Feathers and Flowers

The days are getting shorter. There is a definite nip in the air and a certain harmony descends upon the Tapas Bar.
Summer has finished along with the breeding season. Autumn brings out the flowers and the best in my birds. The lack of testosterone & babies and life slips back into normality.
I laugh when neighbours comment I go a long way to spoil my birds. The flowers aren’t really for the birds as much as they are for the camera. Sure a few may enjoy the nectar

I'm Mal the Noisy Miner

Hassling all the other birds is stressful

Sometimes I need to just stop & smell the flowers & chill.

but mostly they are there to add colour & texture to my photos. And if I’m really, really lucky, and by that I do mean really lucky, I might get a photo of a bird holding a flower in its beak. This is an unusual action for a bird and makes for a bloody good photo.
In the six years the Tapas Bar has been going I’ve only taken 1 photo of one of my Kookas holding a flower and looking at the camera.

A photo from years ago.

A smile that just melts hearts.

That’s why I live in hope of getting another.

And that hope was rewarded a few weeks ago. A matter of times actually. I couldn't believe my eyes, and all within a few days.

Ketut the Spotted Dove is always trying to win Rhonda's heart

A bouquet of flowers might just do it.

The last thing you would expect to see in a Kookaburra's mouth is a flower

That is unless that Kookaburra is Button.

She's a new age Kookaburra

That's not right. It's missing something.
A Kookaburra

I'm betting you're smiling as you look at this.
She brings joy to the world, my little Button does.

Every now and then I treat my Kookaburras to bacon snakes. I have to tie them off to the Tapas Bar otherwise they would be gone in a flash. I laughed out loud last week when I set a few up. I was standing next to the Tapas Bar after just “fixing” them, when Boss flew in. He wasn’t missing the opportunity to grab one before the others, and rushed in. He flew in, scooped one up in his beak and in one smooth action took off. The bacon snake pulled tight and sent Boss flying arse over tit into the yonder. Check out my video at the end of this blog.

OH NO!

BLOODY BACON SNAKES!

I JUST KNOW THIS ISN'T GOING TO END WELL!

BUGGER!

This isn't going to look good.

The glamour birds of the Tapas Bar are Brad, Angelina & son Shiloh, a family of Satin Bowerbirds. I haven’t seen Angelina for a couple of years but Brad & Shiloh are daily visitors. Shiloh is the spitting image of his mum, identical really. The only way to tell the young boys from the girls is a close look at those amazing blue eyes. If you look closely at Shiloh’s eye, there is a slight ring of mauve around the pupil, whereas the girls are blue all the way.

At about age 5 or 6 he’ll start to change into his adult plumage and by seven, should look identical to his dad Brad. Shiloh is nearly four and looking at the photo below, is starting to show interest in blue things.

Young boys like to copy what dad does

So why shouldn't birds be any different?

Son, we're Bowerbirds.

We decorate.

That's what we do.

And no bower is a respectable bower

without a generous selection of blue.

If the Bowerbirds are the glamour group, Cedrick & Daphne the Lorikeets are the ones that add colour & excitement to the Tapas Bar. They’re great. These guys are the real characters of the bird world. It would be nice to say that they were lovers not fighters but…… Bwahahahahahaha, that’s not them. They’re not known for their patience or understanding, but I love them all the same.

I just hate it when we're not the most colourful things around

Who's responsible for this?

Where did all this colour come from?

This is going to piss off Cedrick & Daphne.

I'll just keep on going.

COLOUR! COLOUR! COLOUR!

Bah Humbug

Did you do this Mal?

No, It wasn't me, but I like it.

Bwahahahahaha, It was ME!!!! It was ME!!!!

Nananana

I know you had nothing to do with it.

But I don't like you.

GO AWAY!!!!!!

Then we have Pedro & Pernicious Pee Wee. These guys are the “Married Couple” of the Tapas Bar.

Pedro’s the man of the house. He’s the BOSS. Only when Pernicious isn’t within earshot. Again….Bwahahahahaha.

What do you mean by that?

Of course I'm the Boss in this relationship.

Well here comes Pernicious, what do you think she will say to that.

Exactly what I said.

Sorry dear. Yes, I know.  I hear you.

I said I'm Sorry,

I don't know what came over me Pernicious

You are the BOSS.

Well that’s it for this post, I hope you got this far.

I thought I’d leave you with a smile. Birds are graceful right? 

Mine are starting to hate Headley my camera. It catches them at their best.

Here's a couple videos to round off

As promised, the first is the video of Boss tangling with a Bacon Snake

https://youtu.be/MFRWZLIjD0M

Kookas in slow motion

https://youtu.be/zQo2xMDHr1I

Keep safe & well and see you all soon

Secrets Divulged

Those that follow this blog, probably marvel at my photos.
If I do say so, modestly, they are terrific.
I can hear you say “Wow, his timing is, well, how does he do it? How does he seem to catch that moment?

Into the Valley of Death go I.

I cheat. There it is. I said it. I cheat.

And it’s Headley my GoPro camera that allows me to cheat.
Let me explain.

You see a great photo requires the photographer to have so many things go his way. Timing is number one. Next is focus, then aperture, shutter speed, light etc.
So many things you have to get just right for that perfect picture.
Well, that was before Headley. He is my “Ace up my sleeve”
He is a video camera, and he is remote controlled.



Sure, he can shoot in camera mode. But why would you? I can sit on my veranda and turn the video on & off. When a bird arrives I can turn on the video & record any action.

Later I can go thru that video frame by frame and extract a photo.
And there is my secret.
There is a big downside to Headley my GoPro, and that is he has to be with 30cm of its subject to talk a decent photo.


BUT, if you can get the birds to come to you….well, they are just fantastic.
I have the Tapas Bar & the Tranquillity Pool so yes, I can get them to come to me.

Early morning golden moments

Trouble in Paradise

It pays to have eyes in the back of your head

BTW, Headley is waterproof.

I have Headley mounted on a 5 foot length of Doweling.  I can set it up anywhere in my small backyard or on my veranda to give me different views, angles & perspective. The only limitation is my imagination.

The following set of photos is what Headley & I are capable of;

Hidden in the foliage;

A squabble between brothers

Just like us humans.

And when it's done & dusted....

Have a good old laugh.

At grass level;

Button showing her older brother Bitey

she will be a force to be reckoned with.

Hoover, the baby Koel isn't to proud to eat off the grass

Nor is Kit the Catbird

No 10 second rule here

Haha says Red. Not when your a Wattlebird.

The Tapas Bar;

Not a photo you'll see everyday.

Setting a string line.......

C'mon number 3, back a little

No, No, a little more

Nope. I don't see the sunshine!

It's a black as night in here.

Smile & the world smiles with you.

Bullshit!

Why do you tell folks I'm always riding you?

 The Tranquillity Pool;

MINE! ALL MINE!!!

KEEEEEEP CLEAR!!!!

I know it's down there.

I don't believe in Alien spouts.

What makes you think they exist??

The Intense Stare.
The Crested Pigeon isn't interested in the food.
She's a seed eater. So I'm not sure why the stare down.

A Pool with a View.

Birds with attitude!

This is Ketut the Spotted Dove. An introduced bird from Asia.

Doves & Pigeons are the only birds that drink like us.

The Veranda;

Hanging on my every word.

My Therapist
Boss comes in every arvo and we have a chat.
Well, I have a chat. He's a great listener.

Discussing politics with my Kookaburra
This is Biff. This years bub.

A Happy Moment....
He does like his chicken bone.
If you could only hear him chuckling away saying "Thank You"

.....Deserves a neck scratch

These guys look at you with a real intensity.

Sky Shots;

The Evangelist.

The fingers of God

A gorgeous Autumn morning

Followed by an equally gorgeous afternoon.

The Hose;

Not a cloud in the sky & I'm getting rained on.
That's how my day is going.............

GO ON. I DARE YOU.

Wrong Dare.

Bwahahahaha

The Fights;

Red & Shiloh just don't get on

Love the way Cedrick the Lorrie takes on Bitey the Kookaburra

An unusual strategy.

Suffocate him by sticking your head down his throat

Seems Red the Wattlebird really does have problems with Bowerbirds.

If it's not Shiloh the Satin Bowerbird (2 photos up)

It's Kit the Green Catbird. Catbirds are really a Bowerbird.

Biting the hand that feeds you.

That hand didn't feed him that day.

That hand had the shits as that really hurt.

Red the Wattlebird gives as much as he gets.

This is Kit getting some comeuppance.

Mal the Noisy Miner is on everyone's shit list.

The Clumsiest;

Aren't birds supposed to be graceful creatures?

Nothing real graceful here.

The definition of frustration.

He can almost taste it, but it might as well be 100 miles away.

Gravity is about to show its hand as he slides out of view.

Bugger! This is embarrassing!

And in front of the others.

Biff the baby Kooka was going for the top rail on the fence.

As Maxwell Smart would say "Missed it by that much"

Seems there is a common denominator to their clumsiness.

And its a lot like ours..... Age.

Kids are just unco.

This is Hoover. He was stepping over to the Blue Bar and just missed.

Props;

Red Bull Gives You Wings

I sent this thru to the Red Bull team to see if they were interested in working with my Kookas.

No was their reply.

Surely Kookaburra Cricket Balls would be interested?

Nup, not interest was the reply from their marketing manager.

Seems Boss suffered this pain & indignation for nothing.

The Blue Bar;

I added the Blue Bar.

The birds loved it.

Here is Stan the Grey Butcherbird checking it out.

Hoover the baby Koel couldn't resist it as a begging platform.

Cedrick to wage battle from

And Biff to show that he could land on things without fucking it up.

When life seems overwhelming, do as I suggest.

Have fun. Be silly.

Wear a Banana Hat.

Just a little bit more silliness before I let our go;

This is a story of a Prawn that suffered the sin of Avarice.

It was a lovely Easter Friday morning. There was just the slightest wisp of a breeze blowing in off the water to temper this autumn day.

Everything in the world was happy.

Well, almost everything.

Everything except for Paul. Paul the prawn wanted more. Not happy swimming around in circles in the Tranquillity Pool he desired more.

He wanted to swim in the ocean. He wanted to have the life of a wild prawn. To swim the seven seas that had no borders.

The others warned him this ideal of his was fraught with danger. He was safe in the confines of the Tranquillity Pool. Be happy with his lot they said.

But happiness eluded him. He wanted more. He wanted, NO, NEEDED, salt water coursing thru his veins. He was born to be free.

Slowly he stuck his head out of the water. Yes he could see the ocean.

Adjusting his angle, he needed to carefully plan his escape. It needed to be perfect for he would only have one chance at it.

He estimated the distance to freedom was 22 meters. He was 5cm, but he could easily jump his own length. OK so that’s 440 jumps. Could he do it.

Of course he could. Freedom lay at the end. His destiny lay at the end. The stuff of legends lay at the end. YES YES He could do it.

Just at that moment he was eaten by a Kookaburra.

Who said life’s fair

Another twisted tale from the bent mind behind the Tapas Bar

I hope you enjoyed this series of photos.

See you all again soon