Tag Archives: Queensland

The Galahs of Queensland, Australia

The Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla), also known as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo is a commonly found Australian cockatoo that has a rose-pink head, neck and underparts, with paler pink crown, and grey back, wings and undertail.

Like most cockatoos it is a rather loud and sociable bird. In fact in Australia, galah is a derogatory term that means a loud-mouthed idiot or fool. Like most cockatoos too, it roost in tree cavities and gather as a group in the evenings and early mornings. The sexes can be differentiated easily by their irises colour. The males has dark brown irises, while the female have pink irises.

I managed to find a group of them while on vacation in Queensland in September 2012, and took some pictures and made some observations.

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Pacific Black Duck in Queensland

The Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa) is found in Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and islands in the southwestern Pacific.

The apartment I stayed in at Queensland, Australia had a pond just outside, which is home to a family of at least a dozen of these ducks. As we do not get to see ducks all that often back in Singapore, my family had great fun watching them go about their daily routine.

The clear blue water of the pond creates a calm and pleasant backdrop for this picture.

It is always nice to see the ducks in flight. In this case, it was in the process of landing with the feet down.

The bright splashes of water after landing make for an interesting and dynamic scene.

Bush Stone-curlew of Queensland

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The Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) is a endemic bird of Australia. It is rather large, ground dwelling nocturnal bird. At night it hunts for small animals and insects.

I first saw this bird at night in a beach resort on a trip to Queensland, Australia in September 2012. It stayed motionless as I neared it. A pretty eerie sight. Apparently they hunt for small animals and insects in the night.

Early next morning, a few were seen gathered next to a building and a few wandered off to the lawn of the said building. They will walk quickly, and then suddenly stop motionless. A rather peculiar behaviour.

They seem very confiding, although the fact that they were in a beach resort had something to do with it.

A close-up of it’s head. This is an uncropped picture, showing how very close I was to the bird, without it even moving a muscle.

Later in the day, they were gone. I did see one hiding in a dense bush, so their survival skill is still present.