As a child I used to collect I-SPY books like the one here –
These pocket sized soft cover books covered a vast range of subjects w
ith an illustration and a little info on each entry. The idea behind them was to encourage you to be observant about your surroundings and “spy” as many of the entries as possible. My parent’s often gifted them to us as it kept us occupied on long trips or in school holidays – long before i-pads and mobile phones of course ! My brother and I would compete to see who filled out their chosen book first.
I was reminded of this by a recent guest who told us that her kids had been asking her about some of the wild birds we have here, which they did not see in the city, so as there was a bird ID book in the villa she got them to look the birds up and make a list of all the ones they saw over the holiday. between them they got to 29 birds which is pretty impressive and the bonus was it kept them outdoors and engaged in their surroundings.
i think that whenever kids get the chance to engage with nature and wildlife it’s more likely that they will care about their fate and hopefully want to protect their future, which for many is at risk these days both from the changing climate and human interventions – all a good thing.
Below are some photos of local birds – some are resident and some like the Pacific Baza, and the Gang Gang Cockatoo are rarer visitors.
I have also listed all the birds we have seen here – can you spot as many?
If you want to try out this kind of I-SPY – ask us for an ID book and we can print out the list for you .
Wendy – manager at the Haven at Berry
Haven Birds List
- Wedge-tailed Eagle – visitor – just passing through
- Australian Hobby – resident – nest here
- Pacific Baza – rare visitor
- Swamp Harrier – visitor
- White-bellied Sea Eagle – visitor – passing through
- Nankeen Kestrel – visitor
- Powerful Owl – resident
- Southern Boobook owl – resident
- Barn Owl – rarely seen may be resident
- Tawny Frogmouth – resident – nest here
- Laughing Kookaburra – resident – nest here
- Australian Raven – resident – nest here
- Pied Currawong – resident – nest here
- Australian Magpie – resident – nest here
- Grey Butcherbird – resident – nest here
- Indian Myna – resident non native – nest here
- Noisy Miner – resident – nest here
- White-necked Heron – resident
- White -faced Crane – resident – nest here
- Purple Swamphen – resident – nest here on our dam
- White Ibis – seasonal visitor
- Straw-necked Ibis – seasonal visitor
- Red Wattlebird – resident
- Eastern Spinebill – resident
- Buff-banded Rail – rarely seen but has nested here
- Dusky Wood Swallow- seasonal visitor
- Welcome Swallow – seasonal visitor
- Cattle Egret – resident
- Black Duck – resident – have nested here
- Australian Wood Duck – resident – have nested here
- Pelican – visitor – flying over to neighbours dam !
- Sulphur Crested Cockatoo – resident
- Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo – passing visitor
- Gang-Gang Cockatoo – seasonal visitor
- Galah – resident – nest here
- Little Corella – visitor – a pair may nest here
- King Parrot – resident – nest here
- Crimson Rosella – resident – nest here
- Eastern Rosella – resident – nest here
- Crested Pigeon – resident – nest here
- White -headed Pigeon – seasonal visitor
- Magpie -Lark [ Pee-whit ] – resident – nest here
- Satin Bowerbird – resident – nest here
- Willy Wagtail – resident – nest here
- Superb Fairy Wren – resident – nest here in creek area
- Yellow Robin – resident – nest here in creek area
- Bell Bird – resident in creek area
- Eastern Whip Bird – resident in creek area
- Eastern Firetail – resident
- Common Blackbird – resident
- Silvereye – resident
- Grey Fantail – resident in creek area
- Rufous Fantail – resident in creek area