Tag Archives: yard

Eastern Spinebill

Animals, , , ,

Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

I’m pretty sure this is an Eastern Spinebill, it was sitting in the Macadamia tree in the front yard. I’d not head of this bird before and can’t say I remember ever seeing them around.

The Eastern Spinebill is a small bird, about 13cm – 16cm, it can be recognized by it’s long fine down curved beak. The bird in the photo is a female, males have more distinctive and defined colourings of black, white and tan across their body. They are found on much of the east and southeast coast of Australia and also throughout Tasmania.

Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Spinebill sitting in the Macadamia tree

Now I know what these guys look like they’ll probably be popping up all over the place.

Resources and references

Little Wattle Bird

Animals, , , ,

Anthochaera chrysoptera

You would think the Little Wattle Bird’s name comes from the abundant collection of wattle trees in it’s habitat. But I’m pretty sure it comes from it’s cousin species, the red and yellow Wattle birds. The Red Wattle Bird and Yellow Wattle Bird have prominent coloured wattles on their cheeks. The Little Wattle bird doesn’t have wattles itself, but the name remains.

Little Wattle birds are common in the back yard, they’re often seen eating the nectar from banksia flowers. I’ve not seen them on the bird feeder before, I guess they’re not fans of the native bird seed mix .

Little Wattle Bird
Little Wattle Bird in the Banksia out the back
Little Wattle Bird in the Banksia tree
Little Wattle Bird in the Banksia tree

Resources and references

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

Animals, , , ,

Macropygia amboinensis

The brow cuckoo-dove ( also known as the Slender-billed Cuckoo-Dove ) use to turn up from time to time but since installing the bird feeder out the back it’s one of the most common birds in the backyard! The species is found up the entire east coast and across Papua New Guinea and into Indonesia. Their specific habitat is rainforests and wet sclerophyll forest, particularly at the forest edges, along creeks and rivers. They are also found in regrowth areas and cleared land.

Brown Cuckoo-Dove AKA Slender-billed Cuckoo-Dove
Brown Cuckoo-Dove waiting for his turn at the bird feeder

 sources and references:

Jade Plant

Plants, , , , , , ,

Crassula ovata

Another Crassula, this one sits right next to Crassula “Gollum” in the garden. Looking at them side by side it’s clear they are very closely related, I can imagine a single mutation caused the leaves of the Jade Plant to curl back upon themselves, and there we have the “gollum”. Evolution in action.

Jade Plant
Succulent leaves of the Jade Plant
Jade Plant
Jade Plant, doing well in shallow sandy soil

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