It is winter here on the east coast of Australia.

So we are entitled to complain about the cold. At my house on a very chilly winter morning it may be as cold as five degrees Celcius [40 degrees Farenheit] although this happens only very rarely.

Even for some of the birds it is cold.

To prove the point the above photo shows a flock of Dusky Woodswallows in a mass which is, I believe, a strategy to avoid the cold. The photo was taken last year in the middle of winter on the western sides of the Conondale Range.
I would welcome suggestions, in the comments below, for collective nouns to describe this agglomeration.

By the way Woodswallows are chunky little insectivorous birds found in the south Pacific, Australia and southern and eastern Asia. Australia has six species; White breasted, White browed, Dusky, Little, Black faced and Masked.

In the eastern forests where I live only the White breasted and Dusky [below] are common, with the latter being pretty much a winter visitor from the south.


Below is a small gallery of our beautiful Australian Woodswallows. 

White browed Woodswallow – male

Masked Woodswallow

Black faced Woodswallows

White breasted Woodswallow

Little Woodswallow

Written by Ken Cross
Ken Cross is a birder from Down Under! He teaches at a local high school and lives with his wife Megan and their three children [two now as the oldest has recently left!] on the forested hinterland of the Sunshine Coast on Australia’s east coast. Currently he is the convenor for Birdlife Australia in his local area and, as that suggests, he loves sharing his passion for birds and all wildlife through outings and bird walks.