Woodswallows and Trillers

An exciting visit of about 200 White-browed Woodswallows is covered in this post in my main blog.  Here is a taster snap.

Birds off Pollock Rd

I have blogged elsewhere about a couple of trips to a private property off Pollock Rd where we found excellent birds in a small section of mixed Eucalyptus pauciflora (Snow Gum) and E. manifera (Brittle Gum) woodland.  I revisited the area with my friend Garry this morning. While we went to look for Superb Parrots in an adjacent Acacia shelter belt but found none, and had fleeting glimpses of two birds we couldn't identify, we had a top time.

The good times started before we got there with excellent views of an Australian Reed Warbler in the reeds around a dam.

As we approached Pollock Rd we noticed 4 White-browed Woodswallows perched on a roadside fence.  There were many more of these beautiful birds in the target block.  This one was clearly nesting, and I suspect brooding chicks.  We saw other birds of this species carrying food.

The image below is of the same nest from a different angle.   To my fevered imagination the bird reminds me of the archetypal bad-tempered old lady peering out through lace curtains

On the subject of this species we also noticed some of them high in the sky harassing a passing couple of immature Wedge-tailed Eagles.  (I use the descriptor 'couple' as a substitute for 2: I don't know enough about the particular birds to say if they were a 'pair'; siblings or just good friends.)

We heard a number of White-winged Trillers calling and as well as seeing a pair feeding on the ground I managed to snap a very vocal dependent young  (DY) bird and its mother.  Another DY was very close.

A full list of birds seen in this site follows.

Australian Wood Duck	White-winged Triller DY
Wedge-tailed Eagle	Rufous Whistler
Crimson Rosella	Grey Shrike-thrush
Eastern Rosella	White-browed Woodswallow ON
Red-rumped Parrot	Dusky Woodswallow
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo	Australian Magpie DY
White-throated Treecreeper	Grey Fantail
Superb Fairy-wren	Willie Wagtail
Yellow-rumped Thornbill	Tree Martin IH
Buff-rumped Thornbill	Common Starling IH
Striated Pardalote	Diamond Firetail
Yellow-faced Honeyeater	European Goldfinch
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike