Scott Ritchie of Cairns, Australia, has once again posted a lovely set of pictures on his Facebook page. Scott’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
About time I had an update on my WA [Western Australia] trip. Outside of Fremantle, the 1st town we stayed in, recommended by my friends Peter and Jnatte Manins, was Nannup. It had a great brewery, and killer birds! Amazingly, it had a huge population of Monarch Butterflies. I felt like I was a kid in Iowa, when I used to rear monarchs out for fun. It turns out that near Nannup the cottonweed exploded in number when a local pine planation was harvested. The monarchs love milkweeds, and they exploded too! Our B&B had a nice garden, full of Splendid Fairywrens and many other local birds.
For me, the real treat was to see two rare cockatoos. The Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo could be heard calling over our accommodation, and often did flyovers. I only got far away fetching shots. But when we travelled east towards Pemberton, we went through Karri and Jarrah forests. I spotted an emu in a paddock next to a caravan park. And suddenly heard the calls of incoming cockatoos. They landed almost overhead, feeding on gum flowers. They soon took off across the paddock into gumtree forest. I heard the incessant begging call of an immature bird demanding to be feed. I stealthily crept up and got some nice shots of the cockies. It was even better than I thought. When I looked at the images on my laptop, the birds had the characteristic long hooked beak used to dig out the fruit of big gum nuts. They were Baudin’s Black Cockatoo! Both the Carnaby’s and the Baudin’s are endangered, with only 5000 of the Baudin’s left. I felt privileged to see them!
And here are sone other birds from our Nannup stay. I hope you enjoy them!
Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo (Zanda latirostris). He’s a sentinel, watching out for trouble for his family:
A Baudin’s Black Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii) flies into the gum trees:
And pigs out on gum flowers. These might be Karri?:
Note the long, hooked upper beak of the Baudin:
Cuddling up:
And then in for a feed!
A third shows up:
Those Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) were F’in everywhere!:
The lovely Red-eared Firetail (Stagonopleura oculata). What a cute finch!:
Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera) shows off his reflective wing panels. A lovely pigeon indeed!:
“Why go to Japan?” Spring is cherry blossom time in Nannup too. And the Silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) add to view:
It’s not a bird, it’s a flower. Indeed it’s a Bearded Bird Orchid (Pterostylis turfosa). Orchids are a big deal in WA springtime:
A White-breasted Robin (Quoyornis georgianus) looking a lot like Cairns’s Mangrove Robin. Boy, he’s glad he doesn’t have to put up with sandflies!:
Wow! Those are really beautiful bird photos! Thanks!
Ooo these are a delight
BTW I am in haste and I particularly liked the ‘up close and personal’ style green heron photos the other day
Just can’t seem to comment every time
What a wonderful collection of birds.
I love the Bearded Bird Orchid. Looks very birdlike.
Thank you.
Very nice. I didn’t know—until reading your post—that Monarchs also live in Australia, but now I read that they were introduced there in around 1871.
Same here, that was a fascinating tidbit. Apparently they have been island-hopping all over the world. Who knew? Though invasive, they only eat invasive non-native milkweeds, so they do no harm.
Oh, these are nice! What a privilege to see these creatures. Love the f-ing monarchs.
Growing up in Melbourne I always thought cockatoos were always white with yellow Mohawks (“Sulphur Crested” is their brand name I believe).
Which is funny when you consider the whole “Black Swan” metaphor about all swans being white b/c nobody had visited Western Australia!
Great pics. Thank you.
D.A.
NYC
The orchid is wonderful, and I had no idea that there was such a thing as a yellow robin. Lovely photos.
Excellent photos, thanks!
Very nice. Thanks!