Bird Activity: July (yes I know it is August)
It wrote most of this post last month and took the photos then, but I had not posted it, because I temporarily lost the photos. Now they are found I have posted this, this month, instead of last month. Though I could have backdated it and posted this post, that belongs to last month, this month, but make it appear to have been posted last month. That would be to confusing though. So here is what I had to say about life in the realm of birds for the month of July.
Galahs cover the grass like a sea of grey, white, and pink tinged waves. They catch sight of me and surge away with one accord, like a pink wave they rise into the air and roll over me smothering me with the sound of a hundred wings. Screeching with outrage they turn as one and drop into he branches of a gum tree, and look down at me with their beady eyes.
The flock that I photographed was a bit smaller than some, a lot actually. They really do look like a large puddle on the ground at times. I have also seen their flocks joined by Cockatoos here and there, but most often it is the Little Corellas who splash the waves of pink and grey, with their white.
While doing a photo shoot I felt stuff falling from the tree above me and looking up saw some galahs digging holes in the trunk of the palm and dropping bits of it down below. Incidentally onto me, standing there. They could be planing on nesting there, or maybe it was just grubs and such that they were after. In southern Australia their nesting seasons are July – December and it is generally only to nest and raise young that a pair of them will separate from the large flocks. So that could be quite possible.
Magpies are also nesting. At our place that means nothing.... but in town... well that is another story, the swooping begins. I parked the car under the wrong tree and after a few trips back to it I decided I had to move it, away from the magpies nest.
I walked along back to the car and hearing a noise turned. The magpie would swoop straight up and land in one of the trees, watching. As soon as I turned my back he would fly again, and again as I turned to look him in the eye, he would hurry back to the tree. All very annoying and making it difficult to proceed rapidly anywhere. I am only glad that our magpies are lovely birds, previous years we have not even been swooped while standing directly under a nest. But we do feed our magpies, all the birds actually, with bird seed... and they get the scraps chucked out the window.
But mostly this month, had been full of galahs, and their beady eyes. And for an interesting fact:The easiest way to tell if a Galah is a guy or girl bird is to look at the eyes. The males have a more dark, almost brown iris while the females have a lighter, pink iris.
There are galahs around all the time, but this month they cover the grass feeding, with their beaks they dig into the ground and pull up the bulb like plants that grow profusely among the grasses.
Have you ever heard the sound of many wings and felt the wind they make, when a huge flock of birds swoops over you? If so what kind of birds where they?
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4 comments
I wonder if any of them were my Galah, Pinky. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh yes I remember you saying something about having a Galah once! Indeed I wonder.
DeleteHe's easy to identify if he is flying, as he has two major feathers missing from his left wing. XD
DeleteWell I'll keep my eyes out for him!
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