Housework thwarted for this morning: Outside the kitchen window
Every New Yorker that I've ever asked has admitted that they're never seen a baby pigeon. That's how I came to the conclusion that pigeons are actually small robots, sent here by an alien civilization, to provide surveillance for an invasion. They consume cigarette butts to fuel their tiny fusion power plants.
metaphysician said:
Every New Yorker that I've ever asked has admitted that they're never seen a baby pigeon. That's how I came to the conclusion that pigeons are actually small robots, sent here by an alien civilization, to provide surveillance for an invasion. They consume cigarette butts to fuel their tiny fusion power plants.
This makes so much sense I'm surprised it isn't common knowledge.
Jan 3, 2015 at 9:35am Edited
Do you have the shrike pigeons there? They look like they have little cycling helmets on, the tapered ones for racing. I'll try to get a pic, and I'll see if we get some younger pigeons too.
) a lone seagull just popped in to see what's happening here! Never seen that before!Jumped on that fence, hopped to the tree, saw 'there weren't no fish, matey', turned about and flew away.
Lorrikeets never skipped a beat, three of them tightly crawling all over that seed block.
Scully! For you: a shrike pigeon! It kept doing the pigeon head-bob dance step thing so I couldn't get a really clear shot,mand they're really flighty, whooshing off with a shrill airy whistle from their wings. Meta, their eyes and their feet are really meaty red. Wings are pretty. See the spiky helmetty thing? It can sit a little flatter too, if the bird is relaxed.
I owe you an apology: we know them as shrikes, but they're crested pigeons!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_pigeon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_pigeon
Jan 4, 2015 at 9:04am Edited
They look like pigeons with party hats lol
Meta, the gull that visited yesterday is a silver gull. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_gull
I've found a helpful wiki page with lots of links, for those who are really interested in breed details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Queensland (the page is better than my old bird book)
I think we get some brush cuckoos too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_cuckoo, and it's possible that my little kooka is hanging out with juvenile cuckoo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_cuckoo.
Edited to fix emoticon to lol. Why are all the emoticons mixed up???
Meta, the gull that visited yesterday is a silver gull. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_gull
I've found a helpful wiki page with lots of links, for those who are really interested in breed details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Queensland (the page is better than my old bird book)
I think we get some brush cuckoos too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_cuckoo, and it's possible that my little kooka is hanging out with juvenile cuckoo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_cuckoo.
Edited to fix emoticon to lol. Why are all the emoticons mixed up???
This visitor popped onto my side fence just before the rain started. There's a flock near here, I think of them as currawongs even though I know they're not. Could be a kind of skinny thrush or something? Imitative and melodic, pretty but they get on your nerves after a while...and they raid fruit, so leave purple poop trails on everything. The call is very similar to a currawong's.
I'm sorry the pic is indistinct, the sun was in that direction and I couldn't move without startling the bird. From this pic he looks a bit like a silver-eye, but he wasn't.
I'm sorry the pic is indistinct, the sun was in that direction and I couldn't move without startling the bird. From this pic he looks a bit like a silver-eye, but he wasn't.
Got the surprise of the decade today when we had some serious avian visitors, checking out the ground under our bird feeder.
Jan 5, 2015 at 7:45am Edited
They are wild turkeys. I don't know what to tell you about wattles, but I think at least one of the birds in that photo is a "tom" -- the fattest one with the more interesting plumage. I was really startled by how handsome they were, especially the guy who is standing just above and to the left of the flag in the photo. He was a real stunner.
Oh, and they had the cats entirely flummoxed. Mischa and Niki were both sitting in front of the patio doors where I was taking photos, and they were riveted on the scene but totally puzzled. They've never seen anything like THAT before! Although the fox totally freaked them out the day THAT happened.
Oh, and they had the cats entirely flummoxed. Mischa and Niki were both sitting in front of the patio doors where I was taking photos, and they were riveted on the scene but totally puzzled. They've never seen anything like THAT before! Although the fox totally freaked them out the day THAT happened.
We're having a spot of monsoonal weather: the heat and humidity were truly unbelievable (and quite unbearable - I don't know how they were playing international sports outdoors during the day for the last couple of weeks, tennis cricket etc) and suddenly at 4pm it all broke. If you go NOW to www.weatherzone.com.au and search for Brisbane, you'll be amazed at what you see - we've had that since 4pm last night.
Very brief breaks. But the result is, the poor birds are too wet to fly, too depressed to sing or call, can't get any food, can't think...at 6am, I had 6 of the greenies strung along a branch of the tree trying to drip-dry and not bend the branch too much with the added weight of the water.
I just went to see if I could try putting some things on our small line on the patio... Well, this sorry sight met my eyes. Isn't it just too sad???
Very brief breaks. But the result is, the poor birds are too wet to fly, too depressed to sing or call, can't get any food, can't think...at 6am, I had 6 of the greenies strung along a branch of the tree trying to drip-dry and not bend the branch too much with the added weight of the water.
I just went to see if I could try putting some things on our small line on the patio... Well, this sorry sight met my eyes. Isn't it just too sad???
I should point out, the rain is coming right up to the edge of that clothes line the birds are perching on.
Our windows are filthy, there's so much dust in the air it's futile to try to wash them now. And the rain doesn't help, when it comes. So pls excuse this pitiful pic. I was making the bed, turned around, and saw a kookaburra huddling for shelter beneath the hook holding the wind-chimes! (Normally he'd swing from the hook, or bounce off the chimes to then sit on the peg lines next to the hook; this morning, he's definitely huddling for extra shelter underneath that little hook)
Jan 22, 2015 at 1:35pm Edited
(For gardeners that green bush is an ixora bursting into bloom. Normally a deep orange Prince of Wales style, it seems to have developed a raspberry slushy coloured tall-stemmed floral habit which is quite pretty. The whole plant is nearly up to my eye-height)
Jan 22, 2015 at 7:51pm Edited
I'm flooded - the water in my backyard is officially at my back doorstep. Luckily, the bottom step.
We've had just under 5 inches of rain since 9 am; it's now not quite 5.20pm. No end in sight.
My garden furniture is almost floating.
We've had just under 5 inches of rain since 9 am; it's now not quite 5.20pm. No end in sight.
My garden furniture is almost floating.
Well, after 36 hours of constant heavy downpour that you couldn't see through (there are news pics everywhere on it, I won't repost), rain finally stopped for a little while at 6am , and then for what seems for most of today (according to weather radar) around 7.30/8am. It's incredibly steamy, but at least we have some sunshine. The water was trying to climb my back steps...
It's now receded.
At 5 am, instead of hearing the usual dawn calls of birds we were woken by the bass chorus of tree frogs and I'm sure other kinds of native coastal frogs that I just don't know how to identify. Beautiful, eerie, deeeeep, resonating - yep, it's all about the bass....
https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/sounds/green_tree_frog.mp3
It's now receded.
At 5 am, instead of hearing the usual dawn calls of birds we were woken by the bass chorus of tree frogs and I'm sure other kinds of native coastal frogs that I just don't know how to identify. Beautiful, eerie, deeeeep, resonating - yep, it's all about the bass....
https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/sounds/green_tree_frog.mp3
Jan 23, 2015 at 1:20pm Edited
Well - there you go: it's the Green striped burrowing frog! Cyclorana alboguttata Needs loads of water to surface and then reproduce. Fancy that!?! I can't find a proper audio file to link. But if you search around, or if @marksierra surfaces and obliges, you'll be surprised at the musicality of the deep tones. I wouldn't be surprised if some of this kind of call was the isnpiration for the didgeridoo
http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/content/2007/s2186006.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/site-archive/rural/content/2007/s2186006.htm
Mar 31, 2015 at 12:28pm Edited
As you might have read on another thread, it (finally) rained all night after another extended dry-but-steamy patch. You wouldn't believe it, but we really are in drought, with exceptionally low rainfall and very little of it where and when it's needed. Still, that's not the point of this post!
So, I woke around 5.10 this morning, not quite dawn. To discover yet again our patio has flooded.
It's now 8am. I just opened the back door, now the rain has paused, to see how the water level is. Our visiting kookaburra perched on the edge of the washing at the back fence, clearly imagining he was in fact a kingfisher and trying to work out if there might be worthwhile fish in Patio Lake)
So, I woke around 5.10 this morning, not quite dawn. To discover yet again our patio has flooded.
It's now 8am. I just opened the back door, now the rain has paused, to see how the water level is. Our visiting kookaburra perched on the edge of the washing at the back fence, clearly imagining he was in fact a kingfisher and trying to work out if there might be worthwhile fish in Patio Lake
) 
There he is! Thank you, dear Copihue!
(I was without ipad/easy computer access for most of the day.)
This is the cheeky pale-headed rosella that visits us daily (his mate is less showy but very bossy). He's as big as the seedblock, as my forearm. Now that my windows and fly screen have been cleaned you can get better pix. :-D
(I was without ipad/easy computer access for most of the day.)
This is the cheeky pale-headed rosella that visits us daily (his mate is less showy but very bossy). He's as big as the seedblock, as my forearm. Now that my windows and fly screen have been cleaned you can get better pix. :-D
PeggyC said:
metaphysician said:
Every New Yorker that I've ever asked has admitted that they're never seen a baby pigeon. That's how I came to the conclusion that pigeons are actually small robots, sent here by an alien civilization, to provide surveillance for an invasion. They consume cigarette butts to fuel their tiny fusion power plants.
This makes so much sense I'm surprised it isn't common knowledge.
) That rosella is wonderful! I wish our birds were as colorful, although we do get some that are quite interesting.
Apr 11, 2015 at 1:48pm Edited
I nearly got to show you his gorgeous dappled back this morning, but he kept dancing and shifting so the the security screens obscured the view.
The funny part is, even with all the colour and acrobatics and yes, the raucous calling, they still blend into the grey-green trees so it's hard to see them.
The funny part is, even with all the colour and acrobatics and yes, the raucous calling, they still blend into the grey-green trees so it's hard to see them.
Apr 16, 2015 at 2:18pm Edited
Can we upload videos yet? I took a 2min clip of the lorrikeets going crazy about an hour ago (although, of course, they got a bit camera-shy).
I put three very mushy bananas (no skins) and an overripe pear on the tray under the seedblock. The sweetness is driving them crazy, all their unsophisticated Garden of Eden behaviour has come out. Of course, it's also attracting the native cuckoos, currawongs, pigeons etc. nearly a wonderful pic of an enormous currawong (almost as long as my arm) but he was so black, against the dark trunks of the tree so you wouldn't have seen much.
In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.
Don't think of them as grey parrots, they're pure pink-cockatoos: nearly as bad as pigeons.