.
Birds. Don’t know
much about them. John and I used to have a Bird Book when we were little. And a
pack of cards with Birds of New Zealand on them. Of course, you could go out in
the bush, around Lake Rotoiti, and spot the tuis and bellbirds and fantails …
and oh, how Dad teased us that we would find a kakapo. Or even a kiwi.
I think my
favourite bird memory dates from the 1970s, when, visiting my parents, and
taking off my mountain boots on their cottage steps, I saw five different
species of native bird perched on one and the same manuka shrub. Never
forgotten that.
Of course, it’s
all different now. There’s hardly a native around on our farm at Gerolstein.
The plovers, starlings, blackbirds, sparrows, finches and horrid magpies scare away
any there might be. Sometimes we just hear a bellbird…
Well, if you can’t
beat ‘em … so we’ve given way to the immigrants in a big way. Gerolstein’s
birds are now dominated by forty peafowl…
Of course, over
here I guess it’s I who am the immigrant. Even though I don’t chase the locals
away. Far from it! But Australia seems to have done better at preserving its
own creatures …
Last time I was
here, I met these fellers (are they locals?)
Loie Fuller the
shag
And in Sydney we
had fun feeding flying meatballs to the kookaburras …
But the reason I’m
blogging this blog is to post, on something less ephemeral than facebook, some
of the ornifotos I’ve snapped, mostly on my own terrasse, these last weeks, so
that I don’t lose them ...
The colourful
lorakeet with his/her pal/baby
While the little
one just says ‘Please sir, I want some more’
Then there is the
lovely blue-eyed Honeycatcher
And the stern
looking Noisy Friarbird. "I sentence you to be burned at the stake...'
And all sorts of
black-n-white fellers who seems to prefer cake
There’s a tiny
black one, with a big tail, too. But he won’t sit still long enough for me to
get an unfuzzy snap … his tail seems to be wagging his body rather than vice
versa. I guess he has to be the wee wagtail
And another tiny
one, with a Gonzo beak …whom I have only seen once ... up there ....
Who would have
thought they would give me such pleasure, as they swoop across my terrasse,
dangle from the palms, gobble up the crumbs and, yes, occasionally pay the
kitchen or the lounge a visit…
Is this ALL for
little me … oh boy!
Yes, you cute wee feller, it’s
all yours …
And here's a post-scriptum latecomer
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