Guess who's coming for dinner?

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birdie
birdie's picture
Guess who's coming for dinner?

Well, once again my back garden and adjoining "over the fence"
area has been a hive of activity!!
Yesterday about mid morning I was disturbed by an incredible racket at the back corner of my garden ( the catbirds' haunt)
Everyone was into it, the butcherbirds, noisy miners, bluefaces and lorikeets.... they were really going off. On the face of it I couldn't see what the problem was but I knew it had to be something.
These guys were outraged and really letting off steam.....


And the pied butcher bird had a different call to what I am used to so I now know it to be an alarm call
....
Then even the lorikeets started to get scratchy and more raucous than normal if that is even possible!! :)....
and I understood why when I saw what was headed their way in a very slow but determined manner :'D

I had a ball with my long lens catching the action and trying not to get freaked out looking down the lens head on!




This was it when I first spotted being dive bombed and squawked at by the noisies etc



The closer he got to the lorikeets feasting ground the more nervous they got. looking at the size of him it is easy to see why!!

Hope you enjoy looking as much as I did.
Cheers

Birdie

timmo
timmo's picture

Wow! Nice shots Birdie.
That must have been an interesting interlude... I've seen little versions of these around the bush now and then, but nothing this size. He/she obviously caused a fair bit of anxiety in the local bird population.

Cheers
Tim
Brisbane

scruffydude69
scruffydude69's picture

Awesome shots Birdie!,gotta love a python!

tez

birdie
birdie's picture

Thanks Tez - I took about a gigabyte of shots following it around the garden! What a magnificent creature, and it's by far the biggest one I've seen for a long time.
Still... have to keep my eyes out to make sure the cat is still around now :'D

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

birdie
birdie's picture

Thanks Tez - I took about a gigabyte of shots following it around the garden! What a magnificent creature, and it's by far the biggest one I've seen for a long time.
Still... have to keep my eyes out to make sure the cat is still around now :'D

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

birdie
birdie's picture

Timmo, it was a great interlude to say the least. I love living where do it's a natural paradise

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Amateur

What a treat that must of been Birdie, wish we had pythons crawling around my backyard with pied butcherbirds, lorikeets, catbirds and miners sounding the alarm! Some nice photos, especially of the snake, he's a real whopper aye?

heva1
heva1's picture

OH

MY

GOD!

Woooahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! How big was this python? aren't they dangerous? weren't you even a little bit scared?!!
I'm impressed with your steely nerves and great photos (maybe you can just run fast?!!)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

Ha ha Hev....got you going there didn't I? A python such as this is not really dangerous to us, because of our size. (unless he got in you bedroom and wrapped around you throat while you were sleeping.) They are not venomous as far as i know but rather, they strangle their prey by coiling around them. Now my cat is in a bit of danger if she is stupid enough to go near it. Possums, birds etc too. He was totally unperturbed by my intrusion into "his space" , and remember... I have a 300-400m lens between me and it!! :,D

this morning he is back and sitting by the front garden just over the fence low down in the crook of a tree . The birds have only just woken up to the fact that he is there and have started going off, especially the butcher bird.
i have a bunch of pre teen girls here for a sleepover last night and they have all been out there gawking at him - took them away from the Wii for all of ten minutes.
I'll upload another pic in a few minutes.

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

melissamb
melissamb's picture

Sensational shots birdie, but at least it was just a carpet python!

birdie
birdie's picture

Thanks Melissa, I am starting to feel like David Attenborough or someone , creeping around with my lens. can't believe that there i was (from NZ originally) shaking the branch to get a clear shot and waking the snake up a few minutes ago.
Now I am very worried about the stupid cat. She is stretched out in the sun and he is up in the tree eyeing her off!

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

(unless he got in you bedroom and wrapped around you throat while you were sleeping.)
oh well that's comforting Birdie NOT!!!!!!

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

heva1
heva1's picture

Hey has anyone noticed the 'from' line has changed when you get messages from biBY? now I hav to create a new rule so they go in my BiBY folder in my emails!

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

heva1
heva1's picture

BTW Birdie, what part of Queensland are you? I am heading up there for a week with my sis over from the UK, we are staying in Coolum and going on a trip to Fraser island....can't wait yipeeee!!
Do they have snakes in Coolum/Frsaer? :(

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Amateur

Dont' worry, i don't think there is pythons on Fraser, just death adders, brown snakes, tiger snakes etc. A gret treat to have in the backyard.

heva1
heva1's picture

well thanks for that reassurance Amateur lol!
and apparently humming loudly doesn't work at all with snakes like it does with bulls... seems they don't have ears and work on vibrations so you can be sure me and my sis will be stamping our way round Fraser!

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

Hi Hev

I am on the Sunshine coast about 15 minutes from Coolum, at Buderim. As I'm not working maybe I could catch up with you?

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

oh that'd be great Adrienne (mine's Heather), I'll take your number and give you a buzz. We arrive on saturday 20th, and are on the Fraser trip Monday-wednesday night, so maybe the thursday or Friday? (25th/26th)we wont have a car so maybe in Coolum for a coffee? :)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

For sure, Coolum is a great place for a coffee. If you had enough time we could always go up to Noosa and take a walk round the coastal track in the national park - some lovely wrens in there!! Only 10 minutes from coolum

catch you then

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

That's funny I was thinking that when I was walking the dogs tonight, I went there with my partner last year, a lovely park, we saw turtles swimming in the sea and lots of birds, so I planned to go there with my sister, so we could meet in Noosa and go for a walk and have a coffee (any maybe a cake!) after?

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

That sounds good, but let's leave the arrangements to a more private method. My husband is not too happy about me giving my mobile number on here!!

Cheers

BIrdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

oops yes he's probably right. Ask Holly to delete it. I'll call/text you.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

Holly took out the details for me Hev so I hope you wrote it down!
Have had more excitement with this python today as we woke up to fined him on our pool fence. I have been advised that it will move on through and is just looking for food sources so I hope the cat is not the next meal as he's getting closer to the house all the time. I took a low quality video ( my decent video camera had no battery charged of course, but I might post it later or at least a link to it.) I can hear the noisies going off now again so I guess they have it in their sights. At least I always know where it is by them. I can hear pale headed rosellas outside so hope it doesn't get them, and it's right in my catbird territory and i haven't heard them for a few days so hope they weren't the last feed :(

Cheers

BIrdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

Yes got ur number thanks. Pale headed rosellas? have you posted pics of them on here? I don't recall seeing them (pics or real life) am very excited about my trip and seeing a whole new array of birds and wildlife (not too sure 'bout the pythons you have!)
Hope kitty is safe:)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

Hi Hev. Yes kitty is still safe, and I am told he will "move on through when food becomes scarce" , so I really should keep her in for a few days I guess.
Here is the PHR , not the best pic but the only one I could find on my flickr site
. They are a lot shyer than the other parrots and very chattery like a budgie. They are seed feeders and I used to find them in the long grass on a vacant block around the corner until someone built a house on it .

Cheers
Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

heva1
heva1's picture

lovely bird, thanks for posting. BTW I texted you re. meeting up...did you get it?I hope I got the number right!

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

birdie
birdie's picture

HI Hev. Yes I did get your message. Didn't you get my reply?
The weather here is very damp and sticky. Should be hot and full of mosquitoes wherever you go so pack some repellant!!

I'll re text you. Look forward to sharing some bird time

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Amateur

Oh yes Birdie, everyone loves walking through forests when it's nice and humid with mosquitoes buzzing around you every where you look. Love the Pale Headed Rosella, looks like someone forgot to paint the rest :)

smeedingo2
smeedingo2's picture

HI Birdie
Love the shots hope you had the long lense on
Sorry I haven,t been here for a while my commputor has been to the doc,s but is ok now have been back traking but not posting just looking at all the photos top stuff.

birdie
birdie's picture

Hey Amateur
At least I got to introduce Hev to her first catbird. But man those mozzies were demons!!!
Dingo, glad to see you back on deck and yes I fdid have a long pens on but I did come within touching distance. Don't worry ... if it had have been any thing other than a python I would have been as far away as possible. - now we just have to find Tassie as he seems to have dropped into oblivion for a while too :)

Cheers

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

smeedingo2
smeedingo2's picture

HI BIRDIE
SORRY TO HERE THAT TASSIE HAS NOT BEEN HERE AS WELL HOPE HE COMES BACK SOON

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