Bird Activity: August
I have seen a lot of birds this month, and heard many more. I almost got a photo of a pelican flying over, but the sun had just set and I could not get the right settings fast enough, so it disappeared behind the trees and settled on the dam out in the paddock. Rainbow Lorikeets fly over in a flash of colour and squawk and squabble in the gum trees. King Parrots fly down to drink water out of our gutters and stare down at me with their gold rimed eyes, but fly off if I move to fast.... or get my camera.
Both the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Australian Ravens think our produce is fair game. In previous years we waited too long to cover our citrus trees and half the fruit had got stripped before we knew it. I have chased a flock of Cockatoos off this little tree before, but this month I have only had trouble with one bird. Seeing as I had my camera with me, it decided to fly right away and leave our mandarins alone.
I have not had so much luck with my chooks' eggs.... High up in one of the gum trees down the back, there is a large platform of sticks. I am fairly sure I can hear a young bird in there, and whenever I run out to the chook yard to scare the raven away, he will fly to this tree, and the nest. I have not been able to catch sight of a baby bird in there but I suspect there is one.
They hopped off as I got closer, but the pair of Eastern Rosellas stayed where they were, feeding amongst the Galahs, as did the Little Corellas.
I snuck closer, taking photos all the while, until they all decided I had got too close and flew off into the sky, except for one of the Corellas; he posed for me on a branch.
The breeding season of the Eastern Rosellas has just started, they are more obviously walking around in pairs, (they mate for life) and are also poking around for a place to nest. They love roof spaces, and we have many times had them pull the small triangle pieces of wood out of one of the corners of our house and nest there. That results in months of scratching and then cheeping, which is not entirely pleasant. One time the rosellas chewed every bit of insulation of an electricity cable in the roof, we still don't know how they did not manage to electrocute themselves. But each time they have done that daddy has re glued and nailed the bits of wood back in so hopefully they shall find some other hollow to nest in this year that is not our roof... cheeky little birds.
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