Monday 27 November 2017

Frogs, Fights and Feathered Friends

Bursting with D...Liciousness
What an interesting few weeks it’s been since my last post.  As I’ve mentioned before I have pinched a pot from my loving sister to turn into a new birdbath. The Wrens Splash Pool (that’s what I’ve named it) will also double as a fish & frog habitat. I need to keep the mosquito wrigglers at bay and to that end I’ve added 8 “Blue Eye” fish, & thanks to my lawn mower guy 12 tadpoles.



I’ve been worried that all I’ve done is introduced another food source to my already spoilt birds. 2 days after I put in the tadpoles, I came home from work to find them sunbaking right on the surface of the pool. They even let me prod them in the back before they took off to the bottom. Well seems they learn fast. Both the taddies & the fish now bolt to the dark depths at the very first sign of danger. This bodes very well for their long term future.





It won't be long and Fergus (the froggie to be) will climb from the water,
give me a backward glance and go off to look for a mate.
Bwahahah. He will have a bit of a wait as he is the first of his kind in my backyard.
He'll have to wait for the other taddies to join him.

Wilma the Red Wattlebird has also taken to the Wrens Splash Pool.
This must scare the shit out of its other residents.
I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to lying in bed listening to the frogs chirping away the night.
This first video is on me making the Wrens Splash Pool. The 2nd is the end result.
https://youtu.be/2j3GNgD5p7E
https://youtu.be/pDuri571AiQ
Spring has well and truly sprung and the birds are doing what birds do in spring. And by the number of times they’re doing it, I can expect to hear the pit-a-patter of a lot of little feet.

Thunder & Storm in a moment of tenderness.
All this mating means an increase in testosterone. This increase in testosterone means an increase in aggression. This increase in aggression means some great photos. God I look forward to spring. Maybe even more than my birds.


Cedrick the Lorrie going beak to beak with Russell the Raven

They say it's not the size of the dog in the fight,
but......
Cedrick the Lorrie is a bully. He has the temperament of a pit bull on Ice.  He prefers to think of himself as colourful.



One of the birds he seems to love picking on the most is Shiloh, a juvenile male Satin Bowerbird. Shiloh is way up on Cedrick’s shit list.




Every now & then Shiloh stands up for himself. It never ends well for him. But you’ve got to give him credit for trying. 
You'll get further with a kind word & a stick,
than you will with a kind word alone.

Cedrick’s not the only one to pick on Shiloh. Red the Wattlebird also likes adding to Shiloh’s stress levels. But Red isn’t as aggressive as Cedrick,  so more likely to find Shiloh giving back as good as he gets.


It's not as it looks.
Cedrick hasn't impaled Red with a jimmy bar



Cedrick is an anomaly.  He won’t back down from the biggest of birds, yet the Judge (a Crested Pigeon & the most gentle of birds) intimidates him.  

Mal the Noisy Miner, well Cedrick would rather bite off his head than share a banana, but on occasion that’s just what they do.
You just know Mal the Noisy Miner is shitty himself.
A bird I do look forward to seeing every year are my Koels. Every October for the last three years, they’ve returned to my backyard from their long & arduous trip from New Guinea. They have given me some great photos & a pretty interesting  Bio;


While I might like their return, there is one bird that doesn’t.

Yes. You guessed it. Cedrick. His attitude towards these Northern Visitors is appalling. BUT, it does afford me some great photos & videos.



Not a photo you'll see everyday.
Cedrick the Lorrie using his head as a bettering ram.

The Hakka has nothing on this greeting.
Coinciding with my Koels return is my latest purchase. A GoPro Hero 6. I got this as it’s got a much higher frame rate than my GoPro Hero 3. What this means is, sharper images when there is action and also terrific slo-mo videos.
You should check these out;
We have had a few scorcher days already this spring, so I thought my Kookas might enjoy a quick hosing. I reckon they enjoyed it but they say a picture tells a thousand words, well here are 3.
I can't say why, but this photo reminds me of Bob Marley

A reason to laugh
Kit the Green Catbird is a strange one. He lives across the road in a vacant block. I hear his calls every sunset. He loves grapes, which are always on tap at the Tapas Bar, yet I only see him around this time every year.


This guy is part of the Bowerbird family, but differs from his cousins in 2 main ways. Firstly, he is the only Bowerbird not to build a Bower. He attracts a mate by what he can present in his beak. His other nuance is he’s a monogamist. You see Bowerbirds are real players. They will mate with as many females during the season as they can, then have absolutely nothing to do with the rearing of his offspring. The Catbird however is the complete opposite. He selects a mate for life. During the year he enforces his bond with his mate by bringing her food. He also takes an active part in raising his bubs.


As well as Kits return I have a little Willy Wagtail that lives in the mangroves behind my place. He’s not interested in what I serve up, but on occasion calls in for a drink.
We did get a new visitor to the Tapas Bar that I’m glad only visited the once. A Brush Turkey that calls my street home. He hoovered up all the food within a few seconds. This guys was going to send me broke. They are one really ugly bird.

Check out my video on his visit. I had a bit of fun with this one;
Thanks for getting this far. Stay tuned as I have one more post before Xmas. My highlights of 2017.
Until then, live life to its fullest, stay safe & see you soon.