Birds, Birds and Birds

Okay, so this is so obviously not a bird, but it goes in water and as I wanted to show it you I put it in. Not something you would want to step on, be felt by or have anything to do with, but on the other hand it is certainly different and very well camouflaged, we only saw it by accident as it swam very close to a boat moored close to the shore, sneaky eh.

This on the other hand is a bird, a wonderful Kookaburra. We have a couple of them who sit in the tree opposite our house and are wonderfully entertaining. They are noisy I agree but are so popular they have a song dedicated to them. All Australian school children learn a song called 'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree' which was written by a teacher in 1932 for a contest held by the Victorian Guides'

For those old enough you may remember the classic Australian band 'Men at Work' who sang 'Do you come from a land down under' which seems to have taken from the above song. Personally I cannot get the connection but the courts decided that a riff was used and was deemed a rip off., oh well I still hum the tune and love it.

One late afternoon we were walking down by the lakeside and watched as this bird went stalking for his supper, it was so patient and only moved very slowly, barely moving the water as it moved.

We were at Brisbane water when we saw this cheeky chappie, for some reason he preferred not to get his feet wet and just sat looking out at the world.

We used to get plenty of these birds come to the door looking for scraps, they in turn used to eat all the ants that lurked outside our door. When we had a barbie they used to wait until we had gone inside and jump on the warmed hot plate and eat anything that was left, and I thought the expression was 'A cat on a hot tin roof ' seems to be birds too.

Pelicans may be big and look rather lumber some but in the air they are so graceful, when they take off all you can hear is the swishing of wings and their take off and landing is a sight to behold. I think the front pelican has a plan, at dusk they go onto the lights and it is a case of first come first served,

Still grooming I do not think he has noticed that his mate has disappeared....

but he will when he looks up.

Cockatoos are in abundance and seem to mass where they know they will be able to eat leftovers. This was taken at a park and once you leave your table they are scavenging for any tasty tit bit they happen to find.

We often see these in the countryside, they belong to farmers and local fruit growers, they just scrat around the hedges and side roads looking for anything they can eat. Make really good lawn cutters too.

This used to sit outside the bedroom windows screeching his head off, damn noisy thing it was too, but plenty of colours and really just an oversize budgerigar

Parrots, all colours, are amazing to watch, they are everywhere and hang upside down to get the best food around, they screech to each other and must be the noisiest of the bird species but are so entertaining to watch,

Australian bird life has been an eye opener and it is only when you get out and about do you see so many varieties.