I have not done one of these posts for a while but I took a few bird photos this month so here is another.

A flock of around 30 Musk Lorikeets hung around for a few days at the beginning of this month. They chattered from the tops of the gum trees in our property and swooped through the blue sky, moving to another tree. One group chattered and climbed in the dead branches at the top of the tree the galahs ring-barked.




We don't often see the Musk Lorikeets, which may be because they are not around most seasons but also because they blend in so well with the leaves even if they are there. They also sound similar to both Rainbow Lorikeets and Rosellas. So I may not even think to look and notice they were different. I was quite happy to catch a few in flight, which as they go so fast is quite difficult. Parrots are one of my favourite birds, they are so pretty and I really like it when I catch a glimpse of their colours flashing through the trees.

A few days after I got some photos of the Rainbow Lorikeets I heard another flock of birds in the tree, I can just see the top of it out the window, above my desk. This time Galahs filled the branches. The Galahs are not so special, as I see them flying over every day and all year around. They also ring bark trees and branches and those branches die and fall off and the trees also die just like the top of this one. Still it is amazing when a huge flock of the birds swoop low over me so that I can feel the wind of their passing.

Do you have any favourite birds?

I made this owl as a gift for my sister, I found the pattern on this website... their owl looks a bit less messy than mine. And as I can't be bothered to write out all the instruction on how I made it I guess you will have to go there to see how if you want to know. 

I also have probably forgotten lots of important bits too, as I made this way before Christmas. I couldn't blog on it then, because it was a gift and the photos were doing their best to hide from my sister, and then I forgot. The photos managed to hide from me too but I found them, eventually. So here are a few of the making and more of my finished owl. Well not mine anymore, but I liked this one so much that I went and made another for myself, which also had to hide away until after Christmas, but failed to take photos of.

 You can download the instructions I used here... at least hopefully you can. And this is the finished product.

 Do you like owl things?

If so what kind of owl things do you have?

I have done a lot of crafty posts lately(this shall probably be the last for a while), but the next post I do shall be special. The next post will be my 500th blog post! And to celebrate there shall be a giveaway! And two of the thing/things, trinket notsayingwhatitisyet in the giveaway are owl like... But I want to know, would you rather have three chances of winning just one thing or one chance of winning all three (similar) things? And should it be a choose your favourite one out of, say five options, like last time?

The ladder wobbled but I stepped up to the top rung, one hand on my camera and one steadying myself against the bendy trunk of the bush beside me. Still I could not look down into the nest so I stepped back down a rung. Then reaching as high as I could from there my fingers went up and back down into the nest. Three warm eggs met my touch. 

Almost the end of October already. Time flies, just like birds do when I try photograph them. Sometimes I can get close enough.... it I have a zoom lens on the camera anyway. This Galah was quite a friendly fellow, but I didn't try get any closer than about two and a bit meters away and still mostly behind a bush.

Late again, it is not September anymore, but we can just pretend it is anyway, can't we. The young Australian Raven has left its nest and I managed to get a photograph of it; by climbing up a ladder that I dragged out under the tree. Apparently I looked rather odd doing so.

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.

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.

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. 

It just occurred to me that I still had not posted some general photos I took while on holidays. Though I am a month late, I shall still post them. So enjoy some of my favorites that I took while on holidays in May.

Our God is an awesome God! Look at the power of the ocean! He made it.

While on holidays I was not without my poultry, though I did miss my own, I had a few more. I do look forward to seeing the turkeys every time we go to Port Macquarie for holidays. They are very friendly! I took Ann out to see them and we fed them bread or pasta.

There are six or so Brush Turkeys that live along the creek at the bottom of the land of the flat we stay in. Many years ago there were tens of them, possibly there still would be if the "Turkey Lady" had not moved away. She lived just on the other side of the creek and of an evening would feed the turkeys grain and they would come flocking into her yard from all around. I used to stand on the bridge over the creek and watch. But one year when we came someone else lived there who I named the "Cat Man" as there were now five or more cats always hanging around his yard.

Interestingly the Australian Brush Turkey does not incubate its own eggs but builds a huge mound of organic matter to cover the eggs and the heat from that incubates them. But the male stays near the nest and occasionally digs into the mound to check the temperature. He either pulls off some of the matter or adds more depending on the temperature!

When they do hatch though they are left to fend for themselves but in a very short time (a few hours) can fly just like the adults can. 

But these six would come quite close and I convinced one to eat of my hand.... but decided not to try that again after finding out how sharp their beaks are. The turkey got my fingers more often than the food. Later while I sat on the grass photographing another turkey.... the first one decided my toes were juicy..... 

Which also happens to hurt a little. 

But I like the Brush Turkeys, even if they are a little ugly..... They are poultry after all.

Do you like any sorts of poultry?

Have you ever seen a Brush Turkey?

and yes next post shall have beach photos on it!

A king parrot and his mate hung around a lot earlier this month, we enjoyed listening to their calls and seeing their bright red and greens flash past. Sadly, it turned out that the female bird could not see out one eye. Then one day....

The grass moved, but no, a bird sat on, it and only became visible as it moved. The dog padded up, silent, until with a leap and yelp he landed next to the bird and snapped at it with his teeth. He caught one feathered wing. The bird sent our terrified, piercing calls that anyone, at all nearby could hear, and not forget. 

The bird did not die from the dog, but that would have likely been a mercy. It hung around in a tree just over our side of the fence, but that night it disappeared. I have seen nicer things in the bird world this month though! A thin, black and white Willy Wagtail sat on the fence of the chook yard. Singing his endearing little tune he waged his tail a while before flying off. We almost never get to see his pretty dances and song unless we go for a walk. It had been a few years since I last saw a wagtail at our house and that time about three Noisy Miner birds were on his tail.

 I sat in the lounge room reading "Mere Christianity" on a Sunday afternoon when an odd bird call came through the glass with the warming sun. I got up and went outside. I heard another call then, the call of an adult Rainbow Lorikeet. It was then I realized what the sound was, baby Lorikeets! Up the very top of a tall, Lemon Scented Gum, I could just make out the forms of a few birds. Then out flew a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets, soon the squeaking call stopped. But when, a few minuets later, the parents returned the calls started again getting louder and louder.

The duckies (Australian Wood Ducks) like to sit here on the dam wall. They leave feathers and fluff behind when they fly off. I also spotted another Pacific Black Duck this month. They look similar to these ducks, but on a closer inspection you can tell they are different. 

 Green and gold light speckling the grass. Vibrantly green buffalo grass, a lawn. Birds call, ever so softly from every side. The grass is soft against your back, for a while. Your checked, long sleeve shirt and jeans stop the grass from itching its way to your skin. Trees block out the suns glare. The leaves above rattle and click in the slight wind. Secrets are whispered from air to tree that travel down into the earth. 

Past the branches and leaves fluffy, white clouds float in the blue sky. The leaves shake with gladness. Soft music plays. All is beautiful.

Eventually you realize your head is lower than your feet because of the slight incline of the lawn. The grass has found a way through your shirt to itch your back. So you shift over and lean against a rock, it is rough and cool, but comfortable. Where you lie is actually a tamed ridge line. Rocks, like the one you lean against poke  up like breaching wales from the green lawn. Rocks of a volcanic sort. The one you lean against sucks warmth from your back. The breeze is almost cold. 

Insects are on the move around you. Ants trail up a tree, bees fly around and around a mosquito hums. Which in the end destroys it all because in this life nothing is quite perfect, not for long. But we have assurance, that one day, we will be brought home. To a perfect home, the perfect home, the perfect place, perfect for eternity.

Three Welcome Swallows darted through the air circling then flying into the distance. I watched with a little sadness, it is the time of year to say farewell to them. But instead of them we should be seeing more of the kookaburras. At least around where I live, they are more prevalent at this time of year. We have Laughing Kookaburras, here. Early in the morning their laugh echoes through the still air and during the day it sounds too and often one can follow the sound and find the bird siting in a branch of a gum tree. 

I walked quietly towards the tree trying to keep behind other trees so the bird would not be alerted of my progress towards it. Finally I got close enough to take a decent photo and I poked the camera around the side of a tree. The kookaburra spied me and shifted uncomfortably then flew off. I followed. I continued to trail after the bird as it led me a-dance from tree to tree, trying to get a photo of it. 

Rosellas are even more shy than kookaburras, both photos are cropped, but the one of the rosella I took with a zoom lens. (meaning I was a lot further away). Often if a rosella even glimpses a person, that will be enough of an incentive to fly off calling every other rosella nearby to fly with it. The above photo involved much soundless creeping and multiple failed attempts to even get a terrible photo of a rosella before it flew off. From the slightly patchy feathers of this bird I guess it could be a young one, therefore not as scared as older birds, yet.

A soft 'coo coo coooo' comes from the bottle-brush bush next-to our carport. I remember the Pigeons I have seen flying in and out of the bush for months. I had not looked very hard previously so I hadn't noticed the tiny platform of sticks, only just big enough to hold a mother crested pigeon and her egg. It is an egg no longer.

I stretched up trying to see the nest just above my head. A crested pigeon sat there and a little "Bird with a spike on its head" (as my brothers call them) looked out at me with big eyes. I got a crate to stand on so I could take photos of the crested pigeons. The mother bird shuffled uncomfortably and then hoped off the nest onto a branch deeper in the bush I got a clear view of the young crested pigeon.

The crested pigeon often sounds frightened when it flies and generally that is when it is first seen or heard. As it flaps its wings a distinctive whistling sound is produced. The egg this little bird hatched from would have been small and white, sometimes there are two, but I could only see this little one.

I like to find fallen Crested Pigeon feathers. Their secondary and primary wing feathers have such a beautiful sheen to them, they shine purple and green. The male and female birds look the same. You can see the feather colour in this photo I took a few months ago.

The black and white bird hopped closer and closer watching me out of the corner of its eye. Then made a dive towards the scraps we had thrown out the window. He plucked a bit of bread from the grass and flew off a little distance. Soon the Butcher bird ventured back and took another piece. Some noisy miners flew down too and a magpie.

Butcher birds often follow me as I mow the lawn, mowing disturbs lot of small insects that they like. Then the butcher bird will come surprisingly close to the big noisy mower to get a juicy bug or even a small lizard.

As I sit typing I can hear two pewees (otherwise known as Magpie Larks) calling to one another, as well as: corellas, galahs, rosellas, and some rainbow lorikeets. I can also hear a far chiming of some small bird but I can't put a name to the call.

Have you seen any nests recently?

Can you recognise many bird calls?

What of the birds this month? Well the month started with a bird crashing into the window and killing itself. Sadly the bird was a female Satin Bower bird. 


Just a few days ago though, I heard the rush of many wings above me and looked up. Birds darted through the sky, circling around and around, darting flashes of black and white. They were White Throated Needletails. From photos I took, I counted over sixty birds.

See all the black specks in the photo? There were a lot of  White Throated Needletails. I have only ever seen them here once before and again they were in a huge flock. They breed in North Asia when it is winter in Australia, so now it is summer here they are back. According to my bird book they are 20cm, I am not sure if that is their body or wing length. 

A part from the Needle Tails the only birds of note I have seen this month are Blue faced Honey-eaters. We were visited by a pair of Blue faced Honey-eaters around the middle of the month. They were trying to get a drink out of our fountain, while being dive bombed by the Noisy Miners. They hid in a rose bush, I could just make out their blue eye patches and green wings. Then the two birds flew out and away, being followed by a noisy flock of those horrid Miner birds.

The chooks start cackling and crowing and then I hear the all the corellas, galahs and cockatoos in the vicinity of the chook yard begin. Knowing what that noise heralds, I run outside and sure enough a goanna is hauling itself slowly towards the nest box. I chase it off, but not far. It goes up the nearest tree and the raucous sqwarks of the corellas who are nesting in the tree grow louder. 

Goannas - or to be specific, the sort we have here are Lace Monitors - are on the move at this time of the year. Climbing from tree to tree looking for the eggs of any bird they can find. Of course they also make regular trips to my chook yard each day. In fact I got interrupted writing this by frantic noises form the chook yard and raced outside to find a Lace Monitor prowling around under the mulberry tree, my nest box had already been raided.

On the 12th we had a rather exciting bird adventure. Late that evening we found a baby Satin Bowerbird. The little thing must have just left the nest (possibly not intentionally) and could not really fly. It fluttered around getting tangled in the long grass. We had set a cat trap earlier, because of yet another dumped cat sneaking around. The little bowerbird didn't stand much chance that night, what with cats, foxes and the fact that it seemed to be headed over towards the neighbors and therefor their dog. The Noisy Miners were also intent on dive bombing it. So we caught the young bird (after a few attempts) and put it in a cage for the night.

The mother bird hung around, always somewhere nearby. Then in the morning we let the baby bird out. I had also managed to catch a rather grumpy cat in the trap. The baby Satin Bowerbird sat in the back of the cage till we left and then it flew out to the ground and hoped along after its mother. I then chased the poor thing with my camera and as you can see got some photos. I chased it up into a big bush were it should stay safe especially since there is one less cat prowling around.

One less beautiful eye predator out there to get the birds. But just last night mummy heard another bird scream as something made it into a tasty meal.

The Little Corellas like our Chinese Elm tree. I watched a flock of them settle down on it and the surrounding palm trees. They intently snipped at the leaves and twigs, breaking them off and sprinkling the ground with them. One of the corellas dangled upside-down holding on by only its claws. The bird hung there for a while, until another corella  landed next to it and bent the branch further. The corella flapped wildly and plummeted to the ground, but rose almost straight up, just before it crashed into the grass.

Two Little Corellas (another sort of Corella is the Long-billed Corella)

For a long time this month it looked to be the driest on record, having only 6mm of rain so far. Our previous lowest for November is 20mm. Birds are hiding for most of the day. The only ones I can be sure of seeing when I step outside (if I dare to face the heat) are the Noisy Miners and Australian Ravens.

Then on the 25th it got cloudy, and as evening drew on a wind began to blow and rain began to fall. We had 22mm of rain that night and a few more the next day. The brown dead grass and drooping plants, turned green and came springing back to life. The next few days were cool and cloudy and along with the greenness of the grass the birds appeared.

Grey Crowned Babbler

Magpies, rosellas, kookaburras, cockatoos, corellas, butcherbirds, created pigeons, Grey crowned babblers and even some rainbow lorikeets appeared. Now all through the day many species can be seen when I step outside. 

One morning a big white bird sat in the top branches of a dead tree a little way off, I investigated and found it to be a Yellow-billed spoonbill. They are white with slightly yellow bills. It is commonly found in southeast Australia (round here). There are three other sorts of spoonbill the Royal spoonbill (identifiable by a completely black bill), the Roseate spoonbill (identifiable by its pink wings but if you are in Australia there will be no need to identify it) and the Eurasian spoonbill, which again is not an Australian bird so you won't see it in the wild...in Australia.

Australian Wood Ducks

Young galahs are leaving their hollows in trees and flying around. Then of course they like to come and sit on a branch just outside a window and squawk and continue to do so until one of their parents feeds them. They make a different noise while being fed then continue the monotonous squawking.

Young Australian Raven

The Wood Ducks are all grown up now and look almost like their parents, now there is only the tiniest difference in size. The young raven still squawks from its nest, soon it will be gliding down to steal my chooks' food… and eggs with its parents. 


The many pairs of Australian or Noisy Miners that plague our place are building nests, sitting and feeding the young that have hatched. White eggs, speckled with brownish orange, particularly so at one end, sit in one little nest lined with stuffing from the padding off our trampoline. While I stood watching, a miner bird flew onto the side of a shed and perched on a metal strip that ran all the way around it. The bird peered down into one of the holes the strip and the corrugated side of the shed made. Poking his beak into the hole he tried to reach a creature in there, failing that he clutched onto the metal strip and looked up into the hole from the bottom then poked his beak in that way. Then he tried the top again and finally the bottom once more and succeeded this time. He flew off with most likely a large spider in his beak.

Walking through the paddock I could hear the little blue wrens calling to one another and far off a Willy Wagtail. A Straw-necked Ibis took off from an old, dead gumtree. I often see the Common Myna by the side of the road while driving to town, no doubt plotting which bird they will assassinate next. They are not a welcome site to any lover of Australian native birds or even other animals, like sugar gliders. The Common or Indian Myna will knock young birds from nests, and, if it does not stoop to that, they will at the least steal hollows in trees to nest in; meaning there is another place taken from our native rosellas, cockatoos, possums and other birds that nest in hollow trees. 

I had another amazing find. Last year a pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles hatched a chick so I did not expect that they would be nesting again this year but they did. The chick had already lost all its white fluff by the time I first saw it. Adult feathers covered its body and were starting to appear on its head. I went down the cliff a little way to get a better look. One of the parent birds took off from a nearby tree and glided gracefully downwards, spreading its wings in a two meter wingspan.