Birds drinking in the heat

By Birding-Aus, on January 3rd, 2015

Today I stopped by at a waterhole in the central Victorian scrub near Inglewood, a site I have visited for many years, for a spot of fishing, well actually bird fishing, sit and wait and see what you catch. It reached a peak of 43 degrees today in the area, I was watching between 3pm and 5 pm and had many visitors drop in, including “waves” of birds at times all lined up in mixed species flocks. The usual array of Honeyeaters were lining up, Brown-headed were the commonest followed by Yellow-plumed, White-eared and Yellow-tufted. All regular birds here whether it’s 43 degrees or 33 degrees. Also present was a Black-chinned, New Holland and Eastern Spinebill, all drinking also. Today no Pardalotes, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters or White-fronted Honeyeaters but I would normally expect them to visit. I have found that the hotter it gets the bigger range of species I see, so I love to visit in the extreme weather as you never quite know what bird will decide it’s time for a rare drink of H2O As I have observed in previous years when its over 40, Superb Fairy-wren came for a drink, in fact a whole family repeatedly drank, usually they show little interest and I only remember them sipping occasionally in the past, today they were thirsty, as were Silvereye, Weebill, Rufous Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush. A Collared Sparrowhawk dropped in, but did not drink, probably because of my presence, I have observed Goshawk drink here before. Today however I scored a couple of new species imbibing the fluid of life! A pair of Variegated Fairy Wren were around as they usually are but I had never seen them drink before today. And then even more surprising a single Inland Thornbill came down to the water and spent some time there, drinking several times. Birds resident in the immediate vicinity that I have never observed to drink include Shy Heathwren, Crested Bellbird, Yellow Thornbill, and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, however this list is gradually shrinking. I am interested to know if there are many species that never drink even when it’s available to them in the most extreme weather. Can anyone share some observations? Clearly there are some desert species surviving without water, Regards, Simon Starr.

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madvig

January 7, 2015 at 6:41 pm

Yup – last October. Still doing it Cheers, Peter M —– Original Message —– < wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com> Cc: “Simon and Alex Starr” < sandastarr@bigpond.com>; “birding-aus” < birding-aus@birding-aus.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 4:46 PM Anyone been to the Broome Bird Observatory in recent times? The goshawk used to make a regular dramatic entrance to the bird bath behind the dinner enclosure, swooping in and frightening off all the finches and bower-birds a couple of times a day… —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2015 12:32 PM Cc: Simon and Alex Starr ; birding-aus I’ve often seen Brown Goshawk (and other raptors) move into an area where Gouldian and other finches drank regularly (I also suspect the raptors figure out what sort of waterhole topography the birds prefer). In the late Dry there are often few other options and so the finches etc take their chances. Denise Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 4 Jan 2015, at 8:38 am, wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com wrote:

rmacfarl

January 7, 2015 at 3:46 pm

Anyone been to the Broome Bird Observatory in recent times? The goshawk used to make a regular dramatic entrance to the bird bath behind the dinner enclosure, swooping in and frightening off all the finches and bower-birds a couple of times a day… —–Original Message—– Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2015 12:32 PM Cc: Simon and Alex Starr ; birding-aus I’ve often seen Brown Goshawk (and other raptors) move into an area where Gouldian and other finches drank regularly (I also suspect the raptors figure out what sort of waterhole topography the birds prefer). In the late Dry there are often few other options and so the finches etc take their chances. Denise Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 4 Jan 2015, at 8:38 am, wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com wrote:

wildlifeexperiences

January 4, 2015 at 7:02 pm

Agree Phil, The goshawk didn’t look like it would be too much trouble. When it wasn’t on the ground drinking, it was up in the tree with wings open and “panting”, if that’s what birds do. Yours in all things “green” John Harris BASc, GDipEd Director – Wildlife Experiences P/L Principal Zoologist/Ecologist Nature Photographer Wildlife Guide Croydon, Vic 0409 090 955 President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria http://www.fncv.org.au —– Reply message —– Also that the Goshawk is not so dangerous whilst down on the ground at a pond where they can see it and know it is there, as it is when hidden in the trees or flying above them when they don’t know if it is there or not. Philip —–Original Message—– wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, 4 January 2015 10:08 AM Hi Simon, Back in late 2003 while do some fauna work at Scotia Sanctuary, I observed a number of Honeyeater species, pardalotes, Crested Bellbird all coming down to drink at dam. The interesting thing about this was that they also shared this drinking spot with a Brown Goshawk and the smaller birds were often drinking at the same time as the goshawk. I guess the need for water was more urgent than the potential fear of the goshawk. Regards John. Yours in all things “green” John Harris BASc, GDipEd Director – Wildlife Experiences P/L Principal Zoologist/Ecologist Nature Photographer Wildlife Guide Croydon, Vic 0409 090 955 President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria http://www.fncv.org.au —– Reply message —– Today I stopped by at a waterhole in the central Victorian scrub near Inglewood, a site I have visited for many years, for a spot of fishing, well actually bird fishing, sit and wait and see what you catch. It reached a peak of 43 degrees today in the area, I was watching between 3pm and 5 pm and had many visitors drop in, including “waves” of birds at times all lined up in mixed species flocks. The usual array of Honeyeaters were lining up, Brown-headed were the commonest followed by Yellow-plumed, White-eared and Yellow-tufted. All regular birds here whether it’s 43 degrees or 33 degrees. Also present was a Black-chinned, New Holland and Eastern Spinebill, all drinking also. Today no Pardalotes, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters or White-fronted Honeyeaters but I would normally expect them to visit. I have found that the hotter it gets the bigger range of species I see, so I love to visit in the extreme weather as you never quite know what bird will decide it’s time for a rare drink of H2O As I have observed in previous years when its over 40, Superb Fairy-wren came for a drink, in fact a whole family repeatedly drank, usually they show little interest and I only remember them sipping occasionally in the past, today they were thirsty, as were Silvereye, Weebill, Rufous Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush. A Collared Sparrowhawk dropped in, but did not drink, probably because of my presence, I have observed Goshawk drink here before. Today however I scored a couple of new species imbibing the fluid of life! A pair of Variegated Fairy Wren were around as they usually are but I had never seen them drink before today. And then even more surprising a single Inland Thornbill came down to the water and spent some time there, drinking several times. Birds resident in the immediate vicinity that I have never observed to drink include Shy Heathwren, Crested Bellbird, Yellow Thornbill, and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, however this list is gradually shrinking. I am interested to know if there are many species that never drink even when it’s available to them in the most extreme weather. Can anyone share some observations? Clearly there are some desert species surviving without water, Regards, Simon Starr.

goodfellow

January 4, 2015 at 11:32 am

I’ve often seen Brown Goshawk (and other raptors) move into an area where Gouldian and other finches drank regularly (I also suspect the raptors figure out what sort of waterhole topography the birds prefer). In the late Dry there are often few other options and so the finches etc take their chances. Denise Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Founding Member: Australian Federation of Graduate Women Northern Territory 043 8650 835 On 4 Jan 2015, at 8:38 am, wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com wrote:

pveerman

January 4, 2015 at 5:08 am

Also that the Goshawk is not so dangerous whilst down on the ground at a pond where they can see it and know it is there, as it is when hidden in the trees or flying above them when they don’t know if it is there or not. Philip —–Original Message—– wildlifeexperiences@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, 4 January 2015 10:08 AM Hi Simon, Back in late 2003 while do some fauna work at Scotia Sanctuary, I observed a number of Honeyeater species, pardalotes, Crested Bellbird all coming down to drink at dam. The interesting thing about this was that they also shared this drinking spot with a Brown Goshawk and the smaller birds were often drinking at the same time as the goshawk. I guess the need for water was more urgent than the potential fear of the goshawk. Regards John. Yours in all things “green” John Harris BASc, GDipEd Director – Wildlife Experiences P/L Principal Zoologist/Ecologist Nature Photographer Wildlife Guide Croydon, Vic 0409 090 955 President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria http://www.fncv.org.au —– Reply message —– Today I stopped by at a waterhole in the central Victorian scrub near Inglewood, a site I have visited for many years, for a spot of fishing, well actually bird fishing, sit and wait and see what you catch. It reached a peak of 43 degrees today in the area, I was watching between 3pm and 5 pm and had many visitors drop in, including “waves” of birds at times all lined up in mixed species flocks. The usual array of Honeyeaters were lining up, Brown-headed were the commonest followed by Yellow-plumed, White-eared and Yellow-tufted. All regular birds here whether it’s 43 degrees or 33 degrees. Also present was a Black-chinned, New Holland and Eastern Spinebill, all drinking also. Today no Pardalotes, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters or White-fronted Honeyeaters but I would normally expect them to visit. I have found that the hotter it gets the bigger range of species I see, so I love to visit in the extreme weather as you never quite know what bird will decide it’s time for a rare drink of H2O As I have observed in previous years when its over 40, Superb Fairy-wren came for a drink, in fact a whole family repeatedly drank, usually they show little interest and I only remember them sipping occasionally in the past, today they were thirsty, as were Silvereye, Weebill, Rufous Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush. A Collared Sparrowhawk dropped in, but did not drink, probably because of my presence, I have observed Goshawk drink here before. Today however I scored a couple of new species imbibing the fluid of life! A pair of Variegated Fairy Wren were around as they usually are but I had never seen them drink before today. And then even more surprising a single Inland Thornbill came down to the water and spent some time there, drinking several times. Birds resident in the immediate vicinity that I have never observed to drink include Shy Heathwren, Crested Bellbird, Yellow Thornbill, and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, however this list is gradually shrinking. I am interested to know if there are many species that never drink even when it’s available to them in the most extreme weather. Can anyone share some observations? Clearly there are some desert species surviving without water, Regards, Simon Starr.

Hi Simon, Back in late 2003 while do some fauna work at Scotia Sanctuary, I observed a number of Honeyeater species, pardalotes, Crested Bellbird all coming down to drink at dam. The interesting thing about this was that they also shared this drinking spot with a Brown Goshawk and the smaller birds were often drinking at the same time as the goshawk. I guess the need for water was more urgent than the potential fear of the goshawk. Regards John. Yours in all things “green” John Harris BASc, GDipEd Director – Wildlife Experiences P/L Principal Zoologist/Ecologist Nature Photographer Wildlife Guide Croydon, Vic 0409 090 955 President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria http://www.fncv.org.au —– Reply message —– Today I stopped by at a waterhole in the central Victorian scrub near Inglewood, a site I have visited for many years, for a spot of fishing, well actually bird fishing, sit and wait and see what you catch. It reached a peak of 43 degrees today in the area, I was watching between 3pm and 5 pm and had many visitors drop in, including “waves” of birds at times all lined up in mixed species flocks. The usual array of Honeyeaters were lining up, Brown-headed were the commonest followed by Yellow-plumed, White-eared and Yellow-tufted. All regular birds here whether it’s 43 degrees or 33 degrees. Also present was a Black-chinned, New Holland and Eastern Spinebill, all drinking also. Today no Pardalotes, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters or White-fronted Honeyeaters but I would normally expect them to visit. I have found that the hotter it gets the bigger range of species I see, so I love to visit in the extreme weather as you never quite know what bird will decide it’s time for a rare drink of H2O As I have observed in previous years when its over 40, Superb Fairy-wren came for a drink, in fact a whole family repeatedly drank, usually they show little interest and I only remember them sipping occasionally in the past, today they were thirsty, as were Silvereye, Weebill, Rufous Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush. A Collared Sparrowhawk dropped in, but did not drink, probably because of my presence, I have observed Goshawk drink here before. Today however I scored a couple of new species imbibing the fluid of life! A pair of Variegated Fairy Wren were around as they usually are but I had never seen them drink before today. And then even more surprising a single Inland Thornbill came down to the water and spent some time there, drinking several times. Birds resident in the immediate vicinity that I have never observed to drink include Shy Heathwren, Crested Bellbird, Yellow Thornbill, and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, however this list is gradually shrinking. I am interested to know if there are many species that never drink even when it’s available to them in the most extreme weather. Can anyone share some observations? Clearly there are some desert species surviving without water, Regards, Simon Starr.

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Birds drinking in the heat

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