We are blessed to live on five acres and have found the two dead trees, along with the many living trees in the yard an invaluable resource for the birds in our area.
With a bit of rain over the last few weeks we have some big puddles that are full of tadpoles and frogs and the white faced herons have been coming in for meal for a couple of weeks now, so it was lovely to see the white-necked herons doing likewise.
This week I haven't had as much time for photographing birds because I have been weeding around all of the little trees and fertilsing them and mulching to give them a hand along. I am working towards building more habitat for birds here. It is slow, sometimes expensive and laborious work but it is soooo worth it. 39 species so far this year photographed in the yard from thornbills to herons! Which speaks of the variety of habitat we have here.
As best as I can say they are Eucalyptus haemastoma (Scribbly Gum) ... it took a lot of asking a lot of questions and finally a visit from the local land service bloke to identify them. Our trees do not have much in the way of scribbles on them in our area and no one really knows why not.
If I remember correctly the scribbles are caused by a grub. Perhaps the grubs don't live in your area or their numbers are right down because something is controlling their numbers. Is Eucalyptus haemastoma indigenous to your area? If not that might explain the absence of scribbles.
The grub that causes the scribbles is the larvae of a moth, so I guess the number of scribbles depends on the prevalence of the moths, and moth numbers can be affected by everything from the presence of insect eating birds to the use of pesticides etc.
The tree is native to the area and some of our trees in our yard are well over a hundred years old. Some of the hollows are large enough for the sulphur-crested cockatoos to nest and one hollow is being investifated by a pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, they have been back a couple of times checking out the neighbourhood. Today I missed a perfect photo opp with them when I left my spare camera battery in the house. :( I am hoping they like the neighbourhood and decide to lease the hollow. We could do with nice neighbours.
Stunning!! My son has one of my photos of a white-neck heron blown up onto a canvas on his wall
Started bird watching because my 5 year old loves birds. I now enjoy bird watching very much
What a bird to have in your backyard!! Nice work.
Thank you for your kind comments.
We are blessed to live on five acres and have found the two dead trees, along with the many living trees in the yard an invaluable resource for the birds in our area.
With a bit of rain over the last few weeks we have some big puddles that are full of tadpoles and frogs and the white faced herons have been coming in for meal for a couple of weeks now, so it was lovely to see the white-necked herons doing likewise.
This week I haven't had as much time for photographing birds because I have been weeding around all of the little trees and fertilsing them and mulching to give them a hand along. I am working towards building more habitat for birds here. It is slow, sometimes expensive and laborious work but it is soooo worth it. 39 species so far this year photographed in the yard from thornbills to herons! Which speaks of the variety of habitat we have here.
Happy Birding!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138588528@N02/
Wow, amazing bird to have on your property
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Very lucky to have such a pretty, preened pair in your yard! ;)
M.M.
And a fine flowering Eucalyptus, Wollemi. What species is that?
By the way, it's great that you're preserving the dead trees. They certainly add to the habitat.
Hi Woko,
As best as I can say they are Eucalyptus haemastoma (Scribbly Gum) ... it took a lot of asking a lot of questions and finally a visit from the local land service bloke to identify them. Our trees do not have much in the way of scribbles on them in our area and no one really knows why not.
Happy Birding!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138588528@N02/
If I remember correctly the scribbles are caused by a grub. Perhaps the grubs don't live in your area or their numbers are right down because something is controlling their numbers. Is Eucalyptus haemastoma indigenous to your area? If not that might explain the absence of scribbles.
woko is correct
this species grows wild in california where it does not have scribbles due to the grub being absent
A very nice bird to have in your yard indeed, nice pics.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
The grub that causes the scribbles is the larvae of a moth, so I guess the number of scribbles depends on the prevalence of the moths, and moth numbers can be affected by everything from the presence of insect eating birds to the use of pesticides etc.
The tree is native to the area and some of our trees in our yard are well over a hundred years old. Some of the hollows are large enough for the sulphur-crested cockatoos to nest and one hollow is being investifated by a pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, they have been back a couple of times checking out the neighbourhood. Today I missed a perfect photo opp with them when I left my spare camera battery in the house. :( I am hoping they like the neighbourhood and decide to lease the hollow. We could do with nice neighbours.
Happy Birding!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138588528@N02/