10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2019

Last week during a camping trip to Kununurra we encountered a Radjah Shelduck family in one of the irrigation channels around town. The Radjah Shelduck family last week were swimming in the irrigation channel right against the road and so we could pull over and admire them. Radjah Shelduck family.

Family 121

Family 2019 Eggs Rights 121

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2021

They are widespread throughout Australia , but it does not mean you necessarily easily observe them. There was an island in the middle of the river and the tall trees held Yellow-billed Spoonbill nests and there were several families within the vicinity. Yellow-billed Spoonbill family. Juvenile and adult Yellow-billed Spoonbill.

Breeding 241

Breeding Australia Cattle Family 241

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

The breeding season started early this year with the first eggs laid at the end of May. This pair of Pied Oystercatchers have incubated two clutches of eggs and had chicks for a few days on both occasions. The eggs hatched out this week and the tides are very big, so there is a huge expanse of sand when the tide goes out.

Eggs 219

Eggs Breeding Australia Family 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2020

The header photo above shows where the family rested shortly after the two chicks left the nest on Tuesday. We had been patiently awaiting the arrival of the two chicks since the eggs were laid a month ago. I took a few photos of the chick that had hatched out and the remaining egg. Chick and egg at the nest site.

Eggs 262

Eggs Family Falcons Rights 262

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

In theory the eggs are laid, the adults share the incubation of the eggs for 28 days and then fluffy chicks emerge. There are other pairs that nest in rather obscure areas, but as soon as the eggs hatch they walk the chicks several kilometres to a better feeding area. If only it was that easy!

Family 190

Family Eggs 2007 2008 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

It has been more than 5 years since I last went to Australia, and I was even less of a qualified bird photographer then than I am now. All photos were taken in Australia in December 2016 – locations included Brisbane and surroundings, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Melbourne, and the coast near Melbourne.

Australia 191

Australia Koalas Parrots Birds 191

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. Another member of the stork family, the African Openbill , looks like it is could benefit from a good orthodontist. And sadly, it is listed as Endangered.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Eggs Africa 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

Every year we observe both egg and chick loss amongst our Pied Oystercatcher pairs along Cable Beach and also in Roebuck Bay during their breeding season. The breeding season starts around the end of June and there are still eggs being laid and chicks hatching, but now these are the second clutches of eggs.

Breeding 147

Breeding Eggs Protection Family 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2022

Since I found the first Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach in July 2000 I have learnt that the eggs rarely hatch due to predation and if they do hatch then a fully fledged chick is a rare and wonderful outcome. This year has been like other years with the first eggs being laid late June and the first chicks hatching recently.

Breeding 147

Breeding Eggs 2000 Chickens 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2023

Red-capped Plover nest We have mostly observed Red-capped Plover nests with two eggs, so she may well have laid another egg by now. The Red-capped Plover family group will move back and forth up and down the beach as the tides rise and fall and try to avoid the vehicles that use our local beaches at this time of year.

Eggs 177

Eggs 2011 Breeding Protection 177

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2021

We have often suspected that the Sand Goannas would steal eggs as a food source from the Pied Oystercatcher nests if they found them. The two pairs should have been close to hatching their eggs from their first clutch. The pair of Pied Oystercatchers to the north have now laid a second clutch of two more eggs.

Eggs 260

Eggs Feral Cats Feral Fox 260

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2020

Our first Pied Oystercatcher eggs for this year’s breeding season were laid early and were due to hatch last weekend. This pair of Pied Oystercatchers never seems to have a problem with incubating their eggs. They take it in turns over the twenty eight days sitting or hovering over the eggs. Pied Oystercatcher and chick.

2020 176

2020 Eggs Feral Cats Feral 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2020

Following on from the sad loss of our first Pied Oystercatcher chick of 2020 the other eggs are now also hatching. Somehow the twenty eight days passed without the eggs being run over. We moved back and sat on the sand and watched the Pied Oystercatcher family. Pied Oystercatcher family. Pied Oystercatcher family.

Eggs 161

Eggs Family 2008 2020 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2020

On a rising tide the Pied Oystercatcher family soon found a good position to watch and wait until the reef was exposed once again. Pied Oystercatcher family at roost. The Pied Oystercatcher family will remain together for some time yet. They moved around a bit to get comfortable on the rocky outcrop.

2020 238

2020 Eggs Family Breeding 238

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

Arriving at the beach as the tide pushed in yesterday we soon found the Pied Oystercatcher family had left footprints in the wet sand. We then moved slowly through the rocks until we found the family. There are more Pied Oystercatcher nests with eggs in them now, so the breeding season is not over yet.

Eggs 173

Eggs Family Breeding Rights 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2019

We continue to have egg predation at many of the nest sites and chick loss, but one pair of Pied Oystercatchers is being successful in raising two chicks so far. There has never been two eggs hatch and two chicks survive for more than about ten days since we started to keep an eye on them in 2000.

Eggs 133

Eggs 2000 Family Breeding 133

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

There is egg predation, chick loss and sometimes possibly just some “bad parenting”! One pair of Pied Oystercatchers laid eggs the first year and did not appear to realise they were supposed to sit on them, but they have since learnt it is an essential part of rearing a chick and they have done so since.

Eggs 165

Eggs Raised Breeding Family 165

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2019

In fact we often don’t have any chicks within two weeks of the eggs hatching and other pairs along the coast have not been successful yet this season. More eggs have been laid and hopefully other pairs of Pied Oystercatchers will soon have young to care for. Pied Oystercatcher family.

Feral Cats 125

Feral Cats Eggs Shelters Feral 125

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

The breeding season in the north of Australia starts from about July 1st and there are often several attempts if the eggs fail, are lost or the chicks don’t survive. On July 1st 2007 an egg was laid by a Pied Oystercatcher that was known to be an adult in 2002 and had been banded in nearby Roebuck Bay. Hermit Crab in lid.

2007 169

2007 Eggs 2002 2014 169

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

The first eggs were laid in the first week of July, which is the case each year. The eggs take 28 days to hatch and it is then at least 35 days before the chicks are developed enough to fly and there have been problems with predation as in other years. Pied Oystercatcher sitting on eggs in the nudist area of Cable Beach.

Breeding 159

Breeding Eggs Camels Shelters 159

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 225

Dissection Birds Europe Eggs 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2019

Last year not a single chick survived and there is much predation of both eggs and young birds along the length of beach. The first pair of Pied Oystercatchers to lay eggs this year was the same as last year. In the header photo you can see where the Pied Oystercatcher family stopped and rested together for a while.

2019 126

2019 Camels Eggs Family 126

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2013

The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae is Australia’s largest bird standing at up to 2 metres (6 foot 6 inches) tall. They will only breed if the conditions are good and the male will be responsible for nest building and incubating the 6-12 eggs for approximately 60 days. Emu family on the other side of the fence.

Australia 180

Australia Investigation Family Eggs 180

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. Each chapter focuses on a specific geographic area of penguin population: (1) Antarctica, (2) South Georgia, (3) Falkland Islands, (4) South Africa and Tristan de Cunha, (5) New Zealand and Australia, (6) South America and Galapagos. Press, 2011).

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 278

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2018

Two weeks ago I introduced you to two pairs of our Pied Oystercatchers that were early egg layers this year and this week the eggs have hatched out after twenty eight days of incubation. Both pairs of Pied Oystercatchers are in a very public area of Cable Beach, but they are always successful with their egg incubation each year.

2018 100

2018 Feral Cats Eggs Camels 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

There is a lot of extreme behavior here (and a lot of that behavior takes place in Australia), but this is not simply a collection of the world’s most fantastic bird tales. Most of the chapters in The Bird Way focus on one or two scientists who has done extensive research on ‘outlier behavior.’

Science 228

Science Costa Rica Birds Research 228

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2020

The family of Pied Oystercatchers soon made their move to Gantheaume Point. Typically the whole Pied Oystercatcher family spend a lot of time either feeding or roosting. They prefer to walk away from you to lead you away from eggs, chicks or their territory. They will warn it of any dangers both vocally and flying at any threat.

Eggs 168

Eggs Breeding Family Protection 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

While hoopoes are in their own family, DNA studies suggest that the hoopoe diverged from hornbills, and the wood-hoopoes and scimitarbills from the hoopoe. However, it is kind of sophisticated in that the females lay very individualized eggs in order to be able to detect the added eggs of parasite cuckoo finches.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Benin South Africa Gabon 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2017

On several occasions recently we have had to stop on the highway to let families of birds go across from one wet side of the road to the other wet side of the road. The adult Black-winged Stilts have black necks and the juvenile birds have grey heads and grey feathers around the eye area and no black neck. Black-winged Stilt chick.

Breeding 100

Breeding Geese Australia Eggs 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2017

Australian Painted Snipe nest with four eggs. Four eggs in the Australian Painted Snipe nest. Our most recent encounter of an Australian Painted Snipe family was four birds that we accidentally flushed from under the shade of a bush near an ephemeral lake. Australian Painted Snipe nest. Three swimming Australian Painted Snipe.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2017

This was the first of many Magpie Geese families that we were to come across. Magpie Goose family-two adults. There were several family groups that included three adult birds, so we presume that these were male Magpie Geese that had two partners. Magpie Goose family-three adults. Ten young Magpie Geese with parents.

Geese 100

Geese Breeding Eggs 2014 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2016

This pair of birds laid eggs in the first week of July, which is typical for the Broome area. The next pair of Pied Oystercatchers to the north decided to lay earlier than normal this year and are currently sitting on their third clutch of eggs following predation of the first two clutches they laid.

Eggs 100

Eggs Shelters 2016 Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

It looks similar to a pheasant in many ways, but is actually part of the cuckoo family. It is unique as a cuckoo due to the fact that it lays its eggs in its own nest and does not lay them in other birds’ nests. The Pheasant Coucal lives in Northern and Eastern Australia.

Breeding 161

Breeding Australia Eggs Family 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2017

Masked Lapwings have been busy breeding for some months now and some may well be on their second clutch of eggs. On a recent day trip to Derby from Broome we took the road into the Derby airport to get views of the end of the mudflats and encountered a Masked Lapwing sitting on eggs and chicks right beside the main road at the airport.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Protection Cows 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

We have recently come across several Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles families around Broome. They generally lay four eggs, but we have only seen a maximum of three surviving chicks after a few days. A good indication that they have eggs or young is the extreme noise that they make. Masked Lapwing chick hiding in a cow footprint!

Breeding 145

Breeding Cows Eggs 2012 145

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2012

After 28 days of sharing the duty of sitting on three eggs we finally had the arrival of our first Pied Oystercatcher chicks for 2012 on Friday August 3rd. It is unusual for three eggs to be laid here in Broome and many eggs do not even hatch due to predation each season. I quickly took a photo and returned to the wet sand.

Eggs 177

Eggs Dogs Shelters Family 177

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2011

The first eggs are laid during the first week of July each year and if these eggs fail to hatch or the chicks are lost they will lay further eggs within a few weeks. Sadly a lot of eggs are lost to feral cats and chicks are sometimes taken by birds of prey. Nest site with 3 eggs-one white!

2002 166

2002 Feral Cats Eggs 2007 166