I am really struggling at the moment which means it's time for the cavalry to rescue me.
Whenever it rains, the birds drive us nuts. The magpies, butcher birds and rainbow lorikeets all congregate on the window ledges trying to keep dry and hoping for hand outs in the process. If we are not careful, they come inside and sit on the kitchen benches and we have to chase them off.
Fabulous capture in stunning detail and colour Terry, know how you feel in bad weather looking for the cavalry to save the day, hence my Lunar image yesterday saved in the nick of time, lol:)
Fabulous shot Terry I think your lucky to have access to all those birds. We rescued a tiny little orange bird today at my Mother-in-law's and tomorrow they are calling the RSPCA. Hope its okay.
Wonderful capture terry - love that they are cuddling up together!! I can just imagine the birds all lined up on your window ledge waiting for food!! I too am struggling - hence my silly shot yesterday!! I am hoping to get some inspiration doing the alphabet and also doing B&W February. Fav for this lovely shot!!
Poppo, I have a question - how and when did you get all these birds to come to your house/garden? Have you always had them visiting you? I have never known anybody else to get such wonderful wildlife visit them!
@gigiflower Hi Sam. I don't know of anyone in a normal suburban block to have the quantity and variety we have either Sam.
I don't know how to answer your question but a few environmental factors first.
. We don't own a cat and never have;
. We don't have a dog - although we did have two once;
. None of our immediate neighbours have cats or dogs;
. We live in a very leafy suburb within walking distance of Mt Cootha forest
We have been feeding the same family of magpies for almost 40 years and they were certainly the first birds that befriended us. We used to give them bits and pieces from the dogs meat. Magpies are everywhere and I am sure that anyone can get them into the yard on a regular basis if they wish to.
Next came the butcher birds which have the same feeding habits as the magpies and they just followed them in.
The rainbow lorikeets used to buzz around and we had the worst looking gum tree you have ever seen (a Eucalyptus Ptychocarpa) in the back yard and when it flowered, the rainbows would come down for a feed. We always provided fresh water the magpies and the butcher birds and every now and the rainbows would come down for a drink and a bath.
We then started putting out honey mix (Harmony from Woolies and Coles)for the rainbows when the gum tree wasn't in flower but from memory, it was the blue faced honeyeaters that started eating that first and the Rainbows followed. We had never seen the blue faces before and were gobschmacked when they first appeared.
One of our neighbours used to have a seed ball hanging from a tree and the rainbows used to get into that so we started putting out seed as well and next thing, we had rainbows everywhere.
Once the seed went out the king parrots and the pale headed rosellas started coming in occasionally although the King Parrots are very regular now. Someone told us once that we were on the flight path for the King Parrots as they move to various feeding areas.
Then it didn't take long for the Crested pigeons to find the seed also.
The Cockatoos are a different story.
We never had cockatoos at all once and then they started to appear near Mt Cootha and the western Freeway. We reckon they were driven in by drought looking for water and food. Then when the work started on the Legacy Way and the Western Freeway extensions, they were displaced again and started roaming the nearby suburbs. One day they appeared en masse at the seed tray in our backyard and paraded around as if they had spent their whole life there. That was a couple of years ago.
One other thing. When we first built the house and moved in (1976) we had a number of smaller birds - Silver Eyes, Striated Pardalotes among others. Then a family of Mickey Bloody Birds moved in and chased them all off. They are very aggressive and territorial and I hate the bloody things. If you google striated pardalote you'll see why I was pissed of with the mickey birds. The pardalotes have never returned.
@gigiflower Oops. Forgot the Galahs. They arrived after the Cockatoos. They obviously saw the cockies swanning around in the lap of luxury and decided that they could get a slice of the action also.
Looking back over it all, it would seem that once you have one specie in the yard with a particular feeding habit, then it doesn't take long for all the other species with the same habit to follow them in. The obvious trick is to attract the first one in.
Well I'm about a month or so behind (or so it seems). In a way I'm glad to have gotten the explanation for your ability to attract and photograph these beauties. Thanks! Oh, and I'm busy catching up now!
February 10th, 2015
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I don't know how to answer your question but a few environmental factors first.
. We don't own a cat and never have;
. We don't have a dog - although we did have two once;
. None of our immediate neighbours have cats or dogs;
. We live in a very leafy suburb within walking distance of Mt Cootha forest
We have been feeding the same family of magpies for almost 40 years and they were certainly the first birds that befriended us. We used to give them bits and pieces from the dogs meat. Magpies are everywhere and I am sure that anyone can get them into the yard on a regular basis if they wish to.
Next came the butcher birds which have the same feeding habits as the magpies and they just followed them in.
The rainbow lorikeets used to buzz around and we had the worst looking gum tree you have ever seen (a Eucalyptus Ptychocarpa) in the back yard and when it flowered, the rainbows would come down for a feed. We always provided fresh water the magpies and the butcher birds and every now and the rainbows would come down for a drink and a bath.
We then started putting out honey mix (Harmony from Woolies and Coles)for the rainbows when the gum tree wasn't in flower but from memory, it was the blue faced honeyeaters that started eating that first and the Rainbows followed. We had never seen the blue faces before and were gobschmacked when they first appeared.
One of our neighbours used to have a seed ball hanging from a tree and the rainbows used to get into that so we started putting out seed as well and next thing, we had rainbows everywhere.
Once the seed went out the king parrots and the pale headed rosellas started coming in occasionally although the King Parrots are very regular now. Someone told us once that we were on the flight path for the King Parrots as they move to various feeding areas.
Then it didn't take long for the Crested pigeons to find the seed also.
The Cockatoos are a different story.
We never had cockatoos at all once and then they started to appear near Mt Cootha and the western Freeway. We reckon they were driven in by drought looking for water and food. Then when the work started on the Legacy Way and the Western Freeway extensions, they were displaced again and started roaming the nearby suburbs. One day they appeared en masse at the seed tray in our backyard and paraded around as if they had spent their whole life there. That was a couple of years ago.
One other thing. When we first built the house and moved in (1976) we had a number of smaller birds - Silver Eyes, Striated Pardalotes among others. Then a family of Mickey Bloody Birds moved in and chased them all off. They are very aggressive and territorial and I hate the bloody things. If you google striated pardalote you'll see why I was pissed of with the mickey birds. The pardalotes have never returned.
Looking back over it all, it would seem that once you have one specie in the yard with a particular feeding habit, then it doesn't take long for all the other species with the same habit to follow them in. The obvious trick is to attract the first one in.