BIRD LIFE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27386, 11 May 1950, Page 4

BIRD LIFE

Naturalists’ Field Club the Dunedin ield Club Apnl outings, bird observers were well satis--Tied with these excursions. At Warring ton several flocks of pied oyster-catchers were seen at various points where the tide had receded, leaving shallow pools. Along the edges of these pools the birds with their long, red beaks were stalking about seeking food. Numbers of pied stilts were observed, some in flight, with their long legs trailing out behind them, and others happily feeding among the oyster catchers, and occasionally emitting their peculiar yapping " call. About a dozen g?dwits tverr also seen, and a return visit to the lagoon area later in the afternoon was rewarded by the sight of two white-faced herons. At the rock pools at the end of the beach the absence cf sea anemones was noted, as usually pools such as these are well supplied with this particular type of sea life In the Mount Cargill Creek area, apart from bellbirds, native bird life was scare. The song of the female bellbird was more frequently heard than that of the male. During the afternoon a concert party of four females and two males appeared, and for about five minutes or longer sang together only 10 or 12 feet from their appreciative audience. ... On Monday, April 24, Miss E. Williams, a member of the club, gave an interesting address on her recent trip abroad. feature of tie landscapes in the Homeland which made a great im ression on the speaker was the vivid green of the trees and the vegetation in general. Miss Williams's address was illustrated with a number of photographs.