Bird Activity: June
Most mornings and many afternoons this month and the end of last, a flock of screeching birds fly over our house and land in one of the tall gum trees next to it. I counted over twenty birds most days. Bright colours flashing they settle into the branches of a gum and almost disappear, except that they screech to one another continually and when they move there is a flash of vibrant colour before they meld back in to the green leaves and blue sky. Then there is the click, click, click of their beaks as they snip at the pink or pale yellow gum blossoms.
Rainbow Lorikeets eat pollen and nectar, seeds, fruit and some insects. As I stood under a tree full of them, screeching and clicking, it begun to rain blossoms as they snipped at them. Bees buzzed around at my feet, landing on the blossoms that speckled the ground.
Apart form the Lorikeets there is an abundance of Magpies around this month. Some of them look rather fat. They and the Butcherbirds come and waddle around just outside our dining room window.... which is also sort of a door. We often tip food scraps out it and those birds in particular seem to enjoy them.
In my post on birds last month, I mentioned that a King Parrot had got attacked by a dog and after that disappeared. But it turns out that that same bird is probably still alive! Much to my surprise.
To start at the beginning of the story, my chooks started laying, finally, but straight away the Ravens returned in full force..... I think they are worse than my Goanna problems ever were. Though I have 6 chooks laying; most days I get one to two eggs, occasionally, if I am lucky, five. But one day, after finding no eggs yet again, a noise caught my attention.
Something rustled around inside a bush on the other side of the fence. I snuck through the gate to find out what it was, this very suspicious noise. As I got closer a frown crossed my face, the shadow moving under the bush did not seem large enough for a Goanna. A few more thoughts of what it could be crossed my mind, then I realized it looked like a bird!
I drew nearer and the bird spotted me and began to climb up into the bush using its feet and beak. It was a young-ish looking King Parrot and a female, just like the one I though had died last month. I moved until I could have touched the bush..... if I'd leaned on the barbed-wire fence... not something I was going to try. I flapped my hand at it to see if the King Parrot would fly.
It flew. Well, kind of flew, the bird zigzagged erratically, almost crashing into the aforementioned fence. Then at the last moment she pulled up, soared over it and landed on the grass, on my side of the fence, but considerably further away. I have seen, or more, heard her, a few more times since then.
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These are amazing photos!! <3
ReplyDeleteAbigail Grace
http://authorofmyhope11.blogspot.com/
Thanks, and to tell the truth these photos are not even recent..... The birds have not been interested in coming down when there is so much food in the trees. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
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