Travel Tips

This album isn't about our travels, it is just a collection of photos of some of the birds found on our property. I have sorted the birds in this album by size - yes there are many other types of bird here, but these are among the most common and a VT Album holds only 8 photos.

The Scarlet Robin (Petroica multicolor) are altitudinal migrants. Our property is 960 metres high and these little fellows usually arrive in early Autumn and stay around during winter.

The Willy Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) is found across Australia and is one of our most loved national birds, with their song 'sweet pretty creature'. They are part of the fantail group and are very much at home around people.

The fascinating thing about the Crimson Rosella (Platycerus elegans) is that the young are actually green, with just a little red. These rosellas eat seeds, grains and fruit - they are very partial to our apples as they ripen.

The books say that the King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) is very shy: our experience is that they tend to be very unafraid, though they are infrequent visitors. We used to put our wild bird feed, but found that we had far too many parrots around the house, to the detriment of fruit on trees and the feed for the poultry! The feeders remain and we still have been tempted to put out the occasional meal for the birds during dry seasons.

The Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is found throughout the east coast of Australia to the Adelaide area, also in the more populated part of Western Australia. Another of Australia's iconic birds, the Kookaburra is actually a large kingfisher which eats insects, small reptiles and rodents. It will, in fact, eat almost anything including whatever they are fed - they can become a nuisance in picnic areas.

The Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla) is a member of the cockatoo family. They usually are found in small groups and are found almost throughout mainland Australia. There is an old bush recipe for cooked galah, which goes like this:
Pluck and clean your galah. Place it in a large saucepan with appropriate herbs and a large stone. Boil until the stone softens, then throw out the galah and eat the stone.

Although more commonly known as "white cockies", the approved name is Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and the formal name is Caceratua galerita. These usually move around in large flocks and can be extremely noisy. They also can be very destructive - ask a farmer whose crop has been attacked by them! They are found throughout eastern and northern Australia.

The Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila Audax) is found througout Australia and is featured on the badge of the Royal Australian Air Force. They are dark brown to black and build large untidy stick nests in tall trees. As with this pair, they are often seen riding air currents.