Little bird lost - and then found

The other day while hiding inside out of the heat watching the cricket we heard a loud rip and crash.

A large branch of a Blakley's Red Gum had crashed to the ground taking with it on it's way a branch of a White Box and a good few meters of the fence line separating the House Yard from the Lower Nursery Paddock - one of the paddocks that our sheep lamb in.

We popped our heads out to take a look, sighed and then went inside again out of the heat.

The next morning while it was still cool we decided to inspect the damage and to clear the fallen timber from the fence line. The Lad got to with the chainsaw and soon we had a great pile of future winter fuel to show for our efforts.

Thankfully the fence wasn't in too bad  a condition - all the wire was recoverable and after The Lad got to work with the gripples (they are handy thingies for joining fencing wire together) and fence strainer, we again had an intact boundary. (Skilled isn't he?)

Soon we realised there was a more serious outcome of  the fallen tree...

We found this little fellow on the ground out of its nest. A baby Dusky Woodswallow had lost its nest and its parents. I took it inside and gave it a little water. When it looked like it had revived I took it outside again and set it up in the shade while we continued the tidy up of the fallen tree.

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We could see its worried parents flying around and calling to the little bird. The baby bird called back.

Soon it was up on its feet. It somehow climbed down from the little 'nest' I had made it in the shade in the top hollow of an old tree stump and was again on the ground.

Soon we saw it climbing, very ably up a Rough Barked Box tree near the chook shed, all the while with its parents cheeping (encouragement?).  Soon we lost track of where it was.

Did it make it to a safe place where its parents would continue to feed it?

Whatever the outcome we were amazed at the persistence of the parents to find their baby.We were amazed that after such a long period the baby bird was still alive. (We estimate that it was out of its nest for about 24 hours). We were amazed that the baby bird had the strength and skill to climb the tree.

Nest

Above the chook shed towers a Rough-barked box tree.

It provides shade for the chooks in a hot summer and a nesting spot for a Dusky Woodswallow.

Amazingly the bird has nested in the peeling and deeply fissured bark, not like other birds nest, in the fork of a tree,  in a hollow, in a nest hanging from vegetation...

I think you'll agree that  building this nest was an achievement as was spotting it!  Amazing twitching Lad and amazing photography!

Breakfast Twitch at Highfield - you're invited!

White-browed woodswallow

Apologies for the almost daily blogging... there is so much happening in the garden, with our animals and generally on the farm - like a Breakfast Twitch!

Like stomping around farms and bushland looking for birds? How about breakfast and a comedian with that?

On the 8th November (7.30am- 10.30am) we are hosting our first event. The Breakfast Twitch at Highfield is an event of the Riverina Highlands Group.

Comedy writer, author and bird watching enthusiast, Sean Dooley will be our guest presenter at the bird walk at Highfield. Laugh while you twitch.

Gang Gangs

Highfield is a special place. Highfield is a farm and a conservation area. Two-thirds of the property protects critically endangered grassy box woodland and the species that depend on it including many beautiful birds. To date 86 different species of birds have been seen at Highfield including all those pictured here - all photographed at Highfield. Check out our birdlist.

Red-rumped parrots

Everyone is welcome to attend, we just need your RSVP for catering purposes and $5.00 (proceeds to Landcare) if you are not a member of Riverina Highlands Landcare group.

If you'd like to attend email me - louisehighfields@gmail.com and I will provide directions to Highfield for you and recommendations for accommodation in the local area.

Rainbow bee-eaters just back from their winter holiday in Queensland

Don't know if you are in my neck of the woods? Highfield is about half-way between Sydney and Melbourne and about half-way between Wagga Wagga and Tumut in the Riverina Highlands. We are not far from the Hume Hwy and just off the Snowy Mountains Hwy. For Canberra dwellers - we are just two hours away.

Hope to see you at Highfield on the 8th November. Come to the region for the weekend, there is plenty to see and do around here.

(PS: as I type two Diamond Fire-tails have resumed making their nest in the peach tree right next to the verandah)

Birds and onions

I love my chickens and I love the wonderful native birds that we share our patch with, I really do!

Myrtle and Mavis eyeing off the baby spring onions

Except when they eat my oniony things! For instance, on Monday morning I emerged from the house to find this.

All my shallots dug up and flung around their little oniony bed. Hmm, a busy tribe of choughs! Thank goodness they had only just started to put down a few roots and no shoots. And there were other casualties in that bed as well.  The shallots were sharing their bed with some onion seedlings  and a row of snow peas that had started to sprout. Gone, all gone.

The shallots have been put into another bed and the soil has been covered with wire to stop the choughs scratchy feet and flicky beaks. Hopefully!

What are choughs (pronounced - chuffs)? Well they are fabulous black and white birds with lovely curved wings and beaks and quite mad red eyes. They hang out in groups and spend a lot of time turning over leaves and other forest litter and they chat to one another as they do. Trevor's Birding has a nice picture of them hanging out together.  They have the most amazing big mud nests. This website has great pictures of them and their nests.

As for my chooky girls, well they like chives,

garlic chives,

and spring onions.

I am guessing that their eggs are going to have a nice oniony taste? Better not make a cake! And better find a solution to their onion tribe snacking.

What irresistible birdie treats do you have in your patch?

Found feathers

We are privileged to have some outstanding bird life at Highfield. Occasionally our birdy visitors leave a little feather for us to find and treasure. Here are a few of the feathers we have found at Highfield.

If  admiring the beauty of birds is your thing then you might also be interested in this post on fallen nests.

Bird watching

Highfield is a special place. Two-thirds of the property is protecting critically endangered grassy box woodland and forest. One of the many benefits is that the bird life that depend on the forest is outstanding  Here are a few of the visitors to the area around the house. How lucky we are to have a ring-side view of these beautiful birds. All photos are by the Lad.

A pair of young Gang Gang cockatoos with their outrageous fluffy top feathers

A Rainbow Bee-eater - this one is probably in Queensland now as they fly north for winter

Red-browed finches having a  two-tiered pool party

Closer but blurry 

A male White-browed wood swallow - handsome isn't he?

A male Fairy-wren moutling - in spring he will blue up again

Bathing Beauties

Our bird baths are a constant source of activity and amusement. Here are some of the bathing beauties that visit.

Diamond Fire-tails

Black chinned Honey-eater and Djirri djirri (Willie Wagtail)

A welcome splash

Djirri djirri  (Willie  Wagtail)

Hooded Robin supervising baby bath

Black Chinned Honey-eater drying off and  Djirri djirri queuing up

Wildlife watching

Following on from yesterday's post  about our fruit raiding wallaby, I thought you might like to see some of the other wildlife at Highfield that we have spotted recently,  mostly from the comfort of our front verandah. Apologies, some of the photos are just a little blurry.

This very dusty wombat was spotted while we were eating breakfast. As a nocturnal beast he was obviously  up very late putting in a few finishing touches to his new burrow. What a dusty bum!

If you look very closely, you can see a possum staring at you from it's tree hollow high up a white box tree.

This possum was spotted by the Lad somewhat incredibly from the ground. He thought he could see a face in a tree hollow and wondered if it was an interesting feature of the tree hollow.  No, it was a possum! Well spotted, an elephant stamp should be issued.

I love how it has its big ear and eye ideally positioned to hear and see outside its hole.  If you look closely, you can also see its whiskers as well.

This very spikey dragon was lounging on a big log soaking up the sun. We have noticed that these dragons adjust their colour a little to suit the environment.  I have seen them with splashes of yellow to match a yellow lichen.

A pair of beautiful bee eaters.

A hooded robin parent supervising  baby taking a bath.

Fallen nests

In the few months we have been here we have seen so much bird activity. We have seen over 60 different  bird species on the property and their antics at the bird bath and around the house keep us endlessly amused.

We have also found fallen nests.

This large nest we found today. It's quite large (see its size on the chair cushion) and its made from fine twigs and dried grass with a little plastic and fur from a possum perhaps?

This one is made almost entirely from the bark of a red stringy bark tree but has the odd little bit of sheep wool, some fine grey hair ( from what I cannot guess) and a flower or two. 

And the last one is the smallest of them all. Its made from fine dried grass with a little bit of dried moss around the rim.

What little works of art they all are.

They now grace our side board and have joined two other nests we collected from  our former house in Sydney -  one made by a Bul Bul and another by a Silver eye. The side board is getting a little crowded.

Do you know who these three nests belong to? Do you have a small collection of things you pick up from the bush/ forest/ farmland?