Bird of the Week - Bernhard Schmitz Photography

Whilst I’m a fairly novice bird watcher, Suki the cat had always a great interest in birds for her own reasons. With the exception of cooked specimens, I tended to ignore feathered animals before I moved to Australia in late 2005 to join Mrs. Schmitz in Sydney. This changed soon after we settled in the suburb of North Bondi where the sheer abundance of colourful and exotic species sparked my interest in avian topics. I started to write down bird inspired observations which I put on this little weekly blog about Australia, Sydney and the feathered and not feathered locals.

Bernhard Schmitz & Suki the cat

SEE BIRD OF THE WEEK ARCHIVE >

The Regent Bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus) or Gelbnacken-Laubenvogel 2013/12/19

What looks like a sparkling Christmas tree ornament in this picture is a male Regent Bowerbird, who is like so many of his fellow human Aussies an enthusiastic decorator, adorning the elaborate structure he erects to impress females with colourful objects and even paint his bower using wads of greenish leaves as paintbrushes.

The Brown Cuckoo-Dove (Macropygia amboinensis) or Rosabrust-Kuckuckstaube 2013/11/14

Also known as the Slender-billed Cuckoo-Doves this inhabitants of the lush rainforests of east coast Australia are not complaining constantly about their bills unlike the humans populating of the same area who are cuckoo enough to fall for the cost of living shtick of Coalition politicians and affiliated media.

The Australian Logrunner (Orthonyx temminckii) or Australien-Stachelschwanzflöter 2013/10/03

This picture of two Logrunners nibbling together on a worm suggests that even birds enjoy what for me is one of the great pleasures in life – sharing food with others. For that reason it’s sad that it has become increasingly difficult to find participants for this enjoyable interpersonal exercise.

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