This photo by JJ Harrison (Wikipedia)

This beautiful Azure kingfisher has been conspicuous in and around Wodonga this year. I have personally noticed it on the billabong near La Maison’s killing and swallowing its prey and on the manmade Lagoon in Les Stone Park diving from a low branch and of course at Wonga wetlands. I’ve also seen it flying along the Mitta River down Lees Lane. These shy, yet glamorous, birds can be found around our rivers, coasts and forests, and indicate a healthy ecosystem.

DESCRIPTION

The Azure Kingfisher is a small kingfisher with a long slender black bill and a short tail. The head, neck, upper parts and breast sides are deep azure blue with a violet (purplish) sheen. The neck has a distinctive orange stripe on each side and there is a small orange spot before each eye. The throat is pale orange white, grading to orange-reddish on belly and undertail. The flanks and sides of the breast are washed purple to violet. The legs and feet are red. The sexes are similar. Young birds have a darker cap and are generally duller.

Photo from The Australian Museum

PREFERRED HABITAT

The Azure Kingfisher is never far from water, preferring freshwater rivers and creeks as well as billabongs, lakes, swamps and dams, usually in shady overhanging vegetation. It’s sometimes seen in parks on rivers, as well as duck or goldfish ponds in urban areas. They are found all along the eastern seaboard right down to Tasmania and are quite common and sedentary where the habitat remains suitable.

BEHAVIOUR

The Azure Kingfisher plunges from overhanging perches into water to catch prey. Prey items include: fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects and other invertebrates, and, sometimes, frogs. They will often bash their prey against the perch before swallowing it head first. They also watch Platypuses foraging underwater and catch any food items that are disturbed. Azure kingfishers patrol up and down waterways and rivers moving from perch to perch and flying very fast, and only a few meters off the water, typically making a loud high pitched “seeeeeeeep” call but otherwise are a very quiet bird.

Azure Kingfishers form monogamous pairs that defend a breeding territory. Both parents incubate and feed the chicks. The nest is at the end of a burrow dug out of soil in a riverbank. The tunnel slopes upwards to the nesting chamber and can be 80 cm – 130 cm long. Flooding can destroy low-lying burrows.

• Breeding season: September to January (in the south)
• Clutch size: 4 to 7, usually 5
• Incubation: 21 days
• Time in nest: 28 days

CONVERSATION STATUS

Least concern as although numbers are declining their distribution is becoming larger. Stock trampling vegetation around waterholes affects the Azure Kingfisher. Human activities that cause artificial flooding of waterways can drown nests. Water that is turbid (not clear) and the introduction of European Carp (which competes for food resources) can also adversely affect local populations.

Grey fantails are found all over the Mitta Valley. I recently observed one whilst sitting with Margie and Shane Tobin of Mitta North Road in their back yard, it was flitting from bush to bush looking for insects and fanning its gorgeous fantail.

DESCRIPTION

The Grey Fantail is a small insectivorous bird most easily recognised by its constantly fanned tail and agile aerial twists and turns. Both sexes are similar in appearance: grey above, with white eyebrow, throat and tail edges. This species is quite inquisitive and will closely approach an observer. It grows to16 cm (6.3 in) in length, of which half is the tail, which, as the name implies, is often displayed fanned out. 

This Photo by Duncan McCaskill

PREFERRED HABITAT

The Grey fantail is found in most treed habitats. This species is easily seen while walking in eucalypt forest, rainforest, mangroves, heath, and wooded habitat. It occasionally visits densely-planted urban gardens, particularly during the winter migration.

BEHAVIOUR

The grey fantail feeds on flying insects, which it catches by chasing them from the edge of foliage at all levels in the canopy. During waking hours, they are almost never still. They flit from perch to perch, sometimes on the ground but mostly on the twigs of a tree or any other convenient object, looking out for flying insects. They catch flying insects using intricate acrobatic chases. The birds are not shy, and will often flit within a few metres of people, especially in forested areas and suburban gardens. In doing so, it can catch any small flying insects that may have been disturbed by human activities such as walking or digging. The bird’s call is an almost metallic cheek, either as a single sound or (more often) repeated as a chattering. The grey fantail appears to undergo a partial northern migration during winter.

BREEDING

Most bird species typically build one nest, whereas grey fantails commonly build more than one nest before egg-laying. It is thought that these nests could act a decoy to confuse predators. The abandoned nests are incompletely built, probably in response to the attention of predators such as pied currawongs who destroy nests whilst looking for eggs. The grey fantail is territorial and is a seasonal breeder. They raise several broods per season, usually of three or four cream eggs, spotted grey and brown. The incubation period is around two weeks, with incubation and feeding duties shared by both parents. Despite most grey fantails forming season-long monogamous pairs, a small number of male birds seeking extra-pair copulation have been recorded.

CONVERSATION STATUS

The Grey Fantail conservation status is secure throughout Australia except in Northern Territory where it is critically endangered.