I was thrilled to hear a new kind of parrot sound just outside my lounge today and when I went to check it out this beautiful creature totally made up for missing the Pale headed Rosella that was there earlier. ..... Male Australian King Parrot
A few days ago it was this fine fellow too ... laughing Kookaburra
In my four years at my last house with my family of catbirds to treasure I could not once get the King parrots to come down out of the trees , so I am totally rapt.
There you go Adrienne, you always wanted to have King Parrots, now you have them. Lovely photo of the Kookaburra, was he laughing? His neck looks like he is.
M-L
Very nice Birdie, hope they are regular visitors.
Both the Kingy and the Pale Headed had dropped by because I had left some apple in a birdefeed that was hanging at the end of the patio. I had forgotten about the apple as it was put in there as an afterthought when I found it leftover in my daughter's lunch box. the rain in the weekend had mushed it up and must have made for good tucker as this is the first time ever in my garden that I have had them so close to me. Unfortunately I have a cat and she got fairly interested in them so I will not be leaving any more food out.
I would never forgive myself if something happened to one as a result of my encouragement .
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Strangely enough M-L he was not laughing ... he was sitting there posing with his beak open like that for ages...... I was thinking this guy has been fed here before but won't be by me as it is like skink and lizard city out there and he can fend for himself
Sunshine Coast Queensland
good pics thanks
Peter
Great pics Adrienne! Love the kookaburra! Very cute.
Good shots Birdie.
We get both at our place too and I always head outside whenever I hear the King Parrots. Lovely birds, the kookas too.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Thnaks guys...my next mission is to get the Pale Headed Rosies in a good shot when they call by. I heard them this morning again.
I didn't think this new area would be as good as the old house due to the lack of rainforesty type surroundings , but it is interesting to note that they visit all areas, and this is only 1km away from the old house ( as the crow flies
) . I have been told by a long time resident that this area used to be home to flocks of up to 200 -300 Yellow tailedl Blacks about 25 years ago . Sad to think they have been driven out by development.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
It wouldn't be so bad if the developers, perhaps with prodding from government, retained a decent amount of the orginal native vegetation. But through their own feral street plantings they encourage new home buyers to bring in all sorts of vegetation which has nothing to do with preserving wildlife or anything else for that matter. In this day & age when there is so much concern about declining biodiversity it's an absolute disgrace.
Perhaps the home owners need to be more vigilant? We did have someone come here for advice and a quote for work on our property - they were far too expensive but they did tell us what were environmental weeds and what needed to be removed and what was good for our location. They live and work in this area and love it and are very proactive in maintaining it.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
It seems to me that few new home owners in SA are interested in preserving biodiversity. Their gardens are moss rocked to death & surrounded by plants which are unlikely to have seen an Australian bird in a mighty long time. And so many of them move to the Adelaide Hills to be in the bush! Life has its little contradictions.
Yes Woko and Kathy ....it takes every one to be vigilant. but there is nothing we can do when they take out huge stands of Eucalypts to clear for subdivisions..... it takes years to replace them as food and shelter areas for the wildlife. And sometimes there is too much emphasis on what has been decreed a weed species, as in the case of the enormous Camphor Laurels here in Buderim. I have a friend who is the chief Environmental planner here for the council and even he agrees that the specialist reports just ignore so many issues that are relevant when considering tree removal and replacement . Our suburb actualy has lots of green corridors left , but with so much wildlife in a subtropical area there is a need for many more to be left... you can see evidence of the pressure put on the smaller species as they are forced to retreat.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Alot of these estates have covenants that dictate what you can build and even what colour shed you need, it's a pity that a native tree covenant could not be implemented, maybe the developers might be surprised how popular it could be. I have heard that some acreages to the south east of here have made environmental covenants so as to preserve the good they have done, supposedly for ever. But with different Local Governments' attitudes things are precarious to say the least. I had bloke I worked with whose inlaws had a beautiful house on 3/4 acre right on the Brisbane river at Bulimba, with a big Queenslander house on it, a very valuable property indeed. He used to mow the property and had told me how he had people standing in the front yard, plans in hand discussing where they would build, (the developers) this unfortunately is their attitude to do what ever they want no matter what, so this scares me about what chance wildlife has.
Regards
Shane
Yes, well we can see just what the result is by the establishment of the vulnerable status of the Koala here ! Buderim, here on the Sunshine Coast, has been known as a leafy and green suburb on the hill since original settlement. Now when you are down by the beach you can look back towards Buderim and see the huge scars on the landscape as they gradually rape and pillage in order to build bigger and better palaces
Everything seems to be about making more and more money and plundering whatever natural resource they can legislate for . Even the Great Barrier reef is not safe from their effects ...... one day it will be too late and they can all shake their heads in unison looking for someone to blame.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I fear that whatever we do now won't stop people from shaking their heads in 50 years time & saying: "Heavens to Bettsie. What on Earth were they doing back then?" Nevertheless, that shouldn't stop us from making appropriate representations to governments & through the press on the raping & pillaging of the natural environment. Go to it, folks!
I've only just seen your thread, so apologies for the late reply. I'm pleased to hear that some nice birds are visiting your new garden. I look forward to seeing more pics of your visitors. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
Thank you GeorgeP , I hope to see some more of them preferably in a more natural setting
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I am so pleased to read that you've found some great birds there. The King parrots are amazing, aren't they! We do get the kookaburras here, but the mickey birds give them a real hard time, and they don't hang around long.
Karen
Brisbane southside.