Our great southern migration

Back to ornithology lessons as we have a hiatus in new types of activity this week. The main excitement was the RFS (fire service) community event this morning. The big kids played with the fake fire and smoke machines while waiting for the little kids to show up: So many of the Australian birds are identified by eye color; this correlates with a variety of interesting colors.  This  deranged-looking thornbill above is a Barrabaroo resident. We do have at least three types of thornbills; the red eye marks this one as a brown thornbill vs a striated thornbill. These little birds dart around quickly and typically travel in small flocks. Their high level of activity makes it a challenge to get an in-focus photo. I don't think we have buff rumped thornbills here - the light blue eye is just strange. This pied currawong is posing in the formal garden - until he wasn't. Currawongs are often the last to sing in the evening and the first to start up in the morning. They have a lovely ...

    We seem to do better with purples than with pink. We were just headed back to the car in one park when this colorful tweet flew by. It flew off again just as quick and it took some fiddling with lighting to see the pink. Rather than rose robin, this seems to be a pink robin! Always good to have a challenge, right?  This one is a purple swamp hen. These flamboyant birds are often found in the parks and nature preserves. Love the attitude in this one. The pacific koel is a new one for us. It was on the list for one of our sites (south of Sydney) and we hunted and hunted. We heard it right at the beginning and then not again. So of course, we find it in the tree opposite the Potato Point house. This picture was when it was up on the point but same bird. It is named for its call, so you can definitely know when it is around. Most of my pictures of the bird in this bush were just of its head peeking up, typically with a berry in its mouth.  Scott is headed for swim le...