Goolwa

[Outdated]

Another of my night time or early morning drives found me at a little town near the mouth of the Murray River called Goolwa. 150 years ago Goolwa was a major shipping port, the place where river boats met ocean going ships and transferred cargoes. These days it's a large sprawl of very expensive holiday houses.

The first thing I saw of interest was a Shag drying his wings out after hunting his breakfast. They're a type of Cormorant, they dive for fish and Shags can also use their wings to "fly" underwater so they can dive very deep and actively chase their prey under the water. Very efficient hunters.

Goolwa has preserved a lot of their old buildings and their history and heritage.

Note the use of red bricks as decorations in the building, and they really are only decorations and not structural. Tiny little towns in remote areas couldn't manufacture their own bricks and instead had to import them at great cost. Those bricks were a symbol of wealth and status.

And on my way out of the town I saw a few huge flocks of Corellas picking over last year's wheat stubble.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I recently was reading a bit about Goolwa in the book about going down the Darling (and later the Murray) in a small boat. How cool.

We have cormorants here and they are fascinating birds. The anhinga also swims and walks under water to catch fish in fresh water.

The old pictures of the Everglades showed flocks of birds that big, but not any more.

 

[Outdated]

Corellas are by far the noisiest birds on the planet, it's nice seeing them from a distance but no fun at all if a large flock invades your town. They're rarely seen in cities of course but they thrive where ever wheat is grown. Flocks of over 1000 birds aren't uncommon.

 

[RESleight]

Another of my night time or early morning drives found me at a little town near the mouth of the Murray River called Goolwa. 150 years ago Goolwa was a major shipping port, the place where river boats met ocean going ships and transferred cargoes. These days it's a large sprawl of very expensive holiday houses.

The first thing I saw of interest was a Shag drying his wings out after hunting his breakfast. They're a type of Cormorant, they dive for fish and Shags can also use their wings to "fly" underwater so they can dive very deep and actively chase their prey under the water. Very efficient hunters.

View attachment 139893

Goolwa has preserved a lot of their old buildings and their history and heritage.

View attachment 139894

Note the use of red bricks as decorations in the building, and they really are only decorations and not structural. Tiny little towns in remote areas couldn't manufacture their own bricks and instead had to import them at great cost. Those bricks were a symbol of wealth and status.

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And on my way out of the town I saw a few huge flocks of Corellas picking over last year's wheat stubble.

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Here's some additional information for others who may want to read more about Cormorant and Anhinga:

How to tell the difference between a cormorant and an anhinga? - Birdful

 

[FayetheAspie]

Corellas are by far the noisiest birds on the planet, it's nice seeing them from a distance but no fun at all if a large flock invades your town. They're rarely seen in cities of course but they thrive where ever wheat is grown. Flocks of over 1000 birds aren't uncommon.

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It reminds me of a cockatiel.

 

[SusanLR]

There are different species of Corella. They are medium sized white cockatoos.

I can imagine the noise. I used to have six of those Cockatiels.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Corellas are by far the noisiest birds on the planet, it's nice seeing them from a distance but no fun at all if a large flock invades your town. They're rarely seen in cities of course but they thrive where ever wheat is grown. Flocks of over 1000 birds aren't uncommon.

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I didn’t realize what corellas were. In the Glades, white birds can congregate in groups somewhat like that. But our white birds are elegant egrets mostly. They were hunted nearly to extinction by plume hunters collecting feathers for European ladies’ hats.

 

[AuAL]

@Outdated, I reckon a flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos might give the corellas a run for their money.

 

[Outdated]

@Outdated, I reckon a flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos might give the corellas a run for their money.

Not even close.

I can imagine the noise. I used to have six of those Cockatiels.

Cockatiels and Budgerigars are both desert dwellers and they also form huge flocks. They both became in real danger of extinction in the wild mostly from being hunted for the international pet markets. These days all Australian birds are protected, along with all reptiles and most mammals.

The other parrot we have that hangs around wheat farms is the Galah. Like all large parrots they're very intelligent, very inquisitive, and they like to play. Farmers wouldn't mind a large flock just feeding on their wheat but once the galahs have full bellies they like to play, they like chewing things and they like just snapping wheat stalks off for fun. A large flock of galahs can level many acres of wheat in a very short time.

Because of this the name Galah became a common insult for people, it translates as "destructive idiot".

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I can commiserate. I don't mind sharing my mangos and other fruits with possums, racoons and native rats. But they don't just eat what they need. They take a bite here and a bite there. Take a bite, it falls to the ground and they go on to the next one. Drives me nuts. (Me, every morning in mango season.)

 

[AuAL]

Not even close.

I was listening to the science show (I think) on Radio National recently and they had someone on talking about their various adventures trying to study Australian bird species. At one point they were trying to put GPS trackers on sulphur-crested cockatoos, who did not enjoy the experience. It got to the point where one of the researchers would immediately attract the ire of flocks of up to 500 birds whenever they saw him. He once tried wearing a disguise - his co-worker did not recognise him at first but, at about the same time she realised it was him, so did the birds, and it was on again.

 

[Outdated]

At one point they were trying to put GPS trackers on sulphur-crested cockatoos, who did not enjoy the experience.

The same thing happened when they tried to track Magpies, the magpies helped each other to remove the trackers then attacked the researchers.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Crows, apparently, will even teach their children to attack those they’ve deemed evil.

 

[AuAL]

Crows, apparently, will even teach their children to attack those they’ve deemed evil.

Yes, Marzluff’s study at Uni of Washington demonstrated antipathy of crows to a (masked) person who “mistreated” them (temporarily caught 7 of them and tagged them), and to others who wore that mask (with up to 47 of 53 birds displaying hostile behaviour in some encounters) lasting for 17 years.

 

[Outdated]

Our magpies are a distant relative of crows and have many of the same traits. They can remember over 100 faces and they remember for 10 years or more, and they're highly suspicious of anyone that has their face covered which is why they tend to attack people wearing bicycle helmets and broad brimmed hats.

News we keep hearing out of Sydney keeps telling people that only male magpies attack and only 10% of them do it, that is most certainly not true in the rest of the country. Here in Adelaide magpies will always attack in pairs, both male and female together. One will remain in front to attract your attention while the other hits you in the back of the head, no matter which one you try to face there's another one behind you. If you've been particularly offensive to them then the entire family group will attack.

 

[SusanLR]

And I'm sitting here imitating "Big Al" the great horned owl outside my window.
He's been gone for a while. Glad to hear he's back.

 

[tree]

One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme) - Wikipedia

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