Cockatoo – FORDSFOTOS

Birds of Australia

Birds of Australia
A few beautiful birds we saw in Australia. More will be added soon! It seemed to me that the birds in Australia were all more beautiful than in the US. One example is the Australian Pelican, it is a beautiful black and white, not the brown that are common here. Check out my Pelican pictures, one flying, and one swimming. The Kookaburra was an especially fun bird to see and hear in the wild. At Yanchap National Park I first heard a kookaburra and even identified the “laugh”. Later in the day I was delighted to see two pair flying, laughing and landing in trees near where we were watching the kangaroos and their joeys (in and out of the Pouch)come bounding out near us.
Another interesting aspect of our Australian bird watching were the birds that the natives viewed as “Pests” The Cockatoo on Hamilton Island was a big problem to the residents, as well as the lorikeet. I enjoyed watching them, but the residents don’t. The beautiful pink Galah is a pest in some areas of Australia, and can gather in large flocks an create quite a racket.

More information from Wikipedia; “Australia and its offshore islands and territories have 898 recorded bird species as of 2014. Of the recorded birds, 165 are considered vagrant or accidental visitors, of the remainder over 45% are classified as Australian endemics: found nowhere else on earth. It has been suggested that up to 10% of Australian bird species may go extinct by the year 2100 as a result of climate change.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_of_Australia
http://birdlife.org.au/all-about-birds/australias-birds/find-a-bird

Related Images:

Hamilton Island a Tender Port. Latitude 21′ South.

Hamilton Island is a very interesting Island one of the Whit Sundays. Cockatoos, Lorikeets and Fruit bats live wild all over the island, but are not welcome by the natives, because of their mess and noise. We as tourists, had fun viewing them and taking their pictures. This was our third stop on the Circumnavigation of Australia.

What a special day! After tendering to land we took a cruise in the Denison Star (max 60 passengers) around the Whitsunday Islands. The Denison Star is a beautiful part of Australian Maritime history, made of Huon Pine, a tree only found in wilderness areas of Tasmania. This pine is the slowest growing tree in the world.

Why the name Whitsunday you ask?– that is the day Cap Cook discovered the islands. For those of you who don’t remember your Religious calendar –Whit Sunday is the seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday.

We are still a bit south of the Great Barrier Reef but in places there was a scum on the water that is from the coral, called sea saw dust. Wild Cockatoos, lorikeets and fruit bats are all over this island. We heard noise from all three of those, plus the swack from sea gulls and ravens.The cockatoos are just like pigeons any where else and become pests around the outside eating areas–Like the Ibis type bird we saw in Brisbane at the Museum.

A beautiful sunny day with just a slight breeze to keep us almost cool. There are 74 islands and more and more resorts being built on the islands. Oprah did a show in Australia and stayed in one of the new resorts.

As a beside, food here is a little over twice as expensive as in NM! For example a BLT Australian costs 12$ Aus.The exchange rate is about the same $1 for $1.

Talking to the locals;

Cockatoos will come in the house-open the screen door, or tear a hole in it, go in house and make a mess.

The bats are especially noticeable at sundown but they were flying all over when we were there as there was road work going on in the hill near their main nest. I have no idea of the numbers of bats,but I’m sure they must be in the hundreds.
The fruit bats appear to have a wing span of about 3 feet, The locals said if you are in the right place at the wrong time you might get scratched. A child died a while back on Cook Island because of a bat. Their scratch results in Lysse a virus similar to rabies. The locals would like to get rid of them, but the environmental groups won’t let the govt do anything.

Another wonderful day in an Australian Paradise