Saturday 24 September 2016

The Dichotomy of the Tapas Bar.


Birds & Flowers. Food & Fights. The Tapas Bar has it all.
Spring is here and the birds & bees are doing their thing.
Flowers are blooming & Birds are mating. This all bodes well for some good photos.



This time last year the Tapas Bar had a new visitor. A Little Wattlebird. I named him Wallace (Wally to his friends). He had chosen to build a nest in the Murraya bush above the Tranquillity Pool. At the time I also had a regular visitor to the Tapas Bar & that was Kit the Green Catbird. Unfortunately for Wallace (Wally to his friends), Kit loves eggs so Wallace (Wally to his friends) never to got to see his progeny born.
Well he has turned up again, and this year I haven’t seen Kit for months. He might be more successful this year, so here’s hoping.
This is Wallace (Wally to his friends)
He's a Little Wattlebird
& a cute little critter at that.

The rice & fruit isn't his cup of tea,
but he does like a bit of Jasmin nectar.

Wallace (Wally to his friends) as been inspecting a nesting site
in the Murraya in the background.
My family of Kookaburras look forward to Sunday. Chook day. They get the left overs if I’ve had a BBQ chicken during the week. These guys are great for recycling. They love all the things we leave. They will eat all of the carcass including the bones. The stuffing I toss, but the rest goes to them.


"Button, would you like a little bit of chicken?"
"PUCK NO! I want a piece this big."

Bitey seems pleased with his chicken bone.

And showing his appreciation
he strokes my face with his wing.

Bully is moulting and lost her tail feathers which are only just starting to grow back.

Bitey being Bitey.

And when he bites me, he gets a good throttling.
Do you reckon he bites me on purpose?
Like Wallace (Wally to his friends), Stan the Grey Butcher bird has returned. Last year he introduced me to Pied his son. I’m looking forward to this year’s bub.

This is Stan the Grey Butcherbird.


Stan & Mal eyeing off each other.
Mal best be careful.
Stan eats small birds.
The Tapas Bar is forming a Barbershop Quartet. I'm going to name it… Tree Birds plus One.
We’re looking for auditions for the following roles.
Lead: This bird’s role is to carry the tune.
Shiloh has quite a pretty song when he's not hissing at he others.
Tenor: Needs to harmonize above the lead. The part is often sung in falsetto, which is of a softer quality.
Mal can do soft.
Not often, but he can.
Baritone: Completes the chord with a medium voice
Red fills that bill perfectly.
Bass: Always sings and harmonizes the lowest notes
The master of mimic, Brad was the obvious choice.

Now the Tapas Bar wouldn’t be the Tapas Bar without a few blues.
Going thru my photos, there seems to be one common denominator. Mal the Noisy Miner.
He seems to be giving it to, or copping it from, just about everyone. He really lives a stressful life.
How could a cute little guy like Mal be a pugilist?

He can't understand why Red would be pissed off with him standing on his beak.

Normally Mal doesn't hassle Brad.
And that's because Brad doesn't suffer fools lightly.

I'm surprised he's taking on Shiloh as well.
Both Brad & Shiloh are 3 times as big.

But it doesn't deter him.
Big heart....
Small brain..

Brads had enough of this shit.
It's about time to put Mal in his place.

Pedro the Pee Wee chimed in.
He never misses an opportunity.

The other one that seems to get into the thick of it is Red. He & Shiloh have been blueing for a while now. It’s not a species thing as Red gets on OK with Brad (Shiloh’s dad), so I’m guessing it’s a personality thing.

MOVE RED!!!
The Tapas Bar is mine.

MAKE ME!!!

OK. I will

And again and again.

After copping a pizzling from Shiloh
Red was looking for someone to take out his rage.
Mal was the right bird at the wrong time.
Poor Mal

I did say normally these guys get on.
But on occasion......
All this fighting and mating makes for a hungry bird.
And this is where the title of this blog makes sense.
Dichotomy: A dichotomy is a contrast between two things. When there are two ideas, especially two opposed ideas — like war and peace, or love and hate — you have a dichotomy.







I hope you enjoyed this post. It might be a while before my next post as I'm booked in for a spot of cancer surgery that will have me laid up for a month or two. Fret not as I'm as tough as a mallee bull and will see you all soon.































Saturday 10 September 2016

The War of the Worlds


I woke this morning feeling today was to be a special day.
How right I was. And for all the wrong reasons.

The morning started as it did yesterday & the day before that, and the day before that.
Spring is with us. The skies are clear & blue. The early morning sun warming the chilled waters of the Tranquillity Pool.
The Jasmin flowers were enjoying the soothing cool waters of the Tranquillity Pool.

The day started as any normal day.
The birds chirping, bees buzzing, all is good with the world.
I was soon to be corrected.

The birds were the first to notice. They could sense danger.
Landing as they always do for their morning ritual of feasting on grapes, apple & rice, something was different. They were edgy. Hesitant to lean forward to eat, constantly scanning the skies above.

Brad the Bowerbird is never hesitant about eating.
Always a beak down, tail up sort of guy.
He's one that certainly loves his grapes.
But not today!!

Normally Mal the Noisy Miner would be scoffing down as much as he could
before getting his marching orders from Red the Red Wattlebird.
Again, not today.

Red was the most alert.
He is in breeding season and other birds worry about him
He's been King of the Tranquillity Pool for weeks now.

Most out of character.
That should have set off alarm bells, but sitting on my veranda with a cup of coffee in my hand I just noted it as unusual.
The real tell was what happened next. The Jasmin flowers started to quiver. Swimming together they formed a tight bunch in the centre of the Tranquillity Pool. It was as though they were trying to get away from the edge.
I’ve never seen flowers more terrified. What was I missing?

Then it started.

Those calm waters of the Tranquillity Pool were coming alive.
Slowly it started to boil with small eruptions.


Fire burn

And Cauldron Bubble.

These growing in severity until they created Whirlpools.
Slowly the flowers were being sucked in, drawn by an unyielding force.

The beginning.

The ensuing panic.

Panic set in. It was each Jasmin for itself. Self-preservation can lead to ugly sights, as neighbour turned on neighbour. Pushing friends towards the sucking force in an effort to save their own lives. Flowerkind reduced to its very fabric.

Something was happening. What now?
The Whirlpools were changing. Each whirlpool changing to a vortex, sucking the haplessly trapped flowers into its cone.


Oh the Humanity

Ladies & Gentleman I'm watching as...
Oh my God, there goes another soul.

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.
Yet another family is being sucked into the vortex.

They've now grabbed a young flower.
Her petals are raised.
Begging.
Oh the Humanity.

A few lucky souls tried to escape, those close to the edge jumped for their lives, only to be caught again by the swirling whirlpools below.


Trying to escape the horror,
this couple plunge to the swirling waters below.
The cones act like a living organism
Morphing.
Grabbing those that try to escape.

A lone escape.
It might just make it to still waters.
The vortex’s started to spin, going higher and higher, until they were pathways to the mothership above.

Defying gravity,
the water starts to spiral to the sky.

Higher & Higher.

Until the mothership was reached
The Aliens were harvesting the Jasmin Flowers. Slowly they were sucked up into the belly of the mothership to a fate I’m unable to describe.




After a time, it looked like the Aliens appetite had been quenched.
As the last transport spout started to disappear, a few of the Aliens descended to check out the left overs. Happy they had harvested the best of the Jasmin, they left.




And just like that, one last splash and it was as though they were never here.
It certainly did turn into a special day.

Well I had a bit of fun putting this together, I hope you enjoyed it to.
What will be in my next post? God knows. Stay tuned.