Bedraggled....

Ma, what is this stuff that sticks all my feathers together?

Galah chick on left

Crest feathers will turn white later on

Cockatoos and Corellas

enjoying some much-needed rain

My Summer Garden...just add water!

you might just see

Cocky sitting atop

the weeping cherry

the 'Grappa Grotto'

magnificent this year

there is a table and chairs under there

large pics are over the top, I know

but you won't have to click to enlarge

little Galahs in the grass

we're mowing today

Robinia mop tops

the 'listening tree'

we sit under here

and listen to the breezes whisper

a storm was brewing

three days ago

it was a hot, thundery day

taking off

and that's where I'll leave you for awhile

there's a lot to do around here

Wood Ducks...quite at home

              

Australian Wood Duck 

Left: Female    Right: Male

The Australian Wood Duck, Maned Duck or Maned Goose, Chenonetta jubata, is a dabbling duck found throughout much of Australia.  It is the only living species in the genus, Chenonetta. Traditionally placed in the Anatinae (dabbling duck) subfamily, it might actually belong to the Tadominae (shellduck) subfamily and possibly the Ringed Teal is its closest living relative.        Source: Wikipedia 

they're always here at 'Sedgemere'

we call them 'our chooks'

they love the freshly mown grass

two days ago I was running

from room to room

trying not to spook them

taking shots through dusty windows

they always look happy...

after their walk, they'll sit quietly in the shade

and luxuriate!

Cocky, what's happened to you?

I snapped this cocky a couple of weeks ago;

the crest was bright red

and when it went to raise it,

all of the feathers stuck together 

I saw it again about a week later

and, after a lot of rain,

the feathers were washed out a bit 

but still a bright pink

Funny that the colour

isn't anywhere else on its body

This time of year they get in to

the plums; maybe it's plum juice;

I don't like to think

of anything worse...

Thankfully, it's still with us

Feathered Visitors This Week

here's our little Thrush friend

visits every year

so pretty

Crested Pigeon

having a rest between showers

Blue Wren

there's a family 

living in the 

Grevillea rosmarinifolia hedge

eastern slender-billed Corella

Cacatua tenuirostris

and look what blew in,

an old, scruffy, rain-drenched cocky

he was as funny as a circus,

a spooky bird

with a lump of bread in his left claw

they all eat with their left claw,

never the right

with every mouthful

he'd jerk his head around

making sure his little morsel

wouldn't be stolen

hilarious

magpies having a ball

in a pond

it rained all day on Sunday

it is the wettest September

we've had in nine years

and look what waddled over the block

last Thursday

a black swan walking her chicks

to another stretch of water

there is a beautiful 40 acre property

next door to us

16 acres of it ponds

thus, it's called "The Ponds"

she would have nested there

and was on her way 2km

up the road to The Pondage

where we saw her this morning

on our walk
she had found her mate

she only had three chicks left,

two probably taken by eagles

luckily I'd taken along the little Olympus
but couldn't see in the viewer
so just took a punt that
I'd captured them

and, thankfully, I had!!

WINTER RIBBONS, SPRING FEATHERS

Rainbow last week.
Unfortunately all of these shots were
taken through a dusty, study window.
Time to Spring clean!

Crimson Rosella yesterday
Platycercus elegans

Taking a dive for nectar
in the Grevillea

A VISITOR

the thrush visits us annually

she came in this morning

quite curious about the flash of light.

I'VE REACHED 100!

I've reached 100 posts and here are 100 cockatoos!  Well, this was only half of them, grazing in our back paddock a few minutes ago.  Hope you can click on it to get a bigger picture.  It's a beautiful morning here, crisp, around 7 degrees C, the sun is shining and we're going for a nice leisurely stroll around The Pondage.

GLYCINE'S SONG

by: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

A sunny shaft did I behold,

From sky to earth it slanted:

And poised therein a bird so bold -

Sweet bird, thou wert enchanted!

He sank, he rose, he twinkled, he troll'd

Within that shaft of sunny mist;

His eyes of fire, his beak of gold,

All else of amethyst!

And thus he sang: 'Adieu adieu!

Love's dreams prove seldom true.

The blossoms, they make no delay:

The sparkling dew-drops will not stay.

Sweet month of May,

We must away;

Far, far away!

To-day! to-day!'

I don't think it was an eagle in Coleridge's prose but I saw one of our wedge-tail eagles just now, hovering above, looking so tiny way up there. A couple of weeks ago we saw one coming from the smoke to safety; flying so slowly, as if it had no energy left. Our magpies were attacking it as if saying, 'go away, this is our territory'. It landed in a paddock opposite; it was huge and these little magpies, in comparison, were relentless. It took off again, travelling so slowly into the distance.....

BATH TIME

Here is our pet Magpie in the Ajuga having a shower under the sprinkler.

BROKEN BEAK, OR BEAUTIFUL BIRD

About three months ago we had a new visitor to the back door. She must have heard that ours was the house where you could get wild bird seed and the best grain bread morsels every day, all day! We called her BB (Broken Beak) as we were shocked to see that she only had half a beak! She is a Magpie and they need their long, sharp beak to dig for worms on a daily basis. Well, BB couldn't because she'd get a beak clogged with dirt.

When she came to us she was bedraggled, her feathers were dull and her left foot was also missing a claw. Her foot was so swollen that she'd tuck it up and stand on one leg - it must have been agony to stand on it. The shape of her head is square, not round, so we think that perhaps she narrowly missed getting run over by a car.

After weeks of a little ball of minced steak daily and bread, she has put on weight, her feathers are nice and smooth and shiny and she now hops around on two feet! Now she's found the bird bath and had her first bath, that we know of, yesterday. She sits on a windowsill all day, singing her beautiful song and gives us so much pleasure. She has a mate, whom we call 'Youngun', as the feathers are still grey on his chest.

We also enjoy our Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Galahs, Crested Pigeons, Rosellas, Blue Wrens and Sparrows. They all come in for a feed and get on famously together.