Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: jandals on September 01, 2011, 10:51:32 AM
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A regular visitor around our garden is this bellbird . Has been here for about 3 years and has a distinctive song . Feeds on Kowhai flowers ( as seen here ) in the spring , Kniphofia and Phygelius spp in the summer , Lavatera in the autumn and Grevillea spp and Melianthus major over the winter . Pictures taken yesterday .
Conservation dept has bellbird calls at http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/land-birds/bellbird-korimako
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Captain Cook had strange ideas as to what a bell sounded like! Not seen Kowhai flowering here yet.
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Sounds nothing like a bell
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaT40JqXJ_8[/youtube]
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Despite having a really good web based reporting system for birds here which I regulalrly visit, I somehow missed that a pair of Red-backed shrikes had bred this year for the first time in our area within about 50m of my cycle ride to work! I discovered this on the day they left... I recorded Whitethroat singing at this same location a couple of times and remember being a bit uncertain if it was that species but not having time to check. Here's a couple of pictures taken by others:
(http://www.artsobservasjoner.no/artportalen/gallery/images/swe/birds/2011/large/205456.jpg)
(http://www.artsobservasjoner.no/artportalen/gallery/images/swe/birds/2011/large/207410.jpg)
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Sounds nothing like a bell
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaT40JqXJ_8[/youtube]
Maybe the name was meant to refer to those different sized bells that you play tunes with by picking them up and shaking one or two at a time? Sounds a bit like that if you listen for it.
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Both bellbirds and tuis have different songs in different areas. I mean that the tuis around Tauranga, for instance, sound very different from the ones we have here in Dunedin. They also have different songs at different times of the year. The spring call when they are courting is much louder (and carries great distances), than the autumn call or when they're just finishing a sugar and water drink. And they're great mimics, especially the tuis. To the day, I can tell when autumn has arrived because of a different and truly bell-like call from the local bellbirds.
Tony Hall asked me to describe the sound of the bellbird and after thinking about it, the nearest I could come up with, that he would understand, was a clarinet being played inside a bell.
Steve, another winter dish for the bellbirds and wax-eyes, is Salvia confertiflora. They really love it and sometimes the bush at my kitchen window fairly shakes with so many birds with their beaks inside the tiny flowers.
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Captain Cook had strange ideas as to what a bell sounded like! Not seen Kowhai flowering here yet.
I guess he was used to 2 bells, 4 bells, 8 bells and perhaps a dinner bell? ;D
If you haven't seen kowhai in flower yet, maybe there aren't any near you. They're late winter and into spring flowerers. There are some excellent cultivar forms available now in the garden centres, usually quite dwarf growing, say to a metre or so.
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I have a kowhai in the garden, and I have seen trees in Lucy's school grounds and in the parks around us. No flowers yet, but I'll keep my eyes open.
The first bird we heard in New Zealand was a tui pretending to be a bell bird. It woke us up at 4 a.m. most mornings. I prefer the tui call.
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I might try some of those salvia Lesley . I too prefer the tui call Anthony but they are so bossy and will push other birds out of the area .
My bellbird was at the flowers on our plum trees this evening
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Went out to photograph some kowhai flowers this evening for a piece I wrote for the Botanical Society of Otago newsletter http://www.botany.otago.ac.nz/bso/newsletter.php (http://www.botany.otago.ac.nz/bso/newsletter.php)(link for any one that might be interested) and this bellbird arrived so photographed him as well. The male has a bright red eye. The bellbirds are year round residents in my garden and breed there but the tuis come only when there is a food source available (at the moment kowhia Sophora microphylla- flowering very well round Dunedin this year). There was a tui here this morning making sure I knew he was there. He swooped down towards me - a very noisy whirring flight that is part of their territorial display. Tuis are very aggressive towards one another and to bellbirds.
While I am on this thread I will post a picture of a couple of little blue penguins in a nest burrow I took two weeks ago. (No they do not make nice pets and you do not want them under your beachside cottage)
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Lovely blue penguin photo. Where did you see them?
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I'm off to sign the children up for tennis at the Koru Tennis Club in Pakuranga this morning. There are some lovely trees at the back and side of the courts and I've seen as many as five tuis chasing each other there. All Blacks will be at Pakuranga Rugby Club tomorrow afternoon, which is where the Scotland team will be based for their Auckland matches.
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Lovely blue penguin photo. Where did you see them?
At Taiaroa Head, the entrance to Oago Harbour. There is a colony of them there and they use the artificial nest boxes that have been installed for them. There are quite a few of them about but since they hid in burrows when they are on land you dont often see them.
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On the eve of approach of autumn....
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I've only seen a swarm of bees some three times in my life, so it was quite dramatic when the third time occurred on the roof of our house! They spent about 15 minutes in a swirling ball outside our dining room window (great place to watch them from close up! Our dog outside looked a little more disconcerted) before they settled down on the roof and are now somewhere in the loft! One of Nature's great excitements.
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On the eve of approach of autumn....
Lovely picture Natalia
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I've only seen a swarm of bees some three times in my life, so it was quite dramatic when the third time occurred on the roof of our house! They spent about 15 minutes in a swirling ball outside our dining room window (great place to watch them from close up! Our dog outside looked a little more disconcerted) before they settled down on the roof and are now somewhere in the loft! One of Nature's great excitements.
They'd have a job getting into our loft, it's full of stuff that ought be chucked out but might come in handy one day!
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I might try some of those salvia Lesley . I too prefer the tui call Anthony but they are so bossy and will push other birds out of the area .
My bellbird was at the flowers on our plum trees this evening
Steve I haven't been able to find seed on S. confertiflora but you can have a bunch of cuttings which are easy to root and also can have a plant. I did a few cuttings in the autumn and they've been outside all winter. I'll pot them this week as they're growing on strongly.
A most beautiful picture of the spider's web Natalia, with no tears in it. Better than a diamond tiara. ::)
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Roger's family used to have a crib (holiday cottage) at Kakanui, north of Dunedin and he said everyone really hated the little blue penguins as at night, they'd congregate under the deck and yell and scream and make appalling noises. Just as well they're protected as there would otherwise have been mass shootings.
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I thought a crib was a small cot for a baby?
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Well it can be, of course, one up from a basinette. But in Otago and Southland it's also what the northerners would call a bach but they pronounce it batch, which I can't do, having been brought up with JS, so I'm more comfortable with the southern "crib." :)
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unbelievable macro photos of insects
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/)
He uses a 28mm lens reversed - what ever than means - and a 2x converter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/2545298333/in/photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/2545298333/in/photostream)
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I thought a crib was a small cot for a baby?
.... or a card game played particularly in Northern clubs and pubs.
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Signs of Autumn. Our first Whooper Swans have returned from Iceland to their wintering area. This is about 4 weeks earlier than usual. Do they know something we don't know ?
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He uses a 28mm lens reversed - what ever than means - and a 2x converter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/2545298333/in/photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/2545298333/in/photostream)
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It means that you use a lens mount adapter for your camera body with a suitable sized filter mount fitted on the other side of the mount. This is screwed into the lens and the lens, which is now reversed is mounted onto the body. This enables the lens to be used about 1" or closer from your subject. Optically, this will give better results than using extension tubes and is much better than a converter. Standard lenses are computed to give their best result probably from about 5 feet to infinity. If you want to know more about the subject try googling "close up camera lenses" as a starter. The downside of using a lens this way is that it can only be used manually. Automatic focusing and exposure are lost.
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I thought a crib was a small cot for a baby?
.... or a card game played particularly in Northern clubs and pubs.
Does that involve cheating?
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My Ma and Pa and I used to play crib (cribbage) when I was small and no, it didn't involve cheating. ???
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Cheats use crib sheets Lesley: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheat_sheet
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Steve I haven't been able to find seed on S. confertiflora but you can have a bunch of cuttings which are easy to root and also can have a plant. I did a few cuttings in the autumn and they've been outside all winter. I'll pot them this week as they're growing on strongly.
Cheers . Will call in next time I go to town . Will phone first
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Many tortoiseshell butterflies in the garden today. They like Colchicums better than Asters
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Haven't seen many butterflies here recently. 2 Red Admirals and 1 Peacock on Sunday, 1 Red Admiral on Monday and a Small Copper yesterday. I did see an occasional Tortoiseshell earlier but the weather has been so changeable they must be very confused.
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Nice copper!
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My neighbor’s cat Chizhik is nearly wild and very dangerous animal. It likes to hunt at my garden. It kills very slowly playing with mice and birds.
(http://cs4167.vkontakte.ru/u6450879/97713647/x_95918931.jpg)
(http://cs4167.vkontakte.ru/u6450879/97713647/x_09f66e35.jpg)
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I suddenly don't like your neighbour Olga!
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Our Teddy catches mice and despatches them immediately, or small rabbits, but THEN he plays with them. Found him last night playing with what seemed to be a mummified mouse.
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Anthony my neighbour is a very good old farmer, I like him very much and his cat too. The cat really helps to fight with mice and other diggers in the garden.
Lesley I only was confused with its cruel games with victims. It plays with injured mice and birds. I first thought to save them from him but understood they were hardly injured and I had to kill them next to prevent slow death. :( I can’t do that. :( It’s cat's nature. :(
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These "predators" hunt now in our gardens
Picromerus bidens with prey
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Natalia super shot of this assassin bug.
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Тhank you..:)
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Natalia, a super photo, may I use it in a talk for the SRGC ?
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Maggi, yes, of course ...
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Natalia, thank you very much. :-*
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If they were hardly injured wouldn't they recover?
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If they were hardly injured wouldn't they recover?
I suspect Olga means badly injured.... the little bird inthe photo has a couple of large chunks out of it already.... :'(
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Olga, I certainly wasn't saying my Teddy did things in a better way than your neighbour's cat, just in his different, doggie way. I agree with you. One can't hate a lion because it hunts and kills a zebra or an antelope. Nature made it to do that. Our world is a violent place. But the violence animals do to animals in order to survive, is nothing compared to the violence man does to man. WE are the monsters on the earth.
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I suspect Olga means badly injured.... the little bird inthe photo has a couple of large chunks out of it already.... :'(
Yes, thanks Maggi.
Lesley I thought a lot when first saw cat’s games with bird. You are so right about monsters…
Dogs differ of course. And they don’t walk at neighbour’s gardens. :)
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Lions are in their native habitat killing their natural food. Cats are alien and as such should never be allowed to set foot outside a house! >:( How many bird, and other, species have been made extinct by alien animals such as cats!?
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Lions are in their native habitat killing their natural food. Cats are alien and as such should never be allowed to set foot outside a house! >:( How many bird, and other, species have been made extinct by alien animals such as cats!?
Surely hunting is in their genes? They can catch what they like as far as I'm concerned as long as the natural end to the consumption of whatever isn't deposited in my garden.
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Has anyone seen a September Swift? My last was one on the 5th.
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Lions are in their native habitat killing their natural food. Cats are alien and as such should never be allowed to set foot outside a house! >:( How many bird, and other, species have been made extinct by alien animals such as cats!?
Surely hunting is in their genes?
Exactly, so they should be restricted to hunting plastic toys indoors. The only outdoor cats in the UK should be the Scottish wild cats. In New Zealand, the Kiwi has lost much of its range because of feral (is there any other kind?) cats. Several bush wrens have been made extinct by introduced cats.
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I'm no great fan of cats but to keep them inside at all times would be as cruel as keeping children inside forever. It can't be done. Again, it must be humans who are to blame for domesticating the cat in the first place, not the cats who do their natural thing.
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Cats can quite easily become accustomed to life indoors. My mum had Siamese that were indoor cats. Try letting a ragdoll outside! Alas Scottish tabbies are destroying the Scottish wildcat gene pool too! If your dog roamed the neighborhood you would soon have the full force of the law on you. Why should cats be any different? Perhaps what I saw written above and below the characters on a NZ car number plate sums up cats and dogs: "dogs have owners; cats have staff".
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only 400 Scottish wild cats left. There are more tigers and pandas! Cats should be banned within 100 miles of wild cat populations
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I know several folk with perfectly content and well adjusted indoor cats.
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Looking out of my window the sky is full of swallows, must have been a good year for them. I have never seen so much before. I wandering if that's them getting ready to go. wish I could fly away and leave winter behind ::) ;D
Angie :)
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We have a spare room Angie. ;D
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Anthony don't tempt me. ;D
Angie :)
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The invite stands. 8)
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Anthony how long can l stay in New-Zealand before they would throw me out.
Anthony I have started to worry about my Cypripediums that I got from you. The leaves have all died down.
I worry that they won't come threw the winter. I know they are tuff but they are so special plants that I can't help worry. My husband laughs he says I worry more about them than him, how right he is ::) ;D
Angie :)
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Don't worry. The leaves will die down and you will have next years buds ready for the spring. Don't pamper them. They are as tough as old boots. My pots just stood out in all weathers. As long as they don't dry out they'll be fine. If you carefully move some medium away from the stems with your fingers you should see the buds. Don't cut the old stems, but you can pull them later, if they give?
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Thanks Anthony
Angie :)
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I was hoping to get the cute shot of the big eyes but this little one was very camera shy.
The only shot I got :(
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Quite difficult getting some of these beasties to pose for the camera, Fred.
I have been stalking butterflies this week in the few minutes when it's been warm enough, not raining. and not too windy. It was fairly warm this morning and a few butterflies were around. I saw four Red Admirals and a lone Peacock on Sedums 'Matrona' and 'Herbstfreude'. My Red Admiral pics were all too out of focus except for one which was sunning itself on the glass of the car headlight. After the rain came on in the afternoon I spotted the Peacock butterfly hiding under one of the flower heads. I think it is spending the night there.
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Roma, a few drops of sugar syrup put onto a flower will attract the butterflies and keep them there long enough to help take a photograph.
Paddy
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Thanks Paddy. Must try that if we see the sun again before winter.
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a bug seen in Cyprus - perhaps our resident expert Mr Darby might be able to provide some detail about it
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Can only say it's an assassin bug at the moment.
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Frazer, Anthony,
the unknown bug is Lygaeus creticus - Südeuropäische Ritterwanze ;)
Regret I don't know an english name...
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Warm and sunny today which brought out lots of butterflies.
Late forenoon I counted 5 Red Admirals, 2 Peacocks, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and a big surprise 1 Comma, a new sighting for my garden.
Later in the afternoon there were 7 or more Red Admirals, 3 Peacocks, 3 Small Tortoiseshells and the lone Comma.
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Roma did you try the syrup ;D
Angie :)
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No, Angie. It was warm and they were feeding on the sedum so did not move around too much. I think the shaky pics yesterday were more due to a shaky hand and the camera not picking up what I wanted to focus on. I'm afraid I'm a bit lazy and usually use the camera on automatic. I can't see the screen too well in bright sunlight so a lot of it is guesswork.
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Gosh. Has the comma really got that far north? :o I saw my first ever in Dunblane last summer! Once confined to the Welsh border counties, especially Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, this species is now found throughout England, Wales and the Channel Islands and has recently reached Scotland. There have also been a few records from Ireland.
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Gosh. Has the comma really got that far north? :o I saw my first ever in Dunblane last summer! Once confined to the Welsh border counties, especially Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, this species is now found throughout England, Wales and the Channel Islands and has recently reached Scotland. There have also been a few records from Ireland.
Is this due to the change in farming practice Anthony,when i was a boy i longed to catch a comma,it just wasn't a common thing in north nottinghamshire.
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Climate change, pure and simple. It is a nettle (as well as hops and elm) feeder, so if anything its food supply has been reduced. The muppets than run councils now spray under hedges and by wall to discourage patches of nettles etc.
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Weather was quite changeable here today. One minute it was warm and sunny and next it was cool and dull with occasional spots of rain but having found the sedums the butterflies kept coming. I managed to get a shot of the underside of the Comma's wings showing where it gets its name. When I got too close it dropped to the ground where it was very well camouflaged.
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.........and where it got its latin name: Polygonia c-album. Lovely photographs Roma. 8)
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Great pictures, Roma! I had 7 Red Admirals this weekend, but that was all...no Peacocks this year. Perhaps the cold winter has staggered their northward march...
Incidentally, the Comma goes much farther north over here in Norway, reaching the Arctic Circle!
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As the comma hibernates in amongst dead leaves in hedgerows, it is susceptible to damp, mild conditions in winter. It is not a migrant, so its spread north is very slow. It has taken since the 1920s, when its range was at its least, to reach Scotland.
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Had an argument with Roger yesterday about a patch of nettles he wanted cleared out before we put in seed potatoes and some others veg seedlings. I was remembering the yellow admirals we had last summer/autumn and refused to touch them. His back (with wedge fractures) is preventing him from digging so I won THAT argument. :D
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Found yesterday while taking a sun bathe in my garden
ring snake - Natrix natrix
Gerd
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A wolf is caught in Belgium! Or is it a hoax?
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wolf-belgium.html#cr (http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wolf-belgium.html#cr)
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I am sorry, no wolves in my garden although I want some to keep my neighbor's cats away ;D
However, with the warmth and sun the last days a lot of insect has suddenly appeared from nowhere. They are very fond of the green nectar and pollen rich flowers of the Hedera helix.
A lot of honeybees joined other bees, flies and hoverflies in the sunshine.
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18oC and very windy this weekend, but it didn't hinder this battered old monarch, which visited my garden yesterday to lay its eggs on some swan plants.
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Great pictures, Roma! I had 7 Red Admirals this weekend, but that was all...no Peacocks this year. Perhaps the cold winter has staggered their northward march...
I don't think peacocks are noted for their migratory habits. I lived in central Scotland for 30 years before I saw one. Now they are resident and one of the commonest butterflies in August. Before they were confined to the Scottish coast.