In the early morning I joined the Tempe Birdos for their monthly bird survey at Tempe Wetland. It was fairly quiet at the Wetland, not too many birds were observed.
Australasian Grebe on nest
Some of what we saw included –
Figbird
Rainbow Lorikeets
Purple Swamphen and chick
Silvereye
White-browed Scrubwren
The Grebe I had seen building a nest earlier in the week, was now sitting on the nest, presumably on eggs. Another Grebe, its mate, was swimming nearby. Grebes are interesting birds. I read a bit about them on this website. It says that both the male and female take turns with the incubation – for about 23 days, when the eggs hatch. Then the 4 – 5 chicks are dependent on their parents for about 8 weeks. One strange behaviour is the parents sometimes feed their young on their feathers.
Australasian Grebe
And a bit more local Nature –
After morning tea with The Birdos at Tempe Reserve, I cycled home via the Cooks River. I had heard that the Tawny Frogmouth’s had abandoned their nest near Younger Avenue. This was indeed the case. They birds had been sitting on it since early September 2018, all the way till around 25 December 2018. The normal incubation time is about 30 days, so something must have gone wrong. Perhaps dud eggs, or lost eggs due to storms or predators? Perhaps new eggs were laid during the nearly three month period, and then lost?
Nearby was a Rainbow Lorikeet –
At Cup and Saucer Creek Wetland, the lower of the three pools had a major algal bloom. I noticed some chicks (Moorhen I think) under some reeds.
On the far side of the river, I saw some Butcher Birds.
I also photographed a pair of White-faced Herons fly past –
In the river I could see a lot of fish. I think they are mullet. Further upstream was a Pelican. It was slowly swimming downstream. I waited to see if it would do some fishing. No. It must have been full. I, however was hot and thirsty – time to head home.
