#702 - 710 - Burds
The TIGTIDAW posts have been a little thin on the ground - the workload has been getting even worse, incredibly, and combining six days of overtime a week, and the appalling humidity and heatwaves, has left me with little time or energy to prepare posts. Still, I did go on a WA Naturalist’s Club field trip to Woodman Point the other Sunday, and got lots of stuff before I had to head off again - so I’ll posting a bunch of that. Also, a VERY good day of birdwatching by myself, but those birds I'll be posting later. Today, merely the more unusual ones - at least, ones that I'VE never particularly noticed before. Silver Gulls.. magpies, crows, ring-necked parrots and corellas are all pretty common. So are pigeons, but it's still weird that a single unusually dark pigeon has been hanging out at the end of the point every day since.
Nonetheless - some other feathery dinosaurs.
#702 - Anthochaera carunculata - Red Wattlebird
Also known as Barkingbird, gillbird, or Wodjalok (wore’cha’lawk)
Anthochaera is from the Greek anthos, meaning flower, and chairein, meaning to rejoice. Carunculata is from the Latin carcunculatus, meaning with small pieces of flesh - to whit, the red wattles on their cheeks. True, it’s an awkward combination of Latin and Greek, but that happens in taxonomy all the time.
Wattlebirds are among the largest of Australia’s honeyeaters. There wre two of them in the picnic area at Woodman’s Point on Sunday.
#703 - Arenaria interpres - Ruddy Turnstone
aka Eastern Turnstone, Sea-Dotterel, Beachbird and Calico-bird. A small wader - it’s the little one marching along in front of the Grey Plovers - now considered part of the Sandpiper family.
Quite vividly marked, as you can see, hopefully. Highly migratory birds, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as the turnstone.
A pair of them were patrolling the beach at Woodmans Point, Perth, during our WA Naturalists Club field trip.
#704 - Charadrius ruficapillus - Red-capped Plover
Another shorebird at Woodmans Point - this time a pair of local plovers.
The red-capped plover aka the red-capped dotterel, is a small plover that breeds in Australia. The species is closely related to, if not the same species as, the Kentish, Javan, and white-fronted plovers.
Like many shorebirds, vulnerable to human activity and disturbance. If a sign says keep your dogs and yourself away from a nesting area, please fucking well do so. There were three different people walking their dogs on the point.
#705 - Pluvialis squatarola - Grey Plover
Some of the half-dozen of so Grey Plovers hanging around the Posidonia eelgrass wrack on Woodmans Point. They’re known as Black-bellied Plovers in North America but given the fact that most of Australia’s migratory shorebirds don’t start getting their breeding plumage until they’re up at Broome or even further north, you can see why that name doesn’t seem to apply down here.
They breed on Arctic islands and coastal areas across the polar coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia. They nest in shallow gravel scrapes in a dry open tundra with good visibility. Come the northern winter and they take off for the Antipodes, a few even reaching New Zealand. They make regular non-stop flights over Asia, Europe, and North America, but is rare to see on the ground the ground in the interior of continents, landing only if forced down by severe weather, or to feed on the shores of very large lakes.
Young birds do not breed until two years old; they typically remain on the wintering grounds until their second summer. I don’t know how old these ones are, and it’s summer here anyway (and how!)
#706 - Anhinga novaehollandiae - Australasian Darter
A large diving bird closely related to the other three living snakebirds. According to Wiki :
It is sometimes called “water turkey” in the southern United States for little clearly apparent reason; though the anhinga is quite unrelated to the wild turkey, they are both large, blackish birds with long tails that are sometimes hunted for food.
Anhinga is derived from the Tupi ajíŋa (also transcribed áyinga or ayingá), which in local mythology refers to a malevolent demonic forest spirit; it is often translated as “devil bird”. The name changed to anhingá or anhangá as it was transferred to the Tupi-Portuguese Língua Geral. However, in its first documented use as an English term in 1818, it referred to an Old World darter. Ever since, it has also been used for the modern genus Anhinga as a whole.
novaehollandiae refers to New Holland, a name applied to the bulk of the Australian mainland from 1644 until at least 1824. The species name has been applied to a good number of species, often those described by early naturalists visiting the continent.
#707 - Pelecanus conspicillatus - Australian Pelican
A very large bird, common around Perth foreshores where they harass fishermen, or roosting on top of freeway streetlights so they have nice warm butts at night. Regularly seen down in my parts of Perth, using the thermals off the freeway to gain extra height as they glide from the coast to pastoral dams.
Amazing graceful in the air (and I suspect responsible for claims of Pteradactyls over Perth, and pelicans are certainly the origin of the famous Cacades Flying Saucers that started the whole UFO thing).
Widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, parts of Indonesia and occasionally New Zealand.It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird, eating mostly fish, but also smaller birds and scraps. When our inland lakes, such as the huge Lake Eyre, are actually full of water they’ll flock out into the desert to breed - which leads to heartbreaking scenes of hundreds of mummified fledgelings if the lake dries out again, too fast.
Woodman Point, Perth
#708 - Phalacocorax varius - Pied Cormorant
Also known as the pied shag, Great Pied Cormorant, or Australian Pied Cormorant, and in New Zealand by the Māori name of Karuhiruhi. A medium-sized member of the family, found around the coasts of Australasia, but significantly more common over here in the west. Older sources sometimes refer to it as the “yellow-faced cormorant”.
There were a good number of them at Woodman Point. This one was hanging around near the anglers waiting to steal a meal.
#709 - Thalasseus bergii - Crested Tern
Formerly Sterna bergii. One of four Tern species seen on Perth’s foreshores - a good-sized colony breeds on Seal Island. Easily confused with the Caspian Tern, but that has a red bill.
Terns are gull-like diving birds, but usually have a lighter build and long pointed wings, a deeply forked tail and short legs. These ones were all camped on the rocks at the very end of Woodman Point and declined to move even when I got very close, so I didn’t see the wing or tail shape. Most species are grey above (somewhat washed out by the strong light here) and white below, and have a black cap that is reduced or flecked with white in the winter.
Woodman Point, Perth
#710 - Larus pacificus - Pacific Gull
It was a day or after the WA Naturalists Club field trip, but I was out at Woodman Point again and saw this brute, helpfully IDed by gemfyre
Pacific Gulls, even a juvenile like this one, are large gulls with a wingspan of over a meter and a half. Even a young one like this was obviously larger than the much much more familiar Silver Gull.
According to Wiki, they’re moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east due to competition with the Kelp Gull, which has “self-introduced” since the 1940s. According the WA Naturalists they’re not common around Perth, and are considered a vagrant species around here.
Nonetheless - some other feathery dinosaurs.
#702 - Anthochaera carunculata - Red Wattlebird
Also known as Barkingbird, gillbird, or Wodjalok (wore’cha’lawk)
Anthochaera is from the Greek anthos, meaning flower, and chairein, meaning to rejoice. Carunculata is from the Latin carcunculatus, meaning with small pieces of flesh - to whit, the red wattles on their cheeks. True, it’s an awkward combination of Latin and Greek, but that happens in taxonomy all the time.
Wattlebirds are among the largest of Australia’s honeyeaters. There wre two of them in the picnic area at Woodman’s Point on Sunday.
#703 - Arenaria interpres - Ruddy Turnstone
aka Eastern Turnstone, Sea-Dotterel, Beachbird and Calico-bird. A small wader - it’s the little one marching along in front of the Grey Plovers - now considered part of the Sandpiper family.
Quite vividly marked, as you can see, hopefully. Highly migratory birds, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as the turnstone.
A pair of them were patrolling the beach at Woodmans Point, Perth, during our WA Naturalists Club field trip.
#704 - Charadrius ruficapillus - Red-capped Plover
Another shorebird at Woodmans Point - this time a pair of local plovers.
The red-capped plover aka the red-capped dotterel, is a small plover that breeds in Australia. The species is closely related to, if not the same species as, the Kentish, Javan, and white-fronted plovers.
Like many shorebirds, vulnerable to human activity and disturbance. If a sign says keep your dogs and yourself away from a nesting area, please fucking well do so. There were three different people walking their dogs on the point.
#705 - Pluvialis squatarola - Grey Plover
Some of the half-dozen of so Grey Plovers hanging around the Posidonia eelgrass wrack on Woodmans Point. They’re known as Black-bellied Plovers in North America but given the fact that most of Australia’s migratory shorebirds don’t start getting their breeding plumage until they’re up at Broome or even further north, you can see why that name doesn’t seem to apply down here.
They breed on Arctic islands and coastal areas across the polar coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia. They nest in shallow gravel scrapes in a dry open tundra with good visibility. Come the northern winter and they take off for the Antipodes, a few even reaching New Zealand. They make regular non-stop flights over Asia, Europe, and North America, but is rare to see on the ground the ground in the interior of continents, landing only if forced down by severe weather, or to feed on the shores of very large lakes.
Young birds do not breed until two years old; they typically remain on the wintering grounds until their second summer. I don’t know how old these ones are, and it’s summer here anyway (and how!)
#706 - Anhinga novaehollandiae - Australasian Darter
A large diving bird closely related to the other three living snakebirds. According to Wiki :
It is sometimes called “water turkey” in the southern United States for little clearly apparent reason; though the anhinga is quite unrelated to the wild turkey, they are both large, blackish birds with long tails that are sometimes hunted for food.
Anhinga is derived from the Tupi ajíŋa (also transcribed áyinga or ayingá), which in local mythology refers to a malevolent demonic forest spirit; it is often translated as “devil bird”. The name changed to anhingá or anhangá as it was transferred to the Tupi-Portuguese Língua Geral. However, in its first documented use as an English term in 1818, it referred to an Old World darter. Ever since, it has also been used for the modern genus Anhinga as a whole.
novaehollandiae refers to New Holland, a name applied to the bulk of the Australian mainland from 1644 until at least 1824. The species name has been applied to a good number of species, often those described by early naturalists visiting the continent.
#707 - Pelecanus conspicillatus - Australian Pelican
A very large bird, common around Perth foreshores where they harass fishermen, or roosting on top of freeway streetlights so they have nice warm butts at night. Regularly seen down in my parts of Perth, using the thermals off the freeway to gain extra height as they glide from the coast to pastoral dams.
Amazing graceful in the air (and I suspect responsible for claims of Pteradactyls over Perth, and pelicans are certainly the origin of the famous Cacades Flying Saucers that started the whole UFO thing).
Widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, parts of Indonesia and occasionally New Zealand.It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird, eating mostly fish, but also smaller birds and scraps. When our inland lakes, such as the huge Lake Eyre, are actually full of water they’ll flock out into the desert to breed - which leads to heartbreaking scenes of hundreds of mummified fledgelings if the lake dries out again, too fast.
Woodman Point, Perth
#708 - Phalacocorax varius - Pied Cormorant
Also known as the pied shag, Great Pied Cormorant, or Australian Pied Cormorant, and in New Zealand by the Māori name of Karuhiruhi. A medium-sized member of the family, found around the coasts of Australasia, but significantly more common over here in the west. Older sources sometimes refer to it as the “yellow-faced cormorant”.
There were a good number of them at Woodman Point. This one was hanging around near the anglers waiting to steal a meal.
#709 - Thalasseus bergii - Crested Tern
Formerly Sterna bergii. One of four Tern species seen on Perth’s foreshores - a good-sized colony breeds on Seal Island. Easily confused with the Caspian Tern, but that has a red bill.
Terns are gull-like diving birds, but usually have a lighter build and long pointed wings, a deeply forked tail and short legs. These ones were all camped on the rocks at the very end of Woodman Point and declined to move even when I got very close, so I didn’t see the wing or tail shape. Most species are grey above (somewhat washed out by the strong light here) and white below, and have a black cap that is reduced or flecked with white in the winter.
Woodman Point, Perth
#710 - Larus pacificus - Pacific Gull
It was a day or after the WA Naturalists Club field trip, but I was out at Woodman Point again and saw this brute, helpfully IDed by gemfyre
Pacific Gulls, even a juvenile like this one, are large gulls with a wingspan of over a meter and a half. Even a young one like this was obviously larger than the much much more familiar Silver Gull.
According to Wiki, they’re moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east due to competition with the Kelp Gull, which has “self-introduced” since the 1940s. According the WA Naturalists they’re not common around Perth, and are considered a vagrant species around here.