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[bigfella]

Over the last few weeks I have been getting up at 5am and supervising my cat playing in our fenced back yard. The reason for doing this is because in September our Moggy jumped the fence and went missing for 4 weeks. To say the least we were heartbroken. However we found him and because we don't want to go through that again he does not go out unsupervised. So he wakes me up at first light and we both sit out and watch the sun come over the yard, its a great time of the day. I dont mind doing this as I think of the alternative of not having the cat back.

But I digress, we live in suburbia and the council, to there credit, have dotted the area with parks and some natural creeks and of coarse this encourages wild life to the area which is great. There are quite a few species of birds that fly from trees in one park to other parks. At 5am the sky is full of different birds including Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Rainbow Lorikeets (these birds arrive on mass and take over trees), Magpies, Crows, Currawongs (a mixture of the last two) Pigeons, Blue Jays and the odd Kookaburra. With all these birds flying back and forward I have not seen any near misses or even any birds on collision coarse or worse. They must have a far superior Air Traffic Control System then us mere humans have. We can learn a lot from nature, it knows what it is doing.

Regards David

[Reade Models]

Hi David

Here it gets light around 7.30am, it's often pouring with rain, cold, wet and miserable.  We don't have crested cockatoos outside, only a few manky sparrows.  Our cat tries to get into bed with us because it's so cold.

What different worlds we live in?

Malc

[bigfella]

Every day I think how lucky I am that I came to Australia as a child. I understand how cats take over, I am actually standing up to type this as I went away to get a drink in the kitchen and guess who is sitting in my chair????????? The Cat.

Regards David

[bigfella]

Malc

What about the Tit pecking at the Gold Top for the cream. I seam to remember that happining if you did not get your milk in early enough. Or have the Tit's all died out of pneumonia.

Regards David

PS The system allowed TIT but add an "S" to it and it comes up as word not allowed????

[das boot]

You're lucky..all I get here at first light is hordes of bloody seagulls all fighting over last nights roadkills.   


Rich

[craftysod]

What is 5am.last time saw that,was dog scratching at door to go a wee,
lucky missus needs one as well,let him out

[Peter Fitness]

David, because Queensland doesn't have daylight saving, 5am there is 6am here, not quite so early 

You're right about the birds though, lots of them here as well, especially the parrots if there are plenty of native trees about to attract them, such as grevilleas. I'm not too keen on the currawongs though, they kill young birds of other species. We are seeing a lot of galahs (the winged variety) on the beach here lately, they are becoming quite common in the coastal areas, whereas they used only to be seen inland.

Below are a couple of photos I took of some rainbow lorrikeets in a caravan park at a place called Clairview, between Mackay and Rockhampton. The man on whose arm they are sitting was an English tourist who couldn't believe that wild birds would actually come so close.

Peter.

[tony52]

Their air traffic computer systems sometimes get it wrong. Last week at the 'Swans Rest' on the outskirts of Blackpool, two swans were being cared for after in flight collisions. The first one hit power lines in Morecambe, blacking out parts of the town, and the second one hit telegraph wires damaging its wing.

Tony

[Reade Models]

Malc

What about the Tit pecking at the Gold Top for the cream. I seam to remember that happining if you did not get your milk in early enough. Or have the Tit's all died out of pneumonia.

Regards David

PS The system allowed TIT but add an "S" to it and it comes up as word not allowed????

I think blue tit(s) must have gone the same way as the milkmen - into oblivion?  Only a few percent of the UK population have their milk delivered nowadays - the supermarkets undercut the milk roundsmen, forcing most of them out of business.  The three main supermarket chains probably now control around 95 percent of the nation's grocery purchases.

We don't see many birds, I guess too many cats in the neighbourhood?  We're as guilty as anybody else in that respect because we've just got ourselves a kitten.  Little Poppy isn't three months old yet and isn't allowed out until she's been spayed at 6 months.  She thus hasn't had a chance to have a go at the birds yet, but no doubt she will?

We do gets lots of squirrels though, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Malc

[Captain Jack]

Peter...you're indeed fortunate to see such beautiful birds flying freely about down under. Here in the states we can only find species of that beauty in the local zoos.

[barriew]

Plenty of Bluetits here Malc, and most of the other tit species on our feeders. We also have a couple of woodpeckers visiting regularly.

Barrie

[cbr900]

Captain Jack,

While driving semi trailers here quite a few years ago,
I have seen flocks of Galahs take of and blot out the sun
turning the sky pink, somewhere in the vicinity of two
to three million birds launched as one.
Quite a sight.........

Roy

[Peter Fitness]

Captain Jack, we are indeed fortunate, as you say. If you are interested, have a look at the websites whose URLs are below. There are lots of photos of many Australian parrots, some of which are rare, but others are quite common in our area of the country.

http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/parrots.htm
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/feature/parrots.cfm

Peter.

[Captain Jack]

Thanks Peter, for posting those sites. One of the things to do on my "bucket list", is to visit Oz. See the sites, and best of all, enjoy the people.

[roycv]

Hi I was in Oz this time last year and the birds are all over the place.  The photo is me with a couple of birds in the Kauri forrest in Western Australia.  At one point I was covered in birds but the camera is never there then.  You just had to have a piece of bread in your hand and the birds swooped down on you.

Son lives in N.E. Sydney (Woy Woy) and we stayed there for 2 weeks and then we all flew to Western Australia and toured around for 2 weeks B & b.
Our first stop was in Fremantle, I will say nothing about the eponymous hotel there as it was not up to standard.  But all but one of our b&b's was excellent.
Recommend the Maritime museum in Fremantle, better than the one here in Greenwich.
regards Roy

[furball]

There's some wild parakeets living round our way (Kent). They probably escaped from somewhere, but seem to be doing OK - I saw one this morning.

Lance

[Peter Fitness]

roycv, it's interesting that those birds, Eastern Rosellas, were seen in WA. As the name implies, they are normally seen in the Eastern states, where they are quite common - perhaps they are migrating westwards 

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=98

Peter.

[bigfella]

There is a place here on the Gold Coast called The Currumbin Wildlife Park formerly (Bird Sanctuary) and they issue you with a tin plate and then they fill it up with a soggy bread mix and Rainbow Lorikeets come from everywhere and there is about 20 on the plate and a further 20 on your head and arms waiting to get there turn. It is something that you must experience if you visit Queensland. They are wild birds and live in the trees in the area.