Birds

What have come not so much as a surprise but as more a pleasurable reawakening to are the abundance of bird life here. In my mother's garden there were lovely wattle birds and other lovely little honey eaters.
While each day here at Aireys Inlet I am awakened by kookaburras and hear them at dusk greeting the day and night alike. They have such a great call. This is what they sound like.
On the day I arrived home we had parked the car in the street near the hospital on the edge of the city centre and happened to be parked near a gum tree. As we came back to the car to leave a magpie began chortling from its perch in the tree- my two favourite bird calls ans I hear them each and every day. Magpie call
We went for a walk today and on the way managed to capture some of the beautiful wild birds that live and appear in the area.

The cockatoos can be heard wreaking havoc in the area. They can be quite a pest in that they strip the blossom or crops but their wild cries can be heard and then the huge flock of white circles the sky as they move from one feeding area to another. Michele was saying that the gum blossom scattered under the trees on part of our walk was there from the cockatoos having a "picnic" (my words) in the trees. They are remarkable birds, the ones we see most are the sulphur crested cockatoos but on our drive back to Melbourne the other day I saw a yellow faced black cockatoo- beautiful even in the swift view we had of it.
The wattle birds are fairly prolific I think- we can hear their chuck chuck and chirping call throughout the day. There are tiny wrens and other twitterings of birds that fill the air all day long.
Along the way on our walk there is a small nature reserve with water fowl and duck and there swimming around were two black swans. We watched them for a while (as did Spencer- on his leash and on point). The swans were cleaning and preening- they have white feathers under all those black feathers.


Occasionally the parrots make an appearance- a flash of green or red or blue and then they sit and drink from the water bowls.
Form the corner of your eye you see movement and turn to look and spot some variety of bird enjoying the flowering trees and shrubs. Fabulous!