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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 - July 2008

Back to the music...

July 29th 2008 17:41
It has been a while since I mentioned the pigeons in relation to music. They still congregate on the windowsill when I play an album, but they have not shown preference for one musician over another for some time. When we had our original pair of show-pigeons, Brownie was a permanent Keith Varon fanatic. You only had to play his EP or album, and she would try to lodge herself on the sill and listen in contentedly nodding along. Fluffy liked all my music, but seemed to find Keith the most peaceful.

One of their pure-white offspring absolutely adored Astral. I am thinking it might be our departed BabyNob, as these days when playing Astral, neither of the two remaining white sons seem to particularly like or dislike it, compared to other bands.


What brought my mind to think of music in relation to the pigeons again, was a recent purchase I made and have been playing lately. I have the new album by Elephone, Canister. I have to say that Baby1 is now an Elephone fan. I am not sure why he didn't react likewise to the original Elephone CD, but he certainly admires this one. I was playing it yesterday, and down he came and sat by the open window listening in happily.

Maybe - he just likes hearing new music, I have been playing Madelia, VVV, and Astral rather a lot lately. Perhaps Baby1 gets bored of repetition...
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OOPS!

July 25th 2008 18:27
Smokey and Spotty have visited a couple of times this week. He is quite affectionate to us both, proving the point to mankind that males can easily have two loved ones of different form. Not only did he fly directly onto my head - where he pooped on my hoodie!! - and then to my wrist, from whence he climbed up my arm to my shoulder, when I opened the door to check the laundry, but ten minutes later, he was on my windowsill busily preening his wife.

He was going so fast and enthusiastically, I had to be amused. Most pigeons enjoy preening and nibbling the feathers of their mate, that is not news. What is news, is how fast they can do this. Some birds mellowly nibble carefully around the head and neck, slow but sure. Others - uh, Smokey at any rate - will frantically munch away, rapidly circling his wife's face. Usually, the recipient will bend their head to one side, and shut their eye if their partner's beak gets too close. Spotty was doing head circles to keep up with her husband!


I did try to take a photo, but not wishing to disturb the lovers left the curtain down. At the pace they were going, that was a mistakle - in that I had another failure to add to my photo collection!
oops
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CATS! oh,oh...

July 21st 2008 17:45
Up until a few months ago, our yard was almost catless. The birds were at liberty to perch where they chose, eat when they wished, fly and dance, coo and woo, chase and sing to their heart's content - in peace.

Our next door neighbor had a cat, but he was old and lazy, also well-fed. He eyed the birds, naturally, but he never caught any. He rarely even tried, watching seemed to be enough. I have not seen him around, and assume he is either now kept inside or passed on. Other than the odd neighborhood 'explorer' cat, the yard remained otherwise catless.

Several months ago, a new cat moved in. The other side of the neighbor who had/has one, now have a cat. This fellow - it might be female, I have not checked, but I will call it fellow for convenience sake - also spends a lot of time crouched up, hiding behind such amenities as trash cans, shrubbery, and house corners, eying our pigeon mob. I don't want to be cruel and shoo it away, but I do wish it would not spend so much time in OUR yard!

So far, the birds seem to trust it. Baby1 was eating seeds only a couple of meters from it this morning. I am hoping it is another old, lazy and well-fed variety of cat, and will be harmless. I cannot help but be a trifle concerned though, as it seems to be ,making our yard into it's own home! It was snoozing in the middle of my vegetable patch last week - right on top of my radishes! Yet, when it stares at me, with those cryptic eyes, I cannot be cross - it is only being a cat...
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Feeding Frenzy

July 15th 2008 17:49
When we first had a couple of show-pigeons 3-4 years ago, the seed feeding ritual was additionally attended by a mass of turtle-doves & whistling pigeons. We grew the flock to around three dozen birds at one stage. Then our pigeon pair had their 4 sons, after which the doves and whistling-pigeons began to back off. A few city pigeons turned up, then a few more, and...

Recently, we have been having around a half dozen birds feed with us at dawn, and around 2 dozen for the dinner-feed. Mostly, it is city pigeons visiting our duo of white show-pigeons. Sometimes, Smokey will bring Spotty to visit us. We are getting to have so many that I am getting a little lost when trying to name them all. We have 2-3 Black Scruffs, 3-4 Scruffs, a few Speckleys, some Ribsters, a Dusty, a Gray Scruff, and a Sooty - along with a few more


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Corrimal, Winter 2008

July 10th 2008 16:43
The Sunday before last I took a hike to Corrimal, along the coastal track from Wollongong City. At first, I thought that I might be photo-less, for there were no fairy-wrens in sight along the Wollongong-Fairy Meadow stretch. A flock of airborne gulls is hardly worth removing the camera from the wrapper for, and the distant magpie was just a little too far to even warrant an attempt with a zoom.

It was not until I approached Towradgi that I saw a bird worth capturing on camera. Alas, it was still too distant to get a perfect shot. My attention was taken upward, to the aerial on top the surf-saving club roof in Towradgi. There was a raven sticking its beak into a large coffee container perched upon the aerial. I had no idea that ravens liked coffee enough to beakfully carry a used paper-mug up onto a roof and greedily gulp the remains! Maybe it was the milk, the sugar, the caffeine, or a miscellaneous substance someone had inserted. Whatever it was, this raven was intent on getting a beakful


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Affection Junkies!

July 7th 2008 14:57
Those pigeons know who to suck up to! If Smokey catches me in the yard, he will follow me about. Maybe I go to the front to check for mail - Smokey is half way walking down the path by the house towards me as I come back. Baby1 and Bebe2 are now doing likewise. I went to fetch my laundry inside from the hoist yesterday, and as I de-pegged the clothing, I spotted a pigeon standing under the hoist looking up at me. As I carried the clothes down the path to the house, I almost tripped over his twin brother!

If I had not had my fill of affection loving pigeons, sookingly parading under my feet, I did some washing up and spotted a pair of turtle doves necking in the poinsettia. There must be something about our yard, you would think. However, I recently took a walk along the coast to Corrimal. What did I see there? A paid of cockatoos preening one another lovingly in the high school grounds! Whilst I did not get a photo of them, I managed 2-3 pictures from my trip which I will share when I get them onto my computer from the camera


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BIRD BLINDNESS

July 3rd 2008 14:52
I did a little research and discovered that cataracts in birds are quite common and that a veterinary surgeon can operate to remove the cataract in some cases. I do not think that I will subject Baby1 to a stressful trip to the vets though. I think being stuffed in a cardboard box then bounced along a 20 minute walk and opened into a strange indoor room might upset him far more than a naturally and slow occurring blindness taking over one eye.

Apparently, in the wild, blindness only affects a bird in the realm of food provision and safety from predators. There will be no problem with our semi-wild 'pet' pigeon going hungry, but if the eye is completely covered in cataract I may start to 'stable' Baby1 in the dunny or entryway overnight for safety's sake


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