Day: April 23, 2024

Striated Pardalote (a bird of note)

Published on by bushboy24 Comments

Birds of the Week: Invitation LXI

Striated Pardalote’s Pardalotus striatus are here. Not sure if it is a stop over or to check out their nest site. Breeding season is June to January

The Striated Pardalote is found throughout most of Australia, being absent only from the most arid areas. Like other species of pardalotes, it is found only in Australia.

Striated Pardalotes feed in the foliage in the tops of trees, although occasionally coming close to the ground in low shrubs. They eat a wide variety of insects and their larvae, which are usually captured by picking them from the surfaces of leaves. Feeding takes place in small groups and birds maintain contact with soft trills.

This is their repetitive call

REF: http://www.graemechapman.com.au/index.php

During breeding season, Striated Pardalotes form pairs or small groups of up to six birds. The nest is constructed close to the ground, usually in a tree hollow or tunnel, excavated in an earthen bank; small openings in human-made objects are frequently used.
I have a small area near the house which was dug out years ago. The Pardalotes nest in the side of the bank.

Both sexes incubate and care for the young birds. Other members of the group may also help with the feeding of the young.

REF: https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/striated-pardalote/

It’s full (of wool)

Published on by bushboy20 Comments

Ludwigs Monday Window

This building has always intrigued me as a kid as I could see it from the train when I went on that line. I have never been close to it other than drive by. I looked up a bit about it for you and me.

The Goldsbrough was designed as a wool store by William Pritchard and was built by the Stuart brothers in 1883. Although the exterior highlighted the conservative Victorian values of the day, the interior was modern and featured hydraulic goods and passenger lifts and a sawtooth glazing roof with ground glass that provided a glare-free viewing area.
The Goldsbrough could house 50,000 bales which had to be stored, moved into the viewing room where they were classified, then taken back to storage.
In 1924, three floors were added to the Goldsbrough, then in 1935 it caught fire and burned for almost two weeks. The building was restored by it’s original builders, Stuart Brothers, who kept to the original exterior plan.
In 1995 this heritage building was converted to apartments, with the addition of four floors. The exterior remains true to the original design……

REF: https://www.goldsbrough.com.au/history/