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ardysez

~ surrender to yourself

ardysez

Tag Archives: birds

the collins street falcons…

04 Sunday Oct 2020

Posted by Ardys in Animals, Australia

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

australian birds, birds, urbananimals

This isn’t a piece about a sports team named the Falcons…these Falcons are athletes of a different species, diving and racing up to speeds of 300kph! As you would have noticed from the last post, I’m a bit of a bird nerd. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother nursing an injured or fledgling house sparrow back to health. I’m sure she never realised, or would care, that the common house sparrow has come to be known as one of the most adaptable birds in the world, and very clever too! She just loved all creatures.

About a month ago I became aware of a bird project, supported by Birdlife Australia, that is rather extraordinary. It not only supports a population of Peregrin Falcons, but it has enabled the public to come along on the journey. About thirty years ago a group of avid Twitchers and lovers of the Peregrin Falcons realised that it was quite dangerous for the birds to be nesting in the nooks and crannies of the high rise office buildings in the city. (They naturally nest in crevices of rocky ledges.)  They raised money and built nesting boxes which they installed in known Falcon nesting places, one of which was located in the high rise building at 367 Collins Street in downtown Melbourne, Australia. Thirty years on the boxes were mostly deteriorated but the birds had regularly used them. So this year Birdlife Australia again raised money to build stronger, metal nesting boxes and hired a crane to help place them.

Mama falcon sitting on the eggs.

One of the long known locations, at 367 Collins Street was also the recipient of a new live stream camera! The live stream emanates from the web address at 367collinsfalcons.com.au and also is on YouTube. When I first started watching it 6 or 7 weeks ago, there were no eggs. Then, in rapid succession the female falcon laid three eggs and began the tedious task of sitting on them. Occasionally the male would come to relieve her so she could hunt for food but she did most of the sitting, so I gather. Personally, I can’t tell the two of them apart yet.

Then, on Friday just before lunch time, the chicks made their entrance into the world. I was surprised to see that Mum still sits on them and think that most of us who have had babies would have liked to sit on them once in a while to quiet them, but the rest of it, I leave to the Falcon world. The tearing up of small prey and feeding to the young ones is most unappealing, and yet, very interesting to watch as first one squawks and then another. She’s such an attentive mum.

Sitting on the chicks certainly shuts them up!

Melbourne weather is mostly cool-ish, ranging to muggy and warm in the summer, and I noticed yesterday as they were having a warm, humid day that rather than sitting on the chicks to keep them warm, she sat on the edge of the nesting box to shade the little darlings. This is very difficult for mum because she is always on alert for other birds or dangers that might harm her brood, and sitting with her back to the sun in order to shade the chicks is very awkward for her. I’ve only ever seen her close her eyes once, and only for a few seconds. I think she must get very tired.

Mama Falcon shading the chicks from the afternoon sun.

The last few days as I have watched the nest cam, I have been taking screen shots, which I share with you in this post. I hope you will go to the live stream and watch this special bit of nature unfolding. You can read more about the Falcons on the site as well. 

Feeding time. Notice on the back of the metal nesting box, they have the date stamped when the boxes were installed…August 2020.

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a small thing…

03 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by Ardys in Animals, nature

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

animals, birds, gratitude, nature

img_2195A lovely Spotted Turtle Dove has captivated my attention. It visited our courtyard each morning most of the winter. For much of that time our spa cover had water in it and a variety of birds came for a bath and a drink. It is a dry land we inhabit here, and semi-permanent water is something animals remember.

When the weather warmed my husband thought the water in the top of the cover would attract mosquitoes so he emptied it. Turtle Dove came two mornings in a row and walked around on the dry cover, as if looking for something…a water-y something, perhaps. There was something so heart rending about watching it walk around and search, occasionally pecking at small bits of leaf or dirt where water used to be.

Then one day it didn’t come. Animals quickly adapt to reality, and move on. If only we could let things go as easily!

I told my husband I was going to arrange a sort of bird bath from an old plastic plant bowl and fill it and see if the dove would return. For the first day after I filled the bowl, the only living thing that visited were a couple of dragon flies. Several times a day I would look out my kitchen window for signs of little Turtle Dove. On the third day, my effort was rewarded; little Turtle Dove returned and drank from the bowl. It has come every day since. The Spotted Turtle Dove visits regularly, walking through the herb garden looking for small insects and seeds.

A water dish for bees. The stones are to give them a place to land, so they don't drown.
A water dish for bees. The stones are to give them a place to land, so they don’t drown.
img_2188

“I know you are not welcomed in many places*, but you are welcome in my garden, little dove.”

img_2617And now, a pair of native Crested Pigeons frequent the courtyard, dipping their beaks into the water bowl and playing chase with each other. I’ve seen them cuddling up side by side in the shade of the patio, as well. The male occasionally fans his tail feathers, peacock style, to impress his lady love, and she seems to tolerate his behaviour in a nonchalant way. Ladies, we can be so hard to please.

The enjoyment of my winged guests, who come and go at will, reminds me to be grateful for little things…

“In the emotional world a small thing can touch the heart and the imagination every bit as much as something impressively gigantic.” —Henry Beston

Processed with VSCO with p5 preset

Crested Pigeon couple

(*The Spotted Turtle Dove is unkindly referred to as an ‘STD’ among bird enthusiasts, because it is not a native species. It was imported from China in about 1860.)

I created this series of images just for this blog piece. Sometimes it is fun to be a bit arty with images, and since my iPhone photos of birds are average at best, the editing helps make the images more interesting (I think).

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‘Love birds’ camp

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Ardys in Animals, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

birds, humming birds, robins, Spring, Washington, Wyoming

This is a follow up to the recent ‘Bird Camps’ post because a couple of my devoted blog readers and friends, sent me their gorgeous photos to share with you!

Nest and surrounds

Nest and surrounds

The first three photos are from my friend Barbara who lives in a beautifully wooded area, surprisingly close to Washington DC.  She is an amateur photographer whose photos I have often admired.  How she managed to get these photos of the Robin’s eggs and chicks I have no idea, but kudos to her! How exquisite is that Robin’s egg blue colour?

What colour is Robin's egg blue???

What colour is Robin’s egg blue???

Getting a little crowded in here...

Getting a little crowded in here…

The last photo is one of many wonderful wildlife photos my cousin, Donna, in Wyoming has taken.  They live up high in the mountains, just a little way from the timberline, in a very small community that was originally established for logging.  It is a gorgeous area with lots of wildlife, but this time of year it is the return of the hummingbirds that she loves because it means summer is nearly there.  They have about a week of summer (just kidding) so they enjoy it intensely.  She tells me…

Hummer in Wyoming

Hummer in Wyoming

“They put themselves in a state of torpor at night in the spring here.  It’s the only way for them to survive the night time lows.  Also they eat gnats like crazy not just nectar from flowers and feeders.  I could go on and on, they are a great source of enjoyment to me.  In the winter, of course, I love the chicadee best, but hummers rule in the summer.”

Enjoy y’all.

(PS. Just learned something new today from my friend Joanna’s post on the English Robin which is different from the North American one.  We have both coincidentally posted something about Robins on the same day!)

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Bird Camps

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by Ardys in Animals, Life

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

australian birds, birds, grandmother, parrots

Basking in morning sun

Basking in morning sun

It seems there are two camps when it comes to birds.  There is the ‘love birds’ camp and the ‘hate birds’ camp and only a few ambivalent stragglers in between.  It never occurred to me that anyone could dislike birds until I noticed our daughter’s extreme discomfort around them.  I could hardly believe it, as her very first intelligible word was ‘bird’! We could not trace her discomfort to any particular event, it is just there.  I discovered this truism about the two bird camps as I’ve related this little irony to various people over the years .  I love birds.  I feed them, photograph them, watch them and name them from my bird book.  Birds are the bees knees.  (I love honey bees too. So I guess I love the birds and the bees… a topic for another post…)

When I was a little girl growing up in Ohio, my grandmother used to rescue birds that had fallen from their nests prematurely.  It was fascinating to watch her dip the corner of a rag into some sugar water and feed them.  I believe she gave them raw hamburger if the bird was with her for a long period.  Following her lead I have rescued a few birds that have flown by mistake into our rather large windows.  One time I rescued a very tiny Mistletoe bird, scarcely 5cm long (2 inches in old money) and I was thrilled to bits when it regained its strength and hopped up onto the edge of the open box in which I was keeping it, and then onto the edge of the pergola and then onto a tree branch.  Some days later I saw what I’m certain was the same bird just outside the door sitting on the same branch and singing its heart out, no doubt to thank me!

My attraction to birds persisted despite having been twice attacked by them!  Once I was even at the happiest place on earth, Disney World, when swooped upon by a seagull who fancied my French fries!!  What cheek!!  Apparently it happens frequently as people have misguidedly hand fed the gulls fries over the years and they have developed a taste for them!

The other time I was swooped upon was by a mother Spurwing Plover who mistakenly thought I was interested in her nest.  Plovers are very territorial and especially if they have a nest in an area.  They build nests near and on the ground in high weeds and so you can go near one and not know it, which is what I, apparently, did.  Plovers have a serious ‘spur’ on the underside of their wings and if they catch you with it when they swoop you, it can do some damage, so I was not keen to be caught!

Galahs in pre-clown mode!

Galahs in pre-clown mode!

Just looking at bird images makes me feel giddy sometimes.  And always, always watching wild Budgies fly around the outback makes me joyous.  They are the most brilliant lime green.  As they carve up the blue sky in perfect  synchronicity my heart soars!

Galahs are the clowns of the outback.  They are like badly behaved 12 year old boys!!  They tease and tempt fate with their physical hijinx and they are loud and raucous to the point of distraction.  They will gobble every scrap of seed that I put out for the tiny finches, unless I screen it from them. And then they let me know with their indignant squawks, they are not happy!!

Port Lincoln Parrot

Port Lincoln Parrot

Perhaps the most beautiful bird we get on a regular basis is the Port Lincoln Parrot, the ring neck parrot, as some call them.  They can be noisy at times, but mostly they are just gorgeous and eat quietly from the native plants we have in our garden.

I’m sorry darling daughter, but my feet are firmly in the ‘love birds’ camp.

In which camp are you?         Please share with me your favourite bird photos.  I refer you to a recent post by my English friend Joanna @zebbakes.com who writes beautifully about a walk where she spotted and photographed some grey wagtails.  (Small birds in their natural habitat are very difficult for the average person to photograph.)

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Saturday

13 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by Ardys in Food, Life, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birds, Food, markets

This new room is crawling with ants.  Lots and lots of ants.  They are the tiniest little ‘sugar ants’ but annoying all the same.  They are in my bed, and twice last night woke me when I felt something biting me.  This morning I looked in the glass of water here on the bedside table and it had about 10 dead ants floating in it.  Do I dare tell the manager yet another complaint?  What is the worst they can do?  I’ll have a think about it.

I awoke at 3.48 this morning and was, again, unable to go back to sleep.  Lack of sleep makes everything else even less tolerable.  If it doesn’t improve this weekend I will talk to the doctor about it on Monday when I see him for my regular weekly check up.

Halconia and ginger flowers

Halconia and ginger flowers

Gary and Ivy picked me up at 8am and we went off to the Parap Markets again.  The Thai Sweets stall was there and I got my black sticky rice with palm sugar topping and the little coconut patties that are so nice.  Also Mary, Don’s former student, made me a Laksa with no onion and then I bought a dish of fresh red papaya.  It was all so nice and it is now feeling like old times

Local papaya, chilies and bananas

Local papaya, chilies and bananas

when we used to come to Parap every Saturday when we were first married and we had our favorites and knew some of the stall holders by name.  Somewhere I have a photo of Allison as a tiny baby in a carrier strapped onto Don when we brought her to the Parap Markets.  It was one of the very first outings we brought her on after she was born.

Gary and Ivy dropped me in town after Parap.  I had an appointment to have my hair trimmed and also to meet Sabina and Jo for coffee at the Four Birds Café.  Sabina and Jo are good friends from Alice Springs who have moved to Darwin.  I love the name ‘Four Birds Café’.  As I recall from reading about it in a local magazine, it is four women who are the ‘four birds’ and run the café.  They have  very good coffee and one of my favorite gluten free cakes, almond and orange, and so I had a piece of that wrapped up to take away and have later.  It was a fun visit and Jo brought me a sweet little glass hummingbird ornament to hang in my room.  A bird memento of three ‘birds’ who met at the ‘four birds’.

I picked up a few grocery items and some vitamins and when I got to the taxi queue, there were actually several taxis there so I had one bring me back here.  Curious thing… his fare was $8.30… the last taxi I took from the exact same queue to this exact place was only $6.80.  How does that work???

I had my delicious markets food and then my piece of orange and almond cake and a rest, sort of… as much as I seem able to have at the moment… and the remainder of the day should flow lazily by as I relax and read and kill an ant here and there and contemplate a thing or two.

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