Eastern Barn Owl at our backyard
Eastern Barn Owl
What a exciting day it was!
Around 9:30am on 13th of April 2012 Jim shouted out to me in the backyard: "Please come out to the garden with your camera and take a photo of this Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, I think."
I thought oh yehr, Cockatoo is not a common visitor in our backyard. I quietly walked through the laundry door from the back of the house in case I scared the bird away.
When I saw the bird, my jaw dropped. I could not believe what I saw in our silver princess eucalypt tree. It is a BARN OWL! I was so excited and my hands were shaking. I quitely adjusted the camera setting for the light and shot a few pictures of it while a couple of the magpies swooped past him/her and made alot of alarming noises.
It was only a few seconds for me to take the shots. Here it is. What a beautiful owl. I have been chasing them every where I go and could not spot one. Now I've got a visit.
New Holland Honeyeaters are permanent residents in our garden. They stay here all year around. They raise the young in the nearby trees including neighbours' garden. Often They feed in our Silver Princess Gum Tree flowers. They do go away during the day, but they are always here in the morning and late in the afternoon. Now the total of New Holland Honeyeater which reside in our garden are at least ten.
Our Silver Princess is the favourite tree for a lot of birds. It includes New Holland Honeyeater, Rainbow Lorikeet and Red Wattle Bird. In 2012 when we lived in Northwest of Victoria for most of time, I noticed that Red Wattle Birds came and raised their young here. This year, they came to visit the Silver Princess almost every late afternoon or early in the morning. Mask Lorikeet was seen eating our nectarines in Jan/Feb. I've got photos to prove it below. It was so cute.
Other permanent resident birds are black birds, Spotted Doves and Rock Doves. They build nests in the surrounding gardens including ours.
Seasonal visitors include Green Finches. They appear in Summer. I often see House Sparrows and Common Starlings. Occasionally Australian Magpies, Magpie-lark and Ravens drop in. In rare occasions, White-faced Heron, Eastern Great Egret came to pinch our gold fish in the pond. As result of it, we have only one gold fish left now as we are sick of replacing them. Our only gold fish is now protected by the nest we put around the fish barrel. Once a life time, we saw Eastern Barn Owl in our Silver Princess tree in one early morning in 2012. I made it a headline.
Our Silver Princess is the favourite tree for a lot of birds. It includes New Holland Honeyeater, Rainbow Lorikeet and Red Wattle Bird. In 2012 when we lived in Northwest of Victoria for most of time, I noticed that Red Wattle Birds came and raised their young here. This year, they came to visit the Silver Princess almost every late afternoon or early in the morning. Mask Lorikeet was seen eating our nectarines in Jan/Feb. I've got photos to prove it below. It was so cute.
Other permanent resident birds are black birds, Spotted Doves and Rock Doves. They build nests in the surrounding gardens including ours.
Seasonal visitors include Green Finches. They appear in Summer. I often see House Sparrows and Common Starlings. Occasionally Australian Magpies, Magpie-lark and Ravens drop in. In rare occasions, White-faced Heron, Eastern Great Egret came to pinch our gold fish in the pond. As result of it, we have only one gold fish left now as we are sick of replacing them. Our only gold fish is now protected by the nest we put around the fish barrel. Once a life time, we saw Eastern Barn Owl in our Silver Princess tree in one early morning in 2012. I made it a headline.
Common Blackbird
