JUNE '19

 EARLY JUNE 

A cold start for the beginning of the month with only 8-9 degrees at sunrise, even most of the birds were quiet until the sun rose higher. This female Rose Robin (above and below) is one of the two present at the moment at Banks Street Reserve, their contact call can be heard loud and clear walking right in the middle of the Reserve. 

White-throated Scrubwrens (above) are very active and interactive with each other as this is the beginning of the breeding season for them, males are regularly singing out loud from the tall grass, low bushes and the undergrowth. 

 A male Rufous Whistler above.

Laughing Kookaburras

 A Masked Lapwing in the morning darkness.

Pacific Black Ducks 

A Little Pied Cormorant sharing a perch with a Pacific Black Duck.

 This is what the fruits of the Foambark - Jagera pseudorhus, look like in early June, the bright wine-red of early April is long gone.

White-browed Scrubwren

Brown Gerygone

Rufous Fantail

 A Koala found by the Noisy Miners.

Australian Brushturkey

 Evening Brown, winter form.

Olive-backed Orioles started singing, including mimicking other birds.

A pair of Pale-headed Rosellas feeding on Tree Marigold flowers.


 MID JUNE

The wether has been mild for a while now, some birds are showing the first signs of breeding behaviour such as singing, chasing, displaying and collecting nesting material: White-browed Scrubwrens, Red-backed Fairywrens, Noisy Miners, Pacific Black Ducks and Australian Brushturkeys.

 Red-backed Fairywrens, male above and female below are becoming much more active and noisy after being very shy and quiet for the last two months, they are now singing and collecting nesting material.

 The male Australian Brushturkey is back to his nest and his wattles look brighter.

A pair of Pacific Black Ducks on their favourite branch. Males are displaying now early in the morning, with their quick, high-pitched whistle and head-up tail-up display, quite a beautiful sight.

Royal Spoonbill, non-breeding plumage.

 Some Silver-eyes show a darker shade of brown on their sides, they are of the subspecies lateralis visiting from Tasmania.

 The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo on the right is blind to one eye.

The Australian Wood Ducks have started looking for tree hollows, a female above.



LATE JUNE

A female Australian Magpie preening, the pair still has the young bird with them from the last breeding season.

Late June has been quite mild and rainy, signs of breeding have increased with more birds singing like the Tawny Grassbird and others looking for nests, like the Kookaburras. The gumtrees are flowering, more and more everyday, attracting many honeyeaters.

 Female Variegated Fairywren.

Blue-faced Honeyeaters and a Noisy Miner.

 Eastern Spinebill

 A male Brushturkey attending his nest, at some point he was inside a hole dug on top of the nest and then he run to a nearby female with his tail fanned and then he ran back to the nest. Is it a courtship behaviour?

Male Red-backed Fairywren.

This June I visited Banks Street Reserve nine times, I saw a total of 61 species of birds, on average 43.6 per outing. Here is the list for all the birds recorded this year in June.

MAY '19

Female Variegated Fairy-wren.

Above is a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, a new record for Banks Street Reserve, seen on 5.5.19.

Cooler weather and shorter days are bringing in winter birds to Banks Street Reserve: Scarlet Honeyeaters, Spotted Pardalotes, Brown Gerygone, more Golden Whistlers, Grey Fantails and Rose Robins.

Willie-wagtail above.

A beautiful male Golden Whistler hunting in the mid-canopy.

Masked Lapwing

Male Australasian Darter fishing in the deeper pool.

Immature Dusky Moorhen

Pacific Black Ducks


MID MAY

Another addition to the winter birds list, one of the two Yellow-faced Honeyeaters I saw today (12.5.19), the first ones for the season, they visit Banks Street Reserve during the cooler months, today they quietly fed in the mid-high canopy.

A male Golden Whistler above.

Grey Fantail

An Olive-backed Oriole feeding on the figs.

White-browed Scrubwren, males started singing maybe to re-establish their territories?

Male Rufous Whistler

It looks like the Brown Gerygone is finding a good habitat at the reserve as it's still around feeding and calling after three weeks.

 Larkdaisy (Centratherum punctatum), an introduced weed that will be removed next time.

And another invasive plant that is flowering now, the Tree Marigold Tithonia diversifolia.

A wintering female Rose Robin.

A Water-rat also known as Rakali.

Australian King-parrot, male.

A Grey Fantail on an overcast and dark morning.

 A male Variegated Fairy-wren.

Spotted Pardalotes were everywhere on 19.5.19, calling, singing and feeding. A male above and a female below.

 Rufous Fantail

A Carpet Python found for me by the Noisy Miners.


LATE MAY

An Evening  Brown showing the first signs of the winter pattern under the wings.

I saw this Bar-shouldered Dove in the reserve for the first time on 25.5.19, it was calling and preening.

Little-pied Cormorant

 The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters are still at Banks Street Reserve, on 26.5.19 they were quite vocal and came down on some very low branches to feed.

 The Eastern Spinebill arrived from higher altitudes on 26.5 allowing me only a few glimpses in the high canopy.

A female Australian Wood Duck.

 White-faced Heron

A Kookaburra surrounded by Blue-faced Honeyeaters.

On the last day of May, an Eastern Spinebill (with no tail!) fed on the first flowering gumtree.

In May I visited Bank Street Reserve ten times, I saw a total of 65 species of birds, on average 42 species per outing. Here is the eBird list for this month.