Can anybody please help with identification of this bird? Poor little guy flew in to our window as we sat on the deck. He was stunned but was ok after a while.
We thought it might be an olive backed oriole, but it had green and gold speckle chest and more orange on his tail.
Thankyou. We've just moved to Bright and the overwhelming number of pretty Australian birds in our garden has led to the purchase of a field guide and a new hobby.
a feamle Satin Bowerbird - the scalloped body and deep blue/purple eyes are clear indicators
Peter
Thanks pacman, brilliant. Thats definitely her!
I'm interested to learn what sort of garden you have, kelliemaconochie.
Its a hectare of rambling English woodland on a property called Merrimeet. It was planted here in Bright by an Englishman in the early 1970s and has matured into a beautiful multi-layered garden.
Here are a couple of pictures, the first I am with my daughter deep in the garden in summer, the second is in spring, the birds love it! Hence my new found hobby....
Your garden is very beautiful kellie
Although I look at it and see lots of hard work which would take away from my birding.
I have a brown thumb when it comes to gardening
Colourful, indeed, kelliemaconochie.
I'm particularly interested in the variety of bird species your garden would attract. I've visited several English gardens in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, a town/suburb where nearly all of the native vegetation has been removed. Those gardens were almost bird free zones with only the occasional Common Blackbird in the shrubbery & Australian Magpie on the lawns - although I did see a male Rufous Whistler in one garden.
Do you keep a list of the bird species you see at your place? (If you're new to bird watching it might be premature to be asking you such a question!). If, as you indicate, you have a goodly number of Australian bird species in your garden I'm wondering what those species might be & whether you have much Australian bushland nearby from which you might be attracting native birds.
equally likely to be a young male satin bowerbird- they don't develop the blue until they are about 7 years old
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
I believe that it is a female as the beak is dark coloured, the young males have a lighter beak.
Cheers,
al
Central Victoria
https://sites.google.com/site/blackhillreservekyneton/home
Hi woko
We are in Bright, Vic and we are have native bushland over our back fence. We have a fountain out the front which attract a variety of cockatoos, galahs, many kinds of parrots, wrens, magpies and black birds, a lot of (recently identified) female bowerbirds and a myriad of other beauties I am yet to identify. My little girl is nearly two and loves watching them bathe most in the fountain most mornings.
I have just moved here with my aussie husband from the UK, it really is astonishing how colourful and varying the birds you get in oz are.
Im very keen to get a list going of all the species but as we only moved here three months ago, settling in to our new business and house have taken up most of our time.
I have bookmarked this thread and will start to become more active on this forum (including a list of the lovely birds e share the garden with) once we have settled in.
Thanks for that information, kelliemachonochie, & welcome to Australia. I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about the birds you see in your garden throughout the year.
Yes, many of us are very proud & delighted with the range of beautiful birds in Australia. They're certainly worth conserving.
Many Australian bird species are migratory over varying distances so three months is a relatively short period in which to be compiling a bird list. There would be a number of species you are yet to see because it's not the appropriate time of the year for them. Climate change, too, is having an effect on bird ranges so your list will grow with time. Where I live on the s.e. slopes of the Mt Lofty Ranges in SA Ms Woko & I have seen 144 species. A few are introduced, a couple of the native species have appeared only once (so far) in response to a flood in 1992 & two species (African Peach-faced Love Bird & Java Sparrow) were escapees from folk who like to keep introduced birds in cages (but don't!).
As you're aware, the bushland over your back fence & your fountain are important factors in so many species visiting your garden. Preserving that bushland habitat & even extending it is critical in providing you with native bird delights.