Greenie, Birdo, Foodie, and Karaoke nut

These birds will be familiar. They are often kept as pets and are good talkers.

( Pale Cockatoos )

There are five species in the Calyptorhynchus genus. All are restricted to Australia. Three are found in the South-west. Two of those are restricted to the south-west and are endangered.

Cockatoos from the genus Calyptorhynchus are better known as the Black Cockatoos.

( Wee-lah! )

There are three species of ibis that can be seen in the Perth metro area. One is VERY common and familiar, the other is slightly less common, and one is considered rare in Perth, although there is one place where you can reliably see a lot of them. Ibises are wading birds closely related to egrets and spoonbills and can be identified by their downcurved beaks. In Ancient Egypt ibises were regarded as gods.

( Thoth's Minions )

This is a special short edition of birding lessons (which I meant to post before I went to Mt. Gibson). I couldn't figure out where else I'd write about this guy, but it needs mentioning because it's actually quite common once you start looking.

( A bird you've probably seen and not recognised )

One evening I got a call from my mum asking me to ID "A little duck on the lake". She described it to me and I came to the conclusion that they were seeing not a duck, but an Australsian Grebe. Grebes are pretty common on Perth wetlands (especially the Australiasian), but to most people they're unfortunately regarded as just another duck.

( We are not ducks! )

This is going to be a long edition. I bet you didn't know that there are TEN species of native duck that can be found in the Perth Metro area. I have seen all bar one at Herdsman Lake (actually, on one lucky day I got all 10 in my 1 hour lunch break, this is why I love Herdsman Lake so damn much). I was pretty surprised to discover this when I started birding. I'd know the Pacific Black since I was kid and had known the Australian Wood Duck for almost as long. I also knew that Grey Teal existed but I wasn't too sure what they looked like. So, without further ado!

( The ducks of the Perth Metro area )

I'm churning these out quickly at the moment. It will slow down a bit, but I really I hope I don't end up abandoning it.

This lesson will cover 3 very common birds that you're probably quite familiar with, and another that is not quite so abundant and well known.

( Black & White Birds )

Okay, before I get ahead of myself teaching you about the birds, I should probably start with birding (or birdwatching). There are a few things you'll need starting out and a few pointers for how to go about it.

( The basics of birding )

So I was at Herdsman Lake today, as I often am on my lunch break and was watching the birds and taking note of all the species I saw for my daily bird list (which I have been doing every day since mid April 2005 - bar a couple of days where I've missed it). And I thought to myself, a lot of these birds I see every day and I just know them, their colour, size, behaviour, call, WHERE they are also factors into ID a lot. And then I thought to myself, I can easily tell the difference between a Dusky Moorhen and a Purple Swamphen and Eurasian Coot, but there are a LOT of people who would see a coot or a moorhen and just assume it's a duck. Which it most certainly is not. So I decided on my lesson one of bird ID.

( The Gallinules )