The locals

The dawn chorus here is deafening. Somewhere around five in the morning there is an abrupt escalation of the night-long chirrups and churrups, into a positively ear-bending racket.

(apologies for the 'borrowed' images...bird photography turns out to be a dark art, and is one that I will almost certainly never master)

So here's a run-down of the primary offenders:

First up are the very large, glossy, healthy looking Australian Ravens. They don't offer much in the looks or song department - black, loud cawing - but they are a firm fixture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_raven

Sometimes there are Currawongs as well, they look similar to the raven but have a distinctive yellow eye, and an easily identified rather more complex call than the Ravens -  more likely to hear them than see them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currawong

This little fella is a Noisy Miner. There are lots of them, and they really are properly noisy. They hurl about in gangs and make tons of noise all day long. They're a kind of honey-eater, and notoriously territorial and fierce - not unlike the robin I guess, but the large numbers and boisterous behaviour reminds me more of starlings.

Despite their healthy contribution to the general and perpetual racket, I like these guys. They're really cheeky and they like to take a cooling dip in the swimming pool.

http://gretavanderrol.net/tag/swimming-pool/

I have tried and tried to get my own picture but they're just too quick for my camera (and my aging reflexes). It is very amusing to watch them do this - they fluff out their body feathers just before they hit the water and it always looks like they'll sink, but they never do.

I watched a large flock of Noisy Miners really gang up on a cat on the balcony below ours - they all gathered in the nearest tree and squawked and screeched at the cat for five full minutes (cat was entirely unmoved of course).


I thought these guys (below) were butcher birds but apparently they're actually magpies - they are in the same family so the mistake is easy to make. You see a lot of these. They will imitate other bird calls and songs with amazing accuracy, and sometimes even other sounds like dogs barking and machinery.

This here is the butcher bird, so called because they will store food - insects or small lizards - by impaling it on a thorn or stuffing it into some handy crevice. This is to hold the catch while the bird eats, or quite literally as a larder, and to attract a mate. You can see the little hook on the beak, which is how you know it's a butcher bird not a magpie.

These guys have a really complex and fascinating song, full of whistles and whoops and bubbling trills.

And here are the colourful and exuberant rainbow lorikeets. They're so jolly looking - and apparently utterly unable to fly any where without screeching their heads off as if they're in some great panic.

Of course I can't forget the much maligned Ibis, who are just everywhere; the Gold Coast equivalent of pigeon if you like. While they cut a pretty exotic looking figure, they are also faintly vulture-like, which is not necessarily particularly appealing once you've noticed it.

They are arch scavengers which is why (after some ill-judge breeding programmes back in the 1960s) they have thrived in an urban environment, and are now regarded as pests. They can get very bold, not unlike cheeky sea-gulls who will snatch your sarnie out of you hand, and as they are pretty large - much bigger than a large sea-gull - they can even be a touch intimidating 

So - that about covers the usual suspects. 

Now I know they're not birds but I've grown very attached to the flying foxes who swoop around as the sun goes down. It's wonderful and astonishing, as they really are big and rather stately as they whoosh past with a rather lazy flap, or land in the nearby trees with a great gallolloping, branch bending, foliage thwacking whump. And they do contribute significantly to the noise levels, so here's just one more picture...