Jan 28, 2015

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? 





12 comments:

  1. Claire

    They are lovely aren't they we have lots of them around our place as well and they are so noisy sometimes :) we also get a lot of galahs and I do love their antics I can stir and watch them hanging upside down for ages and then there are the cockatoos as well and I do love the magpies although not so much in mating season :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Oh yes, the galahs and cockatoos are good fun. I love to hear the magpies singing in the tall trees behind the house. I haven't experienced the swooping, luckily.

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  2. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with birds - it definitely depends on the type of bird!!

    We had some very territorial magpies near my house growing up, they loved to swoop our little dog. I'm also not a fan of pigeons. But I do love budgies and rosellas :)

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  3. Aw, poor little dog.

    I've never seen budgies in the wild! I'd love to do that some day.

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  4. Ooh, yes, we have oodles of birds, Claire -- we're smack-bang in the middle of suburbia, but we have a strip of reserve (at the back fence) that runs right through the suburb. My faves are the rosellas, but we also get rainbow lorrikeets, sulfur crested cockatoos and King parrots. And lots and lots of kookaburras, the usual magpies (love their warbling) and noisy mynahs. And if you're lucky you'll also spot the occasional tawny frogmouth. And we have loads and loads of kookaburras. Not all of the birds get on that well with each other at certain times of the year either. We also have some Indian mynahs trying to invade the area, but everything joins forces to beat them back (a bit like Battle of the Five Armies in the Hobbit). It certainly makes for interesting watching.

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    1. I'd love to see a tawny frogmouth. And king parrots.And I envy your kookaburras.

      Noisy mynahs are probably my least favourite of those in our garden, but they certainly let the other birds know when there's a cat about so I like them for that, at least.

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  5. Birds....sigh. I love them all AFTER 7am in the morning. Before that they *all* drive me nuts. I don't cate how pretty or flashy they are! Don't believe anyone who tells you nature is peaceful. It gets damn loud at sunrise and sunset with all the birds carrying on....

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    1. Point taken! My husband gets annoyed with the Piping Shrike that wakes him up every morning. They are SO LOUD.

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  6. Wow, you have some amazing birds! We have some lovely ones here too, I particularly like the Tui, we have a family of them behind our house and I love hearing the thick rush of their wings as they fly past, and their particular throaty chirp. Although, having just got back from ten days' camping surrounded by many birds but mostly sea gulls, I'm with Amy! After 7 please!!!

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    1. I hope you managed to sleep through the racket!

      I saw some kiwis in special enclosures when we visited New Zealand. They're very cute.

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  7. Claire, I adore our bird visitors too! We've had the black cockatoos to visit recently and they give our poor hakea bush a jolly good haircut each time they visit! Actually it probably does it the world of good!

    I remember when I first came to Australia - I was travelling by train and out the window I saw white cockatoos in a paddock. Just in the paddock! I was gobsmacked!

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  8. I love my birds - pets and wild guys. Even my blog is named after my bird!
    I have a family of galahs that visit regularly (I'm proud that they've had three babies this season), magpies, doves, willy wagtails, rainbow bee eaters, rainbow lorikeets, white tailed black cockatoos, corellas...even though I'm in suburbia, there are some lovely trees for them.

    The only thing is my bird guys can mimic half of their calls...or call back when the wild birds are nearby so there's not a lot of quiet!

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