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Some of my friends live in our yard, others visit it, still others live elsewhere and I visit them. Come and read about all my feathered friends...

Bird Story - August 2007

A few pictures

August 31st 2007 18:17
I still have not shot the photographs of the galah or pelican that i need for my book, however i did manage to catch some shots of an egret at the local pond near the golf course.



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Recent sightings

August 29th 2007 17:57
I have been flat out working on my bird book this week. I have around 95% of the first-draft text, and all but two photographs ready. I must get off my butt and go track down a flock of galahs sometime in the next two weeks, as I really would like to include a photo of one in the book. Additionally, a pelican would be rather cool, so i expect to be aiming my feet towards the hearbor again this weekend.

The weather has definitely cheered up, with a burst of early spring appearing recently. I have been sitting on my garden bench reading, and consequently 'hanging out' with the birds. The raven is getting tamer by the day, though I did not spot him yesterday, despite peering through the window between typing sessions. If he comes to visit regularly, I shall have to pick a name for him. I am thinking about choosing a name from my music interests, such as a fav band's member's name. The pigeons were pecking about my feet as I sat outside, reading on Monday. Baby-Nob was staring up at my legs as if considering what a strange size and shape they were, but he got back to hunting for stray seeds again soon after his contemplation. Brownie came and sat on my windowsill late yesterday, while I was cooking dinner. She was listening in to the Astral and Shades of Day music I was playing.


The turtle doves have been enjoying my newly seeded vegetable patch - I just hope they left some seeds in there! I planted some beans recently, and I know the doves are partial to brand new bean shoots that surface from previous experience. They seem to have taken a fancy to my bok choy shoots too! I do not really mind, but I would like to have a few plants survive! I have not seen Two-Toe, our regular tame dove for a couple of weeks now. I expect he managed to catch one of the lady doves he has been chasing and has been roped into parental duties!
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photographics

August 27th 2007 19:42
In 'photographic news' I received a letter in yesterday's mail telling me my kookaburra photo, which I had entered in a contest, was a semi finalist and about to be printed.

In 'yard news' the raven has been down 3 days in a row, knowing we have cheese as well as a camera, and now he is very tame. He even came up to the bird seed I threw out for the pigeons, and ate a sunflower seed yesterday.

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My book - update.

August 24th 2007 18:00
I put most of my work time into the bird book, yesterday. Accompanied by pigeon cooing, kookaburra laughter, and magpie warbling, I wrote up another four or five chapters.

It is raining yet again, so I shall not be able to go hunt a pelican to photograph today. Maybe it will stop raining one day before my book is fully written, otherwise it will not have a pelican picture in it. I do not have a photo for every bird I am writing about, because I do not want to startle birds who are human-shy just to take a great photo for my book. I do have some really good shots of the kookaburra, pigeons, and magpies though


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More rainy days.

August 22nd 2007 19:37
It is raining again, so not likely that I will be popping down to the harbor to hunt out a friendly pelican to photograph after dinner tonight. I am currently listening to the 'background' sounds, of pigeons cooing, along with the rain sloshing about as it falls onto, and then from, the roof.

Yesterday, one of the magpies came to visit. I was just peeping through the curtains in my room to see if the pigeons were ready for their evening seed meal, and spotted a black blob land... I rushed out with a lump of stale cheese I had at the ready in the fridge. The magpie must have been one of our tame ones, as it came right up and took the cheese from my fingers. (I usually try to hand feed them, in order to see if they are regular guests or strangers calling.) It ended up leaving the cheese - I think it was too stale even for magpie endurance. I threw it in the water bowl to soften it,and the pigeons ate it later on


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Wet weekend

August 20th 2007 19:52
It rained nearly all weekend; consequently, there was not much to observe in the yard apart from soggy pigeons, screeching seagulls, and the odd shrike on the abutilon. Once again, I did not manage to get the photographs of a pelican and galah that I need for my up-coming bird book!

As there is not very much news, I thought I would share a couple of previously taken photos with you


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Yesterday in the yard

August 17th 2007 20:44
There was a shrike tucking in to the nectar on my son's abutilon bush yesterday. The stems are not very thick, yet it hardly bent them at all, as it clung on dipping its beak into the petals of the orange flowers.
Brownie, one of our pigeons, was limping last week, but she seemed to be better yesterday. Brownie was sitting on the garden bench outside my window, nodding along to the music I was playing, most contented. I do not know if all birds love music, or if it is just the type that I play, but these pigeons really seem to be music fans!
We had a magpie come down to share the old unwanted homemade pizza pastry scraps with the pigeons yesterday. They do not come down multi-times daily for cheese any longer, but they still visit if they spot a cluster of birds munching something


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The walk that did not happen

August 14th 2007 17:54
Last weekend, I had planned to take a walk along the coast, in order to attempt to get some photographs for my up-coming bird book. I was intending to capture a pelican, spoonbill, coot and galah. However, the weather meant that an avid bout of spring-cleaning occurred instead!

The two days were not lost completely however, as I noticed the kookaburras have moved back into the area again. I already have tons of photographs of kookaburras, as a couple brought their youngster to our yard to learn to hunt for bugs last year. The previous year we also had one or two of the species visit us. They like to sit on the carport roof, washing hoist, or fence, and then stare silently and without moving at the lawns below. Suddenly, they will plop down onto the lawns and dive their beaks in to retrieve a bug


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An extract from the first draft of my next book

August 10th 2007 19:02
Even before we had show pigeons and fed the birds seed on a regular basis, both crested pigeons and turtle doves used our yard as their territory. Once we began to put out seed, they began to learn at what time this food source was placed outdoors and congregate accordingly.
Although numbers started at four or five crested pigeons and a half dozen speckled turtle doves, the number grew to a dozen of the former and at least two dozen of the latter for a couple of years, before declining slightly to result in our currently only having two or three crested pigeons and a half dozen or so doves.
I had never seen anything such as a crested pigeon before moving to the Illawarra. Having them come up to our very doorstep, eat seeds directly outside, and once or twice follow a tame pigeon into the entryway was a great delight. It is sad to think that so many units do not have a back door opening onto a yard for such encounters to happen


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Myna & miner

August 6th 2007 18:00
There is a lot of confusion over the two species.
One, the MYNA
is from the starling family, whereas the noisy MINER bird is of the native hummingbird family.

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The pigeons

August 1st 2007 21:52
Shyly, the latest to join our flock, and so named due to standing back to observe rather than rushing on in at his first seedtime, has developed a desire for corn. As soon as the seeds are dropped onto the plate, Shyly will scoot all around the other birds and snatch at all the corn seeds until they are gone. Brownie is similar with sunflower seeds, but not quite so active in her chase. I thought that I would share a couple of pictures of the birds. The first is of Brownie, one of our original pair.

Next is a shot of Shyly, who often flies onto my head, or walks up the garden path, slowly following me towards the vegetable patch when I am working in the yard. He also gets under my feet when I am attempting to mow the lawn, so I need to pay attention and make sure I look out for stray birds as well as twigs or stones


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