Just saw the blue wrens again, busy little birds! We're so lucky to live in a place where so many bird species come to visit. Considering this was a bare paddock 10 years ago, with no trees except a few conifers along the fence line, it's nice to see our feathered friends making their homes here and coming to visit every year. I did a species count one year and counted over 35 species without even trying! This time of the year, we have large flocks of corellas visiting, these are large parrots, white with a little pink around the eyes. Some cockatoos join the flocks, and they all fly north when it gets cold. Magpies live here year round, warbling away, and sometimes we see the black yellow-tailed cockatoos that live in the tall pines. And we hear them - do they screech! Jewel-coloured crimson rosellas and little green finches are regular visitors, as are topknot pigeons (they rattle when they fly!), willy wagtails (little black & white dancers), honey eaters, mallard ducks, ibises, herons, galahs (pink and grey parrots), crows, wattlebirds, kookaburras (laughing jack), green eastern rosellas, choughs, egrets....and occasionally, rarely, we even see wedgetailed eagles. We try to find shrubs and trees to plant that birds, bees, and butterflies like. A lot of our native trees and shrubs flower almost year round, so food and nectar is abundant. The cat's too slow to catch any, and Claude the Golden Retriever isn't retrieving birds, so we all live happily together....
My camera is definitely coming to visit you. My mission in life is to get a perfect shot of a blue wren. I have spent hours in hiding trying to photograph these elusive little birds. They just will not sit still long enough. You are so fortunate to be surrounded by such abundance of nature.
ReplyDeleteI haven't 'caught' them yet, either, Chris! Actually, the best place to see them is at my work, La Trobe uni is overrun by them! But you're welcome to try and photograph them!
ReplyDelete