Blogs

How To be A Better Birder is not just for professional birders.

If you like to know more about how to recognise different species of similar looking birds when they are flying in the air or those that hover around you, Lovitch gives a good set of principles you can use to develop your skills.

The book goes further and describes sing the ‘Whole Bird” approach to identifying the bird. Regular readers know that I’ve been using this approach for many years myself and teac them to do the same, honing in on the finer more unique patterns to identify individual birds.

The more exposure we give our brains to looking at the shape of the birds in flight, or while perched at a distance, the better we become at identifying them from a distance. Lovitch’s sketches of the different sparrows is an amazing example of how the brain can be trained to pick the slight differences in the shape and features of even small birds.

by Mark Noon

Reader Claire Muskus sent in these rare and lovely pictures of eagles preparing their nest, taken by her friend Mark Noon.

There are big changes in our backyard. Vicky our Mummy magpie for 11 years, suddenly gave up her nest to a newcomer. 

Vicky, her mate Bertie and their two girls hung out with this newcomer for a few days. We thought the newcomer was a visiting guest. Then Vicky stopped coming for a feed with Bertie and her girls Shelly & Nelly (BSN).  BSN would come by themselves and Vicky would come just once a day, fairly late and leave quickly after eating only a small bit.

By Gavin Miles from Bats Qld

 In recent months there has been a spate of deliberate acts of cruelty towards bats on the Gold Coast.  These acts seem to have coincided with the sensationalised articles from our favourite fish wrap the Courier Mail and GC Bulletin. BatsQLD members were involved rescuing in two of these cases; Cherokee (Shot with a blow dart) and Peter Sterling (Shot with a .177 calibre air rifle). 

 by Nora Kennedy

Barbara Hegge is a dear friend who lives in Brisbane on a property with a beautiful lake which is home to many magnificent water birds.

  The birds frequent Barbara's yard regularly.