I finally bought some wild bird seed . . I don't feed birds too often as they might become dependent and I'd rather see them in their natural habitat but in my quest to attract the shy and pretty parrots, I always end up with these . . the pirates of the sky. They're the size of a chicken. Worth thousands of dollars on the black export market and I complain because they eat all the good stuff and keep the pretty parrots away . . they are noisy . . .cheeky . . .nibble at oregon verandah timbers and are surprisingly tame and always extremely clean (I can get within a metre of them before they flap off to a nearby branch. They are the labradors of the air and are totally motivated by food . . but they are always, always entertaining:
Sulphur crested cockatoo in a pine tree? Something amiss here
That's better. Much more realistic in a lemon scented gum
Evening pair . . . mother and son share the seed (he's the twitchy one)
Grabbing the chain helps stabilise the feeder
You know how you drive past cows and feel the urge to go 'Mooo' well with these guys it's hard to fight the urge to say "hello cocky" . . .they look at you as if you're a total moron (if the cap fits). And a big, big cheerio to Bird Anonymous because her photography and the antics of her birds are a delight to see. Mine pale to insignificance by comparison.
Oh, and I think I've broken my little left toe . . I banged into a door stop on Saturday and the fact that it wiggles sideways and makes a weird cracking noise has caused me to strap it for a few days and have an excuse to wear thongs to work!
You can all go 'Awwww' now!
I have toe pins, they look like mini skewers that you can borrow. Brianf might fly over and tap them in for you!
ReplyDeleteIf you had big feet like me there might be an excuse for bumping into things. You will have to be more ladylike and take small steps! ;)
You know when Alf Stewart is blowin' his bladdy top on Hymen Wye and callin' someone a flamin' galah? Is one of those birds a galah?
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps they're just a flamin' accident lookin' for a place to happen. Mongrels.
Baino,
ReplyDeleteI have never driven past cows and felt the urge to go 'Moo'!
Should I see a doctor about this?
Aaaaaawww, poor Baino. Kiss kiss. All better now, see.
ReplyDeleteI love your cockatoos - stunning! You and your cocky's and me and my guineas. What a birdbrained pair we make... And I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels obliged to moo at cows...
GrannyMar: Normal sized feet just a bloody big door stop. It's my Grandma's old hand driven Singer sewing machine complete with wooden cover and key! It's been there for 15 years and it took me that long to run into it. Ouch! "Basher Bainbridge" is one of my nicknames!
ReplyDeleteTerrence: I'll have to try to get a shot of a galah, they're grey and pink and feathered. Poor old Alf, talk about stereotypes may his chooks turn into to emus and kick his dunny down!
I my case, I don't have to go looking for accidents, they find me! Although I usually break 'things' not bodyparts.
Ian: You know you have . . .you're in denial. Never gone up to a budgies cage and pursed your lips and made that smoochy noise? How about bending and rubbing your forefinger and thumb together in front of a cat and saying "Here puss, puss, puss .. " If you've had none of these symptoms, yes,medical intervention is required.
AV: Ah yeh . . but you have zebra and wildebeast and lions and leopards and big vultury tings! Gary Larson, the Far Side Cartoonist produced a series on cows one with a bunch of cows standing on two legs in a paddock watching a car speeding past and saying "yackety, yackety, yak!"
Oh how cool! The only interesting birdsong around here comes from the blackbirds. There was one that used to hang around our garden and do an excellent car alarm impression. That's the suburbs for you...
ReplyDeletePoor toe! Toe stubbage has to be one of the owiest of all the owies.
K8: Yep . . still ouchy but hey, I'm a tough old bird myself. Nothing a bit of strapping tape won't fix. Cocky's screech and chatter, not an nice sound at all but we have bird called a Butcher Bird (meatysaurus) with an amazing call. I used to feed them dried cat food occasionally but haven't had a cat for 7 years, the same family remembers and keeps coming back just to check if there's any on the verandah. They're chortling to each other outside at the moment. http://www.sydneynature.com/birds/butcher.html
ReplyDelete'ello Baino
ReplyDeleteI guess there were some interesting expletives to be heard when you banged that poor toe of yours.
That kind of injury needs lots and lots of Chardy to make it better ;-)
Enjoy your day off anyhow, and the return that sunkissed duo! I hope he appreciates his room!!!
Thanks Steph. Actually it hurt so much there was a deafening silence! Yeh, they've asked me to pick them up an hour late so they can do some duty free shopping on the way in . . ooooh presents *reverts to six year old*
ReplyDeleteActually should have said *eeeuuuw washing!*
ReplyDeleteYou really need to start wearing steel capped boots around the house basher bainbridge!!!
ReplyDeleteA big, BIG cheerio back to you Baino! Your Cockatoo photographs don't look pale to me! These are far better shots than any Sulphurs I've managed to photograph - so there! Once they've had their fill maybe some of the "shy pretty parrots" will fly down off the canopy. BTW I've never met any 'shy' parrots myself but some do stay out of lens reach even if you can hear them ;) Thongs to work - couldn't get better!
ReplyDeleteClare and Jem: Shuttup! I hope yours gets bitten by a Pirhana! *I am not infantile you great big poopyheads* Nice blog entry by the way! Love yer work darls. Photos please! Soon! La madre le ama sea seguro querido.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anony you're too kind butCocky's are an easy target. I'm trying to get the King Parrots to hang about but they're bullied by the labradors of the air and the little Red Rumps don't look above grass level, silly things. Yeh, our lorikeets are tree top dwellers . . too many nice nectary flowers up there.
ReplyDeleteBaino, I remember these birds from when I was in Oz. They had an insatiable urge to mimic speech to great amusement of passersby - perhaps you should set them up with a keyboard and they can blog?
ReplyDeleteHahaha . . maybe Quickroute. Occasionally there is one that actually talks, obviously an escapee who's joined the mob. Rather strange having someone call out "Get fucked you bugga" while you're hanging out your washing! People teach them the strangest phrases!
ReplyDeleteBaino, I love...love these shots! The only type of birds I have to capture around here are Molothrus. :)
ReplyDelete