Wild About Backyard Birds

At this time of year I become obsessed with birds. I’ve always been keen. When I was growing up in an English village I loved feeding the robins and blue tits in the winter when the ground was frozen, and I was fascinated by the skylarks which inhabited the field behind our house. I’d stare as they climbed higher and higher in the sky, singing all the way, until they were tiny dots.


When we moved to Australia I was astonished to see the birds that visited our backyard, especially the rainbow lorikeets and rosellas. I’d never expected to see such beautiful birds outside a zoo, and here they were, right outside our windows, going berserk over the seed pods on the palm tree or the tiny cones on the conifers.

After we’d lived in this house for a while we started to see a regular pattern of other species arriving and staying around for a while. Corellas fly in around Christmas time from the outback and take up residence in the tall pine trees in the parks around us. We hear them arrive with their loud calls, usually a few at a time until there’s a huge flock. I always think of it as the extended family meeting up for the annual seaside holiday.

Then there are the yellow-tailed black cockatoos which turn up in January in a smaller group and make their presence known with their very distinctive, far-carrying calls.

Sitting out in the garden we often see kestrels. We know there’s one around because the area becomes silent as all the small birds – honeyeaters, wagtails etc – make themselves scarce. The kestrel passes overhead and the air becomes filled with birdsong again.

I love them all. The only improvement I could make is to have kookaburras nearby. We once stayed in a cabin in a forest and the kookaburra chorus each morning and evening was truly spectacular. But even without the kookaburras, it’s fabulous. I love to sit out on our verandah surrounded by the sound of birds. It soothes me and makes me feels lucky to live here.

What about you – are you blasé about birds, or do you have your favourites?