Okay - here I put a disclaimer before starting and generating any sort of flack from the birders. I went to Australia - did birding and am talking only about birds (all birds) that look basically like parrots and those that I have been able to photograph. So the blog post may be in no way a comprehensive or technically correct from scientific perspective. It is my opinion and mine alone.
While there I was already floored by the beautiful birds - birds that had perhaps developed on that island continent isolated for millions of years. Out of these - the Cockatoos and the Lorikeets/Parrots and related were stunning to say the least. I saw a couple of them, many multiple times and overtime I did so - I just wanted to sit in their company forever. One other thing that I noticed that most of these birds were fairly unafraid of humans and were a great company - coming close to a few feet from you or continuing to do what they were - unmindful of your presence. That made the Wow factor scream out even more. After all - you could really enjoy their company without chasing them.
I must add that we did almost an impossible - Daintree to Twelve apostles during our visit. That is the entire east coast of the Continent. This of course was possible to partly fly and partly drive - otherwise it is just too vast to do in 10 odd days we was there.
I will try and cover the Cockatoos that I saw first. With fourteen Cockatoos - first let me see what all did I see. Before that - a Cockatoo is a parrot belonging to bird family Cacatuidae, the only family in superfamily - Cacatuoidea. These birds are mainly distributed in the Australasian - ranging from Philippines till Solomon Islands. These birds are recognised by showy crests and curved bills. Out of these fourteen I was lucky to spot six of them.. The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Galah, Long-billed Corella, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Cockatiel.
The birds in general were big (other than cockatiel) and beautiful. With size on their side - they were confident and not easily intimidated - hence gave one of the best photo opportunities. There were some shy ones - but I might have read them wrongly.
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| Galah |
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| Galah |
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| Galah - and mind you I still do not know how to pronounce the name ;-) |
The First bird that comes to my mind is The Galah, it was pretty, and I saw this almost everywhere except the very north of my visiting range. Around Daintree. I am sure that the bird would be there but I was not fortunate enough to see it. Beautiful, Bold and one that could win your heart in a moment. All the three pictures above are from a variety of places - and fairly far enough.
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| Sulphur-crested Cockatoo |
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| Sulphur-crested Cockatoo |
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| Sulphur-crested Cockatoo |
Ofcourse I already feel foolish not considering discussing this omnipresent bird of Australia. If there is a bird that I will connect my visit to Australia with - it is this one. Beautiful, bold and Omnipresent as I just described. This is one bird that I saw, heard and one that begged for attention everywhere I went. Attention it did get - with one card full of this bird photographs only - that would be a thousand shots if not more. The trouble started when I sat down and started sorting out the pictures - I tend to delete the ones that I do not like - and that was not an easy task mind you.
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| The black and beautiful bird: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in its typical pose |
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| Yellow-tailed Cockatoo pointed out when birding with Tom Tarrant on the last day of my birding. |
The first sighting of this bird was somewhere near or south of Cairns I suppose, Black and majestic. It just gave a single shot before it flew. Next I only saw it on my last day, that is 17th Oct that to flying high above and pointed out with Tom Tarrant.
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| Cockatiel: the beautiful bird I saw there... |
Though Cockatoo are preferred pet birds - their demands are very high. This bird, the smallest of Cockatoos - the Cockatiel is the only bird out of this family that does not have as many requirements and is an Authorised pet in India. I have seen it many a times in many a homes - but to see a free bird - Oh that feeling was unbeatable. Found in the entire subcontinent - but I got only two sightings of this bird. I am satisfied I can assure you.
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| Little Corella |
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| Little Corella near a nesting site. |
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| Little Corella |
If you see the range of this bird - the Little Corella - they are not marked along the coast on the eastern front. True - not one sighting there - but on both occasions - when I was birding with Tom Tarrant near Sydney and Gavin Goodyear around Cairns. I was also lucky to see a few birds at the nests. They were far - but good to see.
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| Long-billed Corella |
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| Long-billed Corella |
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| Long-billed Corella : the one that decided to give a pose on perch |
The last of the Cockatoo - I found this bird too - majestic - I saw these bird while on my way to the twelve Apostles. They are restricted to small range in the absolute south Australia and I consider myself lucky to see these beauties...
Already this has been a fairly long post so I will take a break with a promise - that the second part would come soon...
....to be continued
5 comments:
Detailed writeup and beautiful shots sir ..
Thank you KisBak. Honoured.
Wow...they sound too lucrative for a birder-photographer.
Wow...they sound too lucrative for a birder-photographer.
I agree Abhey. They were as great as possible.
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