TERRIGAL - CHANNEL BILLED CUCKOO - 9 JANUARY 2015

My daughter called out to me asking what bird is that?. I came out to the upstairs deck and was amazed by this bird.

It was mottled grey with a large beak. I guessed that it might be a cuckoo.

I got a few photos and then we searched the web for it.

Luckily guess, t'was a cuckoo.

Scientific Name: Scythrops novaehollandiae

Distribution: 

The Channel-billed Cuckoo migrates to northern and eastern Australia from New Guinea and Indonesia between August and October each year. The birds leave Australia in February or March.

 

Habitat: 

The Channel-billed Cuckoo is found in tall open forests, usually where host species occur.

Feeding: 

The favoured foods of the Channel-billed Cuckoo are native figs and native fruits, though some seeds, insects and even baby birds are also taken. The birds take figs from the tree with their massive bills.

Breeding: 

The Channel-billed Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of the Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, the Pied Currawong, Strepera graculina and members of the crow family (Corvidae). Unlike many other cuckoos, the young birds do not evict the host's young or eggs from the nest, but simply grow faster and demand all the food, thus starving the others. Often the adult female will damage the existing eggs in the nest when she lays her own and she may even lay more than one egg in a single nest.

TERRIGAL - KING PARROTS - 18 OCTOBER 2015

We had visitors. A pair of Australian King Parrots landed on the deck and stayed for a short while. They are such a pretty bird. They have only visited occasionally. :)

Here is some birdy info:

Alisterus scapularisPsittacidae

Male Australian King-Parrots are the only Australian parrots with a completely red head. Females are similar to males except that they have a completely green head and breast. Both sexes have a red belly and a green back, with green wings and a long green tail. King parrots are normally encountered in pairs or family groups.

 

King-Parrots are usually found in rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests

The King-Parrot mostly forages in trees for seeds and fruit.

King-Parrots lay their eggs on a bed of decayed wood-dust at the bottom of a deep hollow in the trunk of a tree. Often the entrance is high in the tree (10 m) but the eggs are near the ground (0.5 m).

INDONESIA - SUMATRAN OWL - 26 SEPTEMBER 2015

Bubo sumatranus

Introduction:

The Barred or Malay Eagle Owl is a large, striking owl with barred underparts and very long, outward slanting ear-tufts. The species name "sumatranus" is the Latinised form of Sumatra, where the first specimen described was located.

Description: The facial disc is dirty greyish-white with no distinct rim. Eyebrows are whitish and not very conspicuous. The eyes are dark brown or dark hazel, with yellow to pale grey rimmed eyelids. Juveniles have dark bluish irises. The bill and cere are pale yellow, the cere sometimes having a greenish tinge. Ear-tufts are very long, tousled, outward-slanting and are blackish-brown with the inner webs delicately barred white and brown. Upperparts are dark brown, vermiculated and mottled with many paler zigzag bars. The tail is dark brown with about 6 tawny-whitish bars and a white tip. The upper breast is densely marked with thin whitish-buff and relatively broad earth-brown bars, varying individually in intensity, forming a dark breast-band. The rest of the underparts are buffish-white with scattered, irregular, often arrow-shaped dark brown spots. Tarsi are feathered to the base of the toes, sometimes further. Toes are pale yellowish-grey with dark horn claws. Size: Length 40-46cm. Wing length 323-417mm. Weight 620g (1 individual). Females are slightly larger and heavier than males.

 

Habits:

The Barred Eagle Owl is a nocturnal or crepuscular bird. It roosts by day singly or in pairs, hidden in a lofty tree with dense foliage, often near the trunk. Voice: A deep hoot, Hoo or Hoo-hoo slightly dropping in pitch towards the end of the hoot with an interval of about 2 seconds between the notes of the double hoot. They also produce a 'cackling' of various syllables, shrieks and strangulated noises.

Food:

Feeds on large insects, birds and small mammals and reptiles.

Breeding:

This owl probably pairs for life, and pairs are very loyal to nest sites, returning year after year. Nests are in large tree holes, or commonly on the top of large Bird's Nest ferns. The female lays only one white oval egg (53.8-57.7mm x 42.8-44.9mm). In Java, eggs have been found in February and April, and nests with young in May and June. In Sumatra, nestlings and fledged young have been observed from March to May. In Borneo, young have been observed in February and March.

 

Habitat:

 

Evergreen forest with ponds and streams, gardens with large, densely foliaged trees, groves in cultivated country, sometimes not far from habitation. Ranges from sea level to 1000m elevation, rarely higher to about 1600m.

INDONESIA - MOUSTACHED PARAKEET - 26 SEPTEMBER 2015

Psittacula alexandri alexandri

Its most distinguishing feature is its moustache-like markings on the sides of its face, resembling a moustache. In most subspecies of Moustached Parakeets, the males have red beaks and the females have black.

Males:

The male Moustached Parakeet is attractively shaped, slim, with a long and thin tail, green plumage, a grey head, red bill, and distinguishing markings on its head and face. The area around the eyes is greenish and his heads have a pretty bluish tinge. There is a thin line across its forehead and wide stripes on his cheeks. The plumage on the breasts, throat and upper abdomen is pink / salmon extending half way to the vent.

Females:

The hen has a bluish tinge through the face region. They generally have a duller pink color on their chests and their middle tail feathers are shorter than the male's feathers.

 

Young Birds:

Immature birds have shorter tails, light pink bills, and the incomplete cheek stripes easily distinguish

Young birds are difficult to sex, however, breeders have successfully identified males and females. The hen's head is more evenly arched from the cere to the back of the head. The young males tend to be flatter on theforehead. Hens appear to have a darker bluish face.