Monday, September 21, 2009

My Garden Friends

Lunchtime

Another juvenile magpie friend, what a cute face!

The sulphur crested cockatoos seem to like playing soccer

Great company and warbling songs

Sorry everyone, I tried to add something more to this post and ended up having all kinds of problems and lost all of the text...I will try again.
These are some of the Australian Magpies and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos who visit my garden each day, they are very friendly and are quite tame...some will take food right out of my hand.
Many native birds visit my garden each day and if you can't see them you can hear their song in the bushland close by.
I will have quite a few nesting pairs of Magpies in the next few weeks so the parents will be busy building nests...soon there will be little fluffy downy chicks and after their first fledge they will lose their fluffy baby feathers and will be left with their mottled juvenile plumage until their adult feathers grow. They have a special call which the parents recognise and Mum and Dad watch them carefully as they all feed together in large groups. To me they are very cute and sound beautiful when they start up their chorus of warbling songs.
I was trying to add an MP3 of their song for you, that's where I got into strife but I have managed to find a website which has pictures and bird calls of some of the native birds who visit my garden, this will give you some idea of how lovely it all sounds here at sunrise and during the day... ♥

24 comments:

darkfoam said...

wooooow!!! .. lol ...
my 12 year old son and i got a real kick out of seeing your birds, especially the cockatoos!

dianne said...

Foamy dearest friend, I'm pleased that you liked the photos and they made you and your son laugh.

The cockatoos are real comedians, they make me laugh too, its funny what they will play with and some of the tricks that they do...like hanging upside down from the clothesline. :-)

My garden is starting to resemble a bird sanctuary, the magpies are singing out there now plus a whole lot of other birds. ♡

sparringK9 said...

are you saying those cockatoos are wild? they look like seasoned performers in a bird circus to me. they are hilarious. and theres a bit of an egyptian vibe to that magpies figure. dont you think?

enjoyed this post. :-)!!!

dianne said...

Yes my dear K9 , the cockatoos are totally wild, I would never cage a wild bird.
They are very funny, they were rolling the ball along but unfortunately I didn't catch that shot with my camera...they get up to all kinds of funny antics.

You would have enjoyed another shot I missed, a magpie swinging on a loose thread on one of the towels on my clothesline, swinging about a foot from the ground holding on with its beak...I guess he thought it was something to eat...it was hilarious.

Yes I agree, there is an Egyptian vibe to the single magpie standing there, he/she would look good drawn in a hieroglyph next to some lotus motifs or water rush's...I think he/she is beautiful.

Thank you sweet girl I'm pleased you enjoyed this post. :-) ♡

Shweta Tiwari said...

Wow!!..these cockatoos are so beautiful..i liked their sulphur crest and some cockatoos seem young and some old (a wild guess by looking at the diff in the crest!!..)

You have got a beautiful garden..I would love to see more pics of the beautiful visitors to your garden.

dianne said...

Yes Shweta dear they are beautiful cockatoos, its hard to tell their age they could be anything from 3years to 20years,it is amazing some can live to 100 years...they look very old then and by that stage have lost most of their feathers.
I will take more photos of the different birds when they visit and I will post them here.

This part of my garden is quite sparse, right down towards the back I want to plant a lot more native trees, I hope to do that soon.
It is very hard work, there is a lot of rock here so I have to dig many holes with a spade and a mattock before I can find enough soil for planting...but it will be lovely when finished.
If you would like to see more of my garden there are pics at my January 12, July 19th and 28th posts. :-) ♡
Thanks and take care. xo

Anonymous said...

We need to see some videos of these wild cockatoos I think Dianne, can't believe they are just in your garden.We only see things in zoos ! :-)))

dianne said...

Thanks dear Glyn

I will try to get some videos of these birds, there are literally thousands in my area, all wild and all free, there call is loud and raucous and though very engaging they can be very destructive, they have attacked my insect screens and now they are in shreds.
The Australian magpies however have a beautiful song, I would like you to hear it and if I'm really lucky I might be able to get a photo and song of a bellbird and a currawong. :-) ♡

darkfoam said...

ya, i thought the cockatoos might be destructive ...

dianne said...

Yes Foamy dear they are funny to watch but very destructive. They have very sharp beaks and often completely destroy plants, for instance I had a beautiful succulent in a pot outside on the table, just waiting for the flower to open, they just trimmed it right back to the soil,completely destroyed it.
They don't eat the blossoms but they go around and just bite them off my grevilleas...this is how they keep their beaks sharp...I wish they would choose something else to prune apart from my insect screens; it makes me sad when I see a whole lot of flowers just laying on the ground, wasted. ♡

darkfoam said...

hmmmm ....
sometimes wildlife and gardens don't mix ....
some people here have problems with deer eating everything, birds too, although i don't think we have any that destroy screens.

dianne said...

Yes Foamy dear thats true...
I can understand deer eating new shoots on plants for food, some birds as well for food, like the Honey Eaters here who collect the nectar for food and possums who eat fruits and new buds, I don't mind if they eat them for food but these cockatoos whose diet is supposed to consist of grass seeds just chomp through any stems with flowers, or soft branches and just leave them.
My insect screens are not only in shreds upstairs, they have bent the framework!!! :(
They get into the rubbish bins at the shopping centre and get scraps of all kinds of foods and scatter them everywhere.
One poor guy who lives down by the river built a pergola from red cedar and incredibly the cockatoos have completely destroyed it.
I guess we have moved into their habitat and now we are paying the price. ♡

Lily said...

hI!
hOW ARE YOU DOING?

LOVED THE PIC WITH THE BRIDGE AND THE ONE WITH THE SEA. YOU OWN PICS OR FROM THE NET?

WE'VE BEEN VERY BUSY OVER HERE, STILL RENOVATING WITHOUT END AND MANY OTHER THINGS... WELL YOU CAN SEE THAT ON MY BLOGS...

JUST WANTED TO SAY HELLO AND LET YOU KNOW THAT I'M STILL ALIVE EVEN THOUGH NOT MUCH ONLINE!

Lee said...

I feed the maggies every morning. The large male usually comes from behind me and brushes my head with his wings as he sweeps around to land in front of me and demand his 'rightful' breakfast.

No Cockies though. Don't mind that.

dianne said...

Hi Sarah dear, nice to have you back...I have missed you.

The photo of the bridge is one that my son gave me from his collection of photos from the net and the other one of the beach is in South Downs Way, West Sussex, found that on the net a long time ago...I thought it was beautiful. ♡

dianne said...

Lee dear, that would be so lovely to have the magpie brush past your head... its nice when they are so friendly.
I really love these little birds, they are so cute and have their own personalities, some will come up and take food from my hand or plate, while others are more wary still and stand back a little.
I just love it when they start singing, they seem to be around my garden most of the day which is really nice.
I could do without the cockatoos as well, I prefer the magpies, red wattle birds,pardalotes, finches, lorikeets, wrens, honeyeaters, spinebills and so many others... that is what is so good about living on the edge of the bushland. ♡

Little Lamb said...

Those are very nice looking birds. I especially like the one who looked into the camera and posed. I wonder if that was the same bird who stood still while you were taking his/her picture from before.

Lily said...

just found your comment on teh gallery-blog... didn't intend to be a stranger... thanks for missing me!
but you see not everybody is a lucky as you guys down under. we have to make the most of the sunshine when it's hear and i have recently spent almost all my time on renovating, havesting and fleamarkets/school project, will be piosting pics on all my blogs soon. meanwhile you can go to anders wohnen and see what a great time we had last weekend.

so don't worry i'm neither pissed with yopu, nor with berry, nor with anybody else, i'm just totally stressed out and soon the bad weatgher is gonna be here for good... so i habe to make the most of the last rays of sunshine...

dianne said...

Thanks for popping over Lamby dear, I thought you might have deserted me too.
Yes they are lovely birds,I'm pleased that you liked them, they are very friendly and so nice to have around.
Yes I think the single bird in the photo is the one that I photographed on my patio because that little one seems to follow me more and come closer to me.
He/she is getting bigger and losing the mottled feathers, so soon it will we difficult to tell them apart, I will have to remember the white feather markings, if it does keep following me and tapping on my back door well I will be sure then. ♡

dianne said...

So nice to have you back Sarah dear and I have missed you and I'm pleased to hear that YOU aren't 'pissed' with me.
Yes I know you have been busy with your renovations and that you have to make the most of the good weather, we are lucky here in many ways but then so are you living in such a beautiful part of the world.
I will send you some more sunshine, we have plenty. ♡

puerileuwaite said...

Whoa! This post of yours takes on an entirely different and surreal vibe when one happens to have Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" on the tele!

(p.s. - you may want to avoid the attic for a while)

dianne said...

Lol Puggles my sweet, I told you once before in a post that there is always plenty of activity in my garden...remember bees,dragonflies, crickets, frogs and birds?
Well most times it is quiet and peaceful, just busy in the mornings and at dusk.
So you're watching 'The Birds' on the tele and I should avoid the attic for a while...Na, no dead people up there, although if its Alfred Hitchcock you're speaking of maybe I should avoid the shower?

Fantastic Forrest said...

Love these birds! I can't wait to show your pics to my daughter.

dianne said...

Thanks Holly dear, nice to see you again, I do stop by your blog every now and then but I don't always comment.
Yes the birds are lovely, my garden is like a bird sanctuary at certain times of the day.
I hope your daughter enjoys the pictures, if you go to the next post where I have featured the dust storm you will find my short video of the birds arriving for their morning feed. ♡