Capture: Roamin' Holiday
1354 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 33 34 35 36 37 … 55 Newer→ Last
-
Islander, in reply to
NOT a tomtit- wings seem too long...but I think I've got it!
A juvenile welcome swallow! They do group- -
I wanted to be an ornithologist when I was eight... does that count? The fast ones have to be swifts, don't you think. Square tail, sickle shaped wing, um swift. Very swallow-like in motion. Maybe common swift which migrates from India.
Lovely photos Sophie, my camera is fascinated by birds at the moment too.
-
Islander you've got it. Head colour and those spots on the tail.
I will go back to cleaning house! -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
Maybe common swift which migrates from India.
Got to be a welcome swallow, as swifts don't perch like passerine birds, their legs are too short (Disclaimer: I'm not an ornithologist, just fascinated by der tweeties).
Swifts and swallows are supposed to be a classic example of convergent evolution, as they belong to completely different bird families.
-
Islander, in reply to
Disclaimer: I’m not an ornithologist, just fascinated by der tweeties).
Me too! Armed with bird books, and long experience of living in a wonderfully bird-rich area...
Julie Cross - dont you love the interactive net for this kind of stuff? !
-
Joe Wylie, in reply to
Islander, Graham Pizzey's A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia is one I absolutely love. Despite being Australian there are enough species in common, migrants, stragglers and imported aliens to make it really useful, but it's the sheer labour of love quality that won me. And those marvellous factoids, like the regional accents of magpies.
-
3410,
It's another nice evening in Akl.
-
Islander, in reply to
slander, Graham Pizzey’s A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia is one I absolutely love. Despite being Australian there are enough species in common, migrants, stragglers and imported aliens to make it really useful, but it’s the sheer labour of love quality that won me. And those marvellous factoids, like the regional accents of magpies.
Report
Joe, havent got that but will get-
regional accents: tui, koukou, *starlings!!* do have them (at least round here,,,.)
-
Julie Cross, in reply to
very appreciative of the collective wisdom - mine is a little shaky all of its own.
I found this Eastern Great Egret in a carpark at Tuggerah Lake. Not as romantic as the kotuku on Okarito Lagoon... but lovely all the same. It was making like a kea and attacking that vehicle.
-
Islander, in reply to
Julie - because Egretta alba* is cosmopolitan, that is certainly a kotuku in full breeding plumage (yellow bill & nuptial feathers.) And they do get territorial
when they're in that state...kea just do it for fun!*No other heron/ 'great egret' has that distinctive double kink in the neck...
-
And hanging with the pelicans
-
Islander, in reply to
In the only known breeding colony in ANZ (which is *not* in Okarito, but several k away up an arm of the Waitangikiroto) they nest with little shags annnd - royal Australian spoonbills!
One year when I returned to an especially potent family place, a neighbour on the beach said, laconically, "Brought a mate or two with you eh?" and pointed to the wee islet Maukiekie...there were 3 pair of spoonbills nesting there!
They have a name in Maori, kotuku-ngutupapa, which makes me think they arnt a very recent addition to birds here...
-
Gulls, Ohope.
Found this in the archives. Lovin' the birds, and the learnings.
-
Walk this way.
Posted one earlier of this heron in flight.
-
In flight II.
-
Belated catch up to the response on the wee birds. Thanks for the info and the spelling of mynah. Now I know they are welcome swallows, and they're welcome and they are there all the time so with more perseverence, I may get better shots. They are in the paddock always at least 50 metres away.It was hard to know where to focus here...
-
They also fly pretty close to the ground. (hence all the grass ;)
-
Julie Cross, in reply to
the spelling of mynah
Some spell it myna, just to get confusing, and there's a bird here in Oz called the Noisy Miner... a type of honey eater. I've been tapped on the head by their wings... very aggressive bird.
Lovin’ the birds, and the learnings.
Same. Has everyone typed Murmuration into YouTube and found this one of two girls on their canoe on the River Shannon? Hope this works ... might need the moderator's help!
-
Awesome! It did.
Gulls on high, ducks down low.
-
This little fella adopted our punga for an entire day, like a sentinel. It's a Tawny Frogmouth, a night jar. I kept calling it an owl until I sorted out the difference. It startled me in the morning and I kept checking all day until after dusk when it finally disappeared. It was grieving the loss of a mate, I am certain... recently we were driving home very late and startled a pair feeding on the side of the road. One collided with the car, We took it home to bury, couldn't leave it there but I felt for the one left behind...the garden felt blessed by this one's presence and I shed a few tears that we had killed one.
-
Off on a quick tangent inspired by Sophie's cow... New Zealand's patch of turf in Canberra.
-
Joe Wylie, in reply to
It's a Tawny Frogmouth
Fabulous pic, just wonderful. Sorry to hear about your tragic incident though.
Tawny frogmouths seem to get around in pairs. I remember how two turned up at a New Year's Eve celebration in Greenwich on Sydney's North Shore in the late 90s and set up their booming from a tree in the backyard. Unearthly sound, they kept it up for ages.Saw a pair once in the bush on Cremorne Point, on the Harbour. It was just before dark, they lay flat along a branch, beak to tail, trusting their camouflage. So close you could have reached out and touched them.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
I'm never good with the death of others. Rats and mice, I am happy to berid but I can't do it myself and I still feel sorry for the buggers. I like your empathy Julie. Your photos are very cool. I am also doing a cow study. :)
-
How about something less loveable? Spotted on a rock in the Otaki River.
-
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
How about something less loveable? Spotted on a rock in the Otaki River.
Beautiful!
I spotted this one on a wall inside the workshop.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.