloody Crow!)
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Kookaburra (Laughing Kookaburra, pshaw, it's just Kookaburra)
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Galah
Noisy Miner

There are also the occasional Red Tailed Black Cockatoos, but they are not commonly found in many urban parts of Australia. They seem to arrive a few days before rain, anything from a few to a dozen. They make an awful racket, quite distinct from any other parrots we have here and even other cockatoos.

There are cockateils, rosellas, pale face rosellas, many more parrots!

6 comments:

Richard Sharpe said...

Just finished mowing and was in the process of leaf-blowering the grass clippings when the rain started. I am the King!

kae said...

You're a braver man than I am, Gunga Din - I probably should have mowed, but I would have ended up a puddle on the ground.

I chose to sit under the ceiling fan and think cool thoughts. Anyway, there's a bit to read around the traps.

Thanks for that strength info on Bolta's or wherever. I wasn't sure where to look quickly, and I recall that when I was in the reserves the Army strength was something like 27k. Not many at all.

Skeeter said...

"The Sorrows" is a good description. How the hell did the koel get to rank Number 1 on the Top 40 song list?
It's a most aggravating call and it goes on monotonously 24/7 for months.
The one that arrived outside our laundry in September, is still annoying me as I write.
I advise everyone who's got a gun to shoot them on sight. They are aliens so it's perfectly legal to shoot them.

kae said...

Skeeter, I hate 'em, too. Sing back at them, it drives them nuts!

I don't think it's top 40 as in post popular, I think it's most common in urban areas, and I don't know why it's No. 1.

Perhaps most annoying?

Skeeter said...

Kae, your link to these bird sounds has been most useful. It has enabled me to identify, at last, another mournful call common in this area at this time of the year.
It's the Brush Cuckoo.
Play the sound file and see if you recognise it in your area too.
Bird-watching neighbours have been unable to identify it for me from the call.
Might have known it would be another bloody alien cuckoo that has been annoying me for 22 years.

kae said...

Here I have the channel bill cuckoo. It comes back this time of year (oct/nov) to collect it's young from the crow's nest they've been deposited in.