Yesterday I managed to get photos of both Onewing and Scraggy on the same day. They are mother and son, or maybe mother and daughter because I don't know whether Scraggy is male or female.
Onewing has been visiting for a couple of years now and Scraggy is one of her babies.
I call her Onewing because you may not be able to see too clearly in this photo, but her right wing doesn't fit quite as snugly as it should and it is rather floppy on occasion. She can fly perfectly well, but I think it has been injured at some time. One of her claws on her left foot is a bit crippled too and doesn't go round the back of whatever she perches on like it should do. You can't really see that clearly in this shot either, but it just sits on the top of the chair she is standing on rather than gripping the back of the chair.
If you have been reading about the Scraggy saga and looking at his photos over the last few days you will see that Scraggy, after a few showers with the hosepipe, isn't looking quite as scraggy as he used to.
I wish I had taken a photo of him when his feathers were really covered in grease, but I didn't think about it at the time. Now that he has been showered a few times his feathers are looking almost as good as new.
Maybe I should rename him Notso now instead of Scraggy, because is 'not so' scraggy as he used to be.
Super portraits and a wonderful saga of the two - they do look real characters ! no, don't re name "Scraggy" - it sort of suits him -- he is never a "Notso" !!
Your name sake Babs, I hood One wing appreciates the honour! Cute story, you must be very fond of these two! Definitely looking more handsome but he will always be scaggy to you I think!
@pamknowler Thanks. I will try and get a photo of Onewing's partner Squawk, he is a character too. The other two youngsters (Scraggy's siblings) are not quite as tame as the rest of the family.
@sangwann She is a bit of a cripple isn't she, but quite a character, she gets so excited when she turns up here and does a lovely happy dance with her wings flapping.
@craftymeg Yes they are very like kingfishers although our kookaburra's don't tend to eat fish. They prefer lizards, small snakes, small birds, beetles, cockroaches, worms, snails and of course, the raw mince we feed them. @maggiemae The food they tend to eat is above. They have even been known to 'kill' pebbles in our garden by banging them on the patio floor thinking they are snails.
@onewing we have had quite a few frequent the garden over the last couple of months - I have watched some of the parents feed their squawking youngsters - lovely fresh worms in most cases ha ha
Wow! These are awesome shots of your kookaburras! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the information about these two wonderful birds because I don't know anything about kookaburras . . . well, I didn't before I read your narrative and comments, now I know quite a bit about them. Thank you for my 365 lesson for the day! :-)
What a fun story. Pets in the wild so to speak. Hmmm... he's looking pretty handsome now so Scraggy does seem a bit off. But sometimes a name sticks... Great shots of both of them. Of course the subtitle could be "Will Pose for Mince".
@golftragic Onewing manages very well, she doesn't have any problem flying but her wing does look a bit deformed. No she wasn't the muse for my tag that is another story. I decided that I am never going to qualify for the halo or the harp when I die, but I may manage one wing. If someone hacks me off I lose feathers from my wings and if I do good things I gain feathers, hence the onewing.
@maggiemae The food they tend to eat is above. They have even been known to 'kill' pebbles in our garden by banging them on the patio floor thinking they are snails.