A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Stinkin hot for tha birds

It's been so hot here all week, the chickens are laying hard-boiled eggs. Today it was 110°F, and tomorrow's supposed to be the same (yesterday was quite cool at 104).

Here is a shot of sunrise on our street today:



Could you tell it was going to be a hot day?

The poor birds were all walking round with their beaks open, like these magpies at one of our bird baths:



I sprayed these guys with a fine mist from a spray bottle, which they found refreshing and intriguing. After a while of spraying, a Willy-Wagtail arrived in the tree above (but not too close) for a spray, along with 2 New Holland Honey-Eaters. They gave my spraying arm a good work-out!

Also caught a shot of a rosella which came for some water:



I have some shots of Willy-Wagtail and New Holland Honey-Eater, but they are not so great; hard to get close to these cheeky birds (unless you're a cat, because the Willy-Wagtails like to hassle the cats- but that's another story).

WOW 110 degrees ,, hard to imagine that in January! And Yes your sunrise looks hot and hazy already that early in the morning,
I've never seen a black and white magpie. Poor birdies they're soo hot ,, I know they were grateful for your water spraying,, that was good of you to do,, worth the arm work out ~yes??
The last picture of the rosella on the fence looks to be very colorful,, do you see it often??

* I just looked up your Rosella Bird,, they are beautiful!!!!!*

Just reading your post made some of my snow melt!!!

I just love the names of your birds - I have never heard of a Willy-Wagtail or a New Holland Honey-Eater - sounds like some nicknames that someone might use here! The rosella looks to have beautiful colors - I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a bird like that in my yard!

Rosellas are amazingly beautiful! I wish we had them here!

I knew it was that hot there in Australia because I have a Facebook friend that was complaining about the heat there.....I would absolutely melt in that heat. It can get to 100 here but normally summer temps are low 90's, high 80's.

Is it very humid there? That's the killer here in the summer.

Stay cool. Stay inside in the AC as much as possible. When it gets super hot here I don't venture outside much.

Are Rosellas the same as Rainbow Lorikeets? They look very similar. We have a bird in parts of the U.S. called the Painted Bunting that has those SAME colors.

You must be in Northern Australia for it to be so hot.

your birds are so colorful.

Hi angelblossom, yes, it is worth spraying these birds, just to see the look on their face; I have built up a friendship particularly with the magpies, as they are not afraid to get close to humans (sometimes in spring they get a little too close for some people).

Lynne, we see the rosellas when it's hot, because they come for water, and when some of the flowering eucalypts out the back come into flower. The Willy-Wagtails are cute, cheeky little birds. They chatter away at the cats, and will fly straight at Rosie to stir her up; then they go up too high for her to catch them. They also have a pretty song. I'll post a photo of a Willy-Wagtail stirring up Rosie.

Loz, we've been staying cool inside with the AC on. It's not humid; just very dry. I've had the week off work, as it's the last week of school holidays. Unfortunately, it's too hot to even go to the pool! I also had plans to paint window frames, but haven't done much of that, because the paint would be dry before it touched the timber! Struggling to keep some plants alive, with our water restrictions.

Thorn, we are actually down the bottom of Oz. It is generally a cooler climate (we do get the 4 seasons, whereas they just get the wet and the dry seasons), but when it heats up it gets much hotter than the north ever gets, just not as humid. Rosellas and rainbow lorikeets are definitely in the same family; may actually be the same bird. I will have to check that out. There are many different variations of these birds.

Hi also, Bestofour!

Thought I'd put in a shot of a Willy-Wagtail stirring up Rosie:



And Rosie:



And a better shot of a rosella:

pretty kitty.

Stevie, your Willy-Wagtail looks a lot like the Eastern Kingbirds we have in the Eastern U.S. in Summer.

Thanks, Sheri. We bought her for our youngest daughter's 5th birthday last year, from an animal shelter. It took our grumpy old cat, Kitty, a while to warm up to her. She spent the first few days hiding behind the DVD player where Kitty can't fit, while Kitty stalked around the house hissing and all puffed up like a toilet brush. But now they are best of friends, and grumpy old Kitty has learned how to play and have fun again!

Thorn, I will look up the Eastern kingbird now. Maybe they are related. Sorry I haven't managed to get a good shot of a Willy-Wagtail, as my camera only has a 3 times zoom. I do have some video of them, and I can zoom up closer. But I have a new computer, and the software for my video camera is older, and I have had trouble trying to get them to work together.

Just looked at the Eastern Kingbird. There are a lot of similarities. The Kingbird seems to have a slight crest that can be raised. It also has more white on its underbelly, and the top colour is not as dark as the Willy-Wagtail's. The WW has a longer tail, which it wags from side to side; hence its name.

I call the Eastern Kingbird the, "Batman Bird" due to the "cowl" effect of the head.

Are they always looking for a robin?

Mayhaps. Both Eastern Kingbirds and American Robins nest in my yard. I think they've already found each other.

Here are some pictures I took in my yard.


BATMAN (bird)



ROBIN (American)

cool picture of the robin with breakfast.

Great photos! Perhaps Batman and Robin are looking for the penguin! (I think he'll be further north).

Actually, further South. Penguins are primarily in and around Antartica, down your way, Stevie.

There ya go, I'm showing my ignorance again. I should've learned that from watching 'Happy Feet'. You can learn so much from kids' movies!