And then there's Cedrick

Hi, I'm Cedrick

This little guy has worked his way into my family.

Whoever penned “Curiosity killed the cat” had never seen a Lorikeet.

C'mon, what am I missing - no, really?

He needs to be a part of everything, and pays me a daily visit.

When I’m feeding my Kookas, he pops in to see what all that actions about, always hopeful there will be something other than meat on offer.

 

 

 

Enjoy the photos – some you’ve seen some you haven’t.

 

What's he doing down there? He's starting to scare me! 

You'll protect me - won't you Cedrick?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of my way buddy - I may be small, but I'm feisty!

I was saying to Cedrick this arvo what a white elephant the bird bath was. No one wanted to use it. He looked at me, then looked at the birdbath, and said........

....Mate, I'm on it.

With that he put 2 claws into his beak, and whistled up his mates.
“This fellow is putting on a free drink”
“Said to be the Nectar of the Gods”.

Yeah - bloody good drop this is

The ice was broken, and Pee Wees, Wattle Birds & Noisy Miners followed when Cedrick’s boisterous mates moved on....
 

Mrs Pee Wee



Little Wattle Bird

Well it turns out, with any new pub, there's always jockeying for the best seat at the bar.
Well Cedrick & nectar aren't a good mix.

Cedrick, you're in my spot................

....so you wont move hey!

Cedrick introduced me to his girlfriend.


that's Cedrick up front

Say hello to Daphne.


Cute Butt there Cedrick

Oh Hi, I'm Daphne

He does set me some challenges.

You'll not get a photo of me in here.



Doh

And he is so attentive to Daphne.

Look at her wrong, and he's all up in arms.

Cedrick, I have the hiccups. Could you scare me?
BOO

Well that's all for now.......
Now doubt I'll pop up in this blog again.....

Happy New Year part 2

Button

 Happy New Year part 2

Boy, there is plenty to come.

You have met Button & Boof (still no sight of Boof since the 28^th). I suspect I know Boofs fate, but more on that later.

Boof

Well it turns out Button has a favourite spot on the fence to perch on, which is terrific, as it allows me to set up my GoPro close up so I can film all the interactions. And what a bonus that has turned out to be.

A couple of these interactions;

Bully Baby doesn’t play well with others. When it's her turn to feed the bub, check out her indecision to feed or not to feed. It’s a hoot.

http://youtu.be/e1JAzK_WZCg

When a Kooka selects a piece of meat they are going to feed to the baby, they make a particular call (a repeated chirp)

http://youtu.be/Chj1fr8av-0

Well it turns out that when Mum picks up a piece of meat to feed the bub, Bully Baby makes the same begging call as the baby Button hoping the subterfuge works.

This vid of Mum with a whinging kid on each side, is doing her head in (how many parents can relate to this).
http://youtu.be/fBcCBgHNzvs

This vantage point provided so much more than just close up’s of Button.

Such as Synchronised Flying;

And the Agapanthus series;

Shooo
What can I tell you, Clowns & Agapanthus freak me right out

What sort of hell is this?
Knowing what I’m like with Agapanthus & Clowns,
WHAT YOU DIDN’T THINK I’D NOTICE!!!!
What other torments do you have planned for me?
Why not dress it up in Oh I don’t know…….A BLOODY CLOWN SUIT

PW “Kook you’re such a wimp,
It’s not like Agapanthus can eat you or anything".
Kook “PW, I can’t look – I know this will end badly”

 

The weather has been hot this week, so let’s see how the spray bottle goes this week.

Bitey having a bit of fun

Well they have all grown to love it. And I mean love it.

Boss enjoying a spray

But Bitey more than most.

You can’t spray him enough. He copped 2 full spray bottles the other day (I stopped due to cramping arms). Its great fun for us both as I can sit at the table having a cold beer while spraying him sitting on the veranda rail. It's like shooting those moving ducks in an amusement park.

The Gandalf look

What it did do was expose a wound just in front of his eye. The Vet & Wires advised if they got involved to treat, they would need to capture the bird & take it for treatment. This wasn’t an option as if a Kookaburra is removed from the group (and only for a short time), it will be rejected by the Family, and likely killed.

the wound

So I decided I would treat this myself by flushing the wound twice daily with saline solution.

After only 5 days the wound is looking pretty good. More on his recovery in my next post.

day1

day3



day5

Another bonus of the new camera position was the other birds that also liked that same spot.
There are a few birds that visit my backyard that are masters of avoiding the lens.
Turns out they like the same spot as Button.

Mr Pee Wee

 

Mrs Pee Wee



Wattle bird

& again

you'ld swear that fence was hot

 

Noisy Miner coming

Noisy Miner leaving

So now onto Boof’s possible fate.
I think he may have been taken by an Eagle.
I’ve heard the Kookas make an Eagle Alert call plenty of times, but haven’t been able to video it.

If one of the family spot an Eagle, they sound the alert, the others look up & when they spot it, they also start the warning. By looking at them, they leave you no doubt exactly were the Eagle is.

When I’ve seen them do this, they stay where they are, but keep sounding the alert until the threat flys out of the area. The Eagles are usually up high (100 – 150m).

Well of late I’ve noticed an increase of Eagle activity. With the camera mounted close to the fence to get close ups of Button, I got a couple of the family doing the Eagle alert.

http://youtu.be/K9KJULZx1mA

Well, the other day, I had my camera set up getting shots of the family, when Boss spotted an Eagle, out went the alert, picked up by all. What happened next was a surprise. In a flash, they all flew off to the tree next door (I’ve never seen this before).
However, they left something important behind……Button. She just sat there keeping her eye on the Eagle (like she’d seen the others do in the past).

I looked up to see a Sea Eagle circling just above the trees.

Sea Eagle

getting too close for comfort

At this point I thought Human intervention may be required. So armed with my trusty Ricoh point & shoot, I went downstairs to shoo her off (I did leave the GoPro running in case is was too late). I took a photo and shoo’d her off.

Button keeping her eye on the Eagle, not knowing the danger she was in

The Sea Eagle keep circling for a few more minutes then dropped down behind the Mangrove Trees to grab something (not sure what he got). Earlier that morning I had seen a Wedge Tail Eagle fly close to the tree tops. With so many chicks around (birds must really look forward to spring), I can understand the increase in Eagles.

So Button knew the Eagle alert call, yet didn’t know the threat was imminent.

I suspect what could have been Buttons fate, was in fact Boofs fate.

Well that’s it for my 1^st blog for 2015. I hope the next 12 months will be so interesting.

So, with that, I wish you all a terrific year.

Here's the Family singing in New Years Eve.
http://youtu.be/uMlGalZtDrs

Happy New Year part 1

Button

And what a cracker it’s been so far.

I spent Xmas at a mates place down the coast, along with his wife (Val) & 12yr old son (Miles), and a niece of Val’s, Joanne & her 3 kids, Nicholas, William & Bella (7, 5 & 3yr olds). Ian’s place backs onto the bush, and the wild life…well let me tell you. Kangaroos daily, and stacks of birds. And all of them friendly.

With so many kids, BBQ’s were the go. With so many kids, well you can imagine the spillage. One man’s trash is another man’s……

Most mornings saw me up at 6.30’ish. Sitting at the table in the back yard, I was amazed at how friendly the birds were. 1^st morn I had a Wattle Bird landed on the BBQ next to the table and just check me out.

 

At 7.30 the kids would wake, and at 7.31 the birds would leave as bedlam ensued.

The kids were put down about 8pm. 8.01 the birds arrived.
On the 2^nd night, Mr Wattle Bird introduced me to his youngster. While he sat on the BBQ his bub landed on the table next to me & scoped me out.



proud dad keeping a watchful eye on Junior

Junior checking me out

I also had visits from a Lorrie (Cedrick's cousin), a Maggie with her kids, Kookas, Bower birds etc.

Cedrick's cousin Cecile.

Out with Ian Xmas Eve, I noticed a Terrapin (tortoise) in the middle of the highway. I thought I'd grab it for the kids. I pulled over just as a truck clipped it. Sent it skittering up the road 30m. Anyway it appeared to be OK, so rescued & back to the kids. They were stoked for about 15 mins. The next morning he was set free.


Timmy at a run, on the run.

Timmy..Timmy..where are you?

Time to head back home. I was surprised by the reception I got. The bloody cats hadn’t even noticed I’d been away. When I went out on the veranda, my other family arrived on mass. And boy were they excited to see me (cats – take note of this).

there's a smile that goes ear to ear

Even Cedrick popped in to say G’day.

G'day

But my biggest surprise was yet to come. After giving the family a quick feed, mum flew off only to return a minute later with this year’s bub. At 1^st sight I thought she was as cute as a button. And with that a name was born.

Let me introduce you all to Button Burra.

The next arvo, all returned to my back fence including Button. While feeding them I heard a baby call, from next door, and perched on their veranda was another chick. What was interesting here was that the others ignored him and continued to feed Button.

Boof

The next day both fledglings arrived on my back fence. I noticed the 2^nd had a head that needed growing into (a bit like a puppy with big paws). I thought “what a boof head he has”.

So let me introduce to Boof Burra

Sadly they are the only photos of Boof. I haven’t seen (or heard) him since.

Boof

that's Boof on the left

This is too big for one post, so I will split this in 2.

Check out Part 2 for the interaction between Button & the others.