Australian Magpie “anting”or what?

For years I’ve been watching magpies in Blackheath, regardless of the temperature, mild or red-hot, lying down in a sort of trance-like state. But they are alert. Someone somewhere mentioned that they are “anting”. Any published papers and evidence available on what they are actually doing?

 

Thanks

 

. . . → Read More: Australian Magpie “anting”or what?

Birdpedia – Australia – Weekly Digest

The following is a digest of Sightings Reported on Birdpedia for the period Monday, October 19, 2020 to Sunday, October 25, 2020:

Area: SA

Location: Barrage Goolwa

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) (1) single bird in water dept land behind barrage

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) (60) birds were feeding with other shorebirds near the second pull . . . → Read More: Birdpedia – Australia – Weekly Digest

Black eared cuckoo nombinnie

Flock bronzewing jump up

Flock bronzewing s Myers tank

Killer kookaburra (NSW)

Hi all,

A friend of mine just told me the following occurred on Castle Cove Golf Course in Sydney:

“Walking on golf course. Thought they were mating but one bird had the other by the neck and was slamming it on the ground (like they kill snakes) took 10 mins for the victim to . . . → Read More: Killer kookaburra (NSW)

NSW Twitchathon information

Hi All, For those wishing to enter the NSW Twitchathon this year (being run by BIGNET), or if you want to get behind one of the teams, please see details on the website: www.twitch24nsw.org/ Rules and other details are found here.

The fundraising target is $20,000 for the Origma Enigma, a bushfire relief effort . . . → Read More: NSW Twitchathon information

All The Birds of the World: Review

Dear Fellow Birders,

So, a few people asked me to write out my comments on the book “All the Birds of the World” Edited by del Hoyo and published by Lynx. Here they are:

Wow, it’s a huge book! The customs receipt lists it as 5kg. Also, it is very well-packaged in a pretty much . . . → Read More: All The Birds of the World: Review

FW: New birds in The Netherlands

 

 

From: Wim Vader <wjm.vader@gmail.com&gt; Sent: tirsdag 13. oktober 2020 17:04 To: Willem Jan Marinus Vader <wim.vader@uit.no&gt; Cc: Riet Keuchenius <mmkeuchenius@gmail.com&gt;; Jan Willem Vader <jw.vader@chello.nl&gt;; Lena de Vries <lenajee@ziggo.nl&gt;; Anja Kroodsma <anja.kroodsma@xs4all.nl&gt; Subject: New birds in The Netherlands

 

‘New ‘ birds in The Netherlands

 

. . . → Read More: FW: New birds in The Netherlands

Swift Signting – 18 Oct 2020

Hi all saw my first swifts of the spring/summer today at Central Coast Wetlands, Tuggerah, NSW. Approx 100 birds at peak, although unless I can actually count individually, I think that’s conservative – all WT Needletails that I could see.  It was a large group of birds that moved back and forth over the . . . → Read More: Swift Signting – 18 Oct 2020