{"id":390,"date":"2017-06-28T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T14:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koondrookps.digitalbear.com.au\/?page_id=390"},"modified":"2018-03-22T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T09:18:09","slug":"our-birds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/our-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tThe birds fly freely and brightly around KPS.\u00a0 Because the river flows around the school, a number of water birds are regularly seen and heard.\u00a0 The hoot of Dusky Moorhens is heard coming from the reeds, and perched on a log protruding from the water will be the small Pied Cormorant, perhaps a Darter, or one of the Black Cormorants.\u00a0 On the water, the Black Duck is often seen along with the Grey Teal, and a pair of Wood Ducks will often be found on the riverbank, accompanied in spring by a gaggle of young ones.\u00a0 The White-faced Heron drops in to patrol the water bank, or maybe the Pacific White-necked Heron.\u00a0 While a few years ago Nankeen Night-Herons roosted in the willows across the river, today the most exciting bird to spot is the blue flash of the Sacred Kingfisher zooming across from a low branch in a Red Gum to a protruding stick on a submerged log.<\/p>\n

\nWithin the school grounds, a colony of Noisy Miners patrols the red gums showing aggression towards any White-plumed Honeyeater or Striated Pardalote dropping by.\u00a0 But the beautiful Blue-faced Honeyeaters and the raucous Noisy Friarbirds are too big to be perturbed by the Miners.\u00a0 The Little Friarbird with its “Get Real” call often dangles from a blossoming bunch of leaves, and the Yellow Rosellas zip by in small groups.\u00a0 Eastern Rosellas are seen feeding on the oval low to the ground perhaps with Red-rumped Grass Parrots, both well-camouflaged compared with the Magpies strutting around looking for spiders or beetles, or the Magpie Larks chirruping to one another.<\/p>\n

Suddenly the Miners and Magpies are in the air with warning calls and a Brown Goshawk is driven off through the trees.\u00a0 They don’t seem to mind the Black Kites or Whistling Kites that often drift over the school suspended on air.\u00a0 Kookaburras are heard but none live in the actual school-grounds area.<\/p>\n

In Winter, the Friarbirds and Kingfisher leave, and the Pied Currawongs arrive – usually at the start of May.\u00a0 They may be found cleaning up around the rubbish bins, or just flying over to or from their evening roost on Gunbower Island.\u00a0 Very rarely, the astonishing red breast of the Flame Robin may be seen in its Winter dispersal passing through.<\/p>\n

The grape-vine in the school ground attracts Silver-eyes and the introduced House Sparrows.\u00a0 Occasionally, the seldom-seen Crested Shrike-Tit comes out of the tree tops to peck at caterpillars on the vines also.\u00a0 The Rufous Whistler sets up its glorious call, and at times the astonishing bell-notes of the Pied Butcherbird echo across the school.<\/p>\n

In the trees, the chips and whistles of some Thornbills attract attention.\u00a0 Are they the Little Thornbill, or the Yellow-Rumped Thornbill?\u00a0 Hard to tell without binoculars.\u00a0 The little Superb Fairy Wrens play and sing in the bushes and patient observing may reveal a Weebill, or perhaps a Western Warbler.\u00a0 Meanwhile, a Willie Wagtail is calling from the playground, scolding a Little Raven, and on the roof, a pair of Crested Pigeons cuddles up.<\/p>\n

A big mob of Galahs wheels by, sometimes stopping to feed on the grass.\u00a0 Other flock birds sometimes seen are the Long-billed Corellas and the Straw-necked Ibis.\u00a0 On the water towers opposite the school, a colony of feral Pigeons lives, and at various times, Welcome Swallows swoop in the air, circling the school from their nests under the bridge.<\/p>\n

At night time, the Owls may be heard.\u00a0 Boobook Owls give their distinctive ‘mopoke’ call, and perhaps the distinctive white face of the Barn Owl may catch in a night light as they swoop on a big moth.\u00a0 The Tawny Frogmouth has been nesting at the school in an ash tree to the fascination of the students.\u00a0 Also at night, the weird shrill call of the Bush Stone Curlew echoes through the night.\u00a0 These rare and declining birds may even feed on the school oval at night, as they are certainly seen at several places regularly in Koondrook.<\/p>\n

How many birds are mentioned in this story?<\/p>\n

Our many thanks to Rev Geoff Leslie for this article.<\/p>\n

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The birds fly freely and brightly around KPS.\u00a0 Because the river flows around the school, a number of water birds are regularly seen and heard.\u00a0 The hoot of Dusky Moorhens is heard coming from the reeds, and perched on a log protruding from the water will be the small Pied Cormorant, perhaps a Darter, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.koondrookps.vic.edu.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}