Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.
I have been featuring the birds who visit us for a little while. This week the birds I am putting up today are ones who shouldn't visit us, as we are well away from their usual homes. Needless to say we welcomed them.
The first is the yellow tailed black cockatoo. These birds are more likely to be found in eucalyptus forests or woodlands, but came to visit in the last severe drought, when food in their natural habitat was scarce.
The next visitor also dropped in during the drought. It is the aptly named Superb Parrot. They are now listed as an endangered species so we were particularly happy to see them.
And my final bird for this week is the Rainbow Lorikeet. I believe they are quite common in Sydney (a couple of hundred kilometres away), but we don't get them here. Well not often anyway. Someone else featured them in their Sunday Selections a little while ago, and I hope they don't mind me putting them on display again.
Aren't they all an enchantment?
The yellow tailed black cockatoos are regular visitors here. I love them. I remember going to the Corumbene bird park as a child and the rainbow lorikeets perched on our heads and arms. at least I think they were rainbow lorikeets :)
ReplyDeleteI love your bird photos. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour bird visitors put our drab Ontario birds to shame.
ReplyDeleteEnchanting indeed!
ReplyDeleteAloha from Honolulu
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Bonza photos i especially like the Rainbow Lorikeet in the 2nd photo he/she is watching you very closely indeed :-).
ReplyDeletefrogpondsrock: I was suprised at how big the black cockatoos are - they would make two of the white ones. Lovely to see them, even better than improved conditions mean they are back in the hill country.
ReplyDeleteKaren: Thank you.
mybabyjohn/Delores: We have the drab ones too - and they are often the more musical.
Cloudia: Thank you.
Windsmoke: Believe me, he was.
I think I remember seeing some black cockatoos around last year too, or maybe the years before, and thinking how you don't often see them.
ReplyDeleteI love the bright colours of parrots. Always miss having them and the fruit trees around when I see them.
The year before probably - that is when we saw them when gum trees all round town were dying. Sad. And yes, the parrots brighten every day.
ReplyDeleteThank you, now I know that the parrots I see around here are Rainbow Lorikeets. I like the black cockatoos too, I've seen a couple now and then, flying way up high, just passing over.
ReplyDeleteI like all of your birds.
That Superb parrot really is superb!
ReplyDeleteRiver: We very, very rarely get either the rainbow lorikeets or the black cockatoos. Love it when we do though.
ReplyDeletelearncreatedo: They are aren't they?
YES.
ReplyDeleteThe yellow-tailed cockatoo has yellow on its face too - shouldn't it be called 'yellow cheeked'?
Kath: I wondered about that too. There is a very small bird round these parts called the red rumped parrot. Remembering that is beyond of one my sisters-in-law. To her it is, and will remain, the bum bird. Which is a long-winded way of saying that the yellow tailed black cockatoo is now the yellow cheeked black cockatoo.
ReplyDeleteThey are!
ReplyDeleteYou just live in tropical birds paradise ;-)
"an enchantment" is the perfect description! love the lorikeets!
ReplyDeleteThey are enchanting! So you live in Australia? I wouldn't have imagined so many tropical birds lived there.
ReplyDeleteI admire that reading list to the right!
I am amazed at your birds...the drought brought you beautiful birds but I know you would have liked rain!
ReplyDeleteThese are the most amazing birds. As I sit here looking out at the tiny little juncos and greedy house sparrows, I am just the tiniest bit envious of all the color you see. Sad that the drought has been so hard on the birds; it's times like these that the feeders and water sources can save lives. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCarolina: Not tropical, but a bird haven nonetheless.
ReplyDeletedaisyfae: Aren't they gorgeous?
Lynn: We are quite a way from the tropics here, but the birds all over Australia have glorious colours. Perhaps to make up for their voices?
Kim @ Stuff: We have had two years of good rain since, and I am soooo grateful. To the point where I never, ever complain about rain.
DJan: Thank you. They bring us so much joy, even the unexpected visitors like these. Perhaps specially the unexpected.
I love those cockatoos. When we lived in the Isa, we would go camping in the gulf country and see similar cockatoos, but red. They are spectacular and very very noisy! Great photos of the lorikeets. I have a bunch that land on the palm tree outside my bedroom window every morning and feast on the palm kernels. They are so amusing to watch. I love the colours of the Superb parrot. Very aptly named, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteMrs Catch: I have never seen the red ones except in nature programs or books. We spend/waste a lot of time watching the birds each day. And yes, I think the Superb bird was aptly named
ReplyDeleteMagnificent! Just when I think your avian riches can't possibly include any more... It's sad that the drought is what brought these unusual visitors, but nonetheless what a treat to see them. I've never seen a picture of a yellow tailed black cockatoo and didn't know such a bird existed. Truly wonderful! I'm so glad you keep a camera handy.
ReplyDeletePaper Chipmunk: We do have some wonderful birds. When we lived in country NSW, it was common to see flocks of wild budgergars, with up to fifty birds in it. And of course I have no photos. I would love to see the red tailed black cockatoos. Needless to say these birds attract very high prices on the black market. Growl.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are molto fantastico!!! WOW!! They have so much personality. Thank you for posting!!
ReplyDeleteNicky: Thank you. Your support means a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely glimpse into exotic bird-life - very cheering on a wet, cold, gloomy English morning.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you know of my nephew's photography? He is here:
http://worldsenz.blogspot.com/
and has many wonderful bird photographs from different parts of the world, most recently S. America.
We get to see big obnoxious black birds, and you are blessed with such enchantment!
ReplyDeleteRelatively Retiring: Welcome, I am glad they cheered you morning. I will go and track down your nephew shortly.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane: We do get some of the plainer birds as well, but they too have their charm. I suspect you will be disbelieving when I post our blackbird which is a small bird with golden eyes and feet.
You have a magical garden with all these fabulous visitors. That black cockatoo is a beauty!
ReplyDeleteladyfi: I agree that the black cockatoo is amazing - but he/she doesn't come here regularly. Which makes me sad and glad. I would indeed like to see them more often, but am glad that conditions have improved for them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting.
bermvipreal: Welcome and thank you.
ReplyDeletethey are all absolutely delightfully perky and sweet:)
ReplyDeletei hope you'll have a lovely christmas and spend it in any way you prefer and enjoy!
Pia K: Thank you. I hope you and all your loved ones (including the brand new furbabies) have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWow, more great birdies. The best things we've got out our window are crows, kingfishers, great blue herons, and an occasional sapsucker, none so colorful as the birds you post on your blog.
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush: I would love to see your kingfishers and your blue herons.
ReplyDeleteThey're impressive, alright. It's just that they're not so colorful as your tropical species.
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush: Not in the tropics here - and would love to see some of their birds. But really, am more than happy with the ones that do visit.
ReplyDeleteYES.
ReplyDeleteDiane J Standiford: Welcome and thankyou.
ReplyDeleteThey are so beautiful! The colors are astounding.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: All of us (I am including the cats) spend a LOT of time watching birds each day. And it is worth it.
ReplyDeleteI literally woke up this morning thinking that I should introduce you and Strayer because I just had a feeling that you would like one another, and here she is! That's just too weird.
ReplyDelete"Not in the tropics here - and would love to see some of their birds."
Well, I assumed you were in a tropical area because I assumed that the birds pictured either lived nearby or at least in Australia, and furthermore that birds that come in so many different and brilliant colors are from tropical areas. Yes, kingfishers are great-looking birds as are great blue herons. We also have a lot of seagulls here, although the ocean is a hour's drive away. I never expected seagulls to live this far inland, but they're here year round.
"All of us (I am including the cats) spend a LOT of time watching birds each day."
And to think that my stupid cat spends all his time reading the Britannica. He's really not very interested in wildlife--unless you include jumping from the bed onto the back of my elderly (14) and blind blue heeler.
Snowbrush: Strayer and I have been visiting each other for quite a while now - but I suspect we found each other through your blog. For which I thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe are too far away from the equator here to be in the tropics. But yes, the birds that visit us are many, varied and mostly very brightly coloured. The birds in this latest post are not normally resident in my area - but are not tropical birds either.
Our cats do not have any literary leanings. Destruction of books is Jazz's forte, but both yearn after the birds. Jewel lusts after the cockatoos (who are bigger than she is). Jazz would be happy with anything he could get. Both bait the nasty little rat dog who lives nearby into a frensy by parading just out of its reach. Jazz has been known to smack it.
PS: We get seagulls here too, and are probably two hours drive from the sea. Opportunists I suspect. They do quite well begging from lunch time crowds in the city.
I cannot get over the beauty of these birds...we have nothing like these is the US except in stores
ReplyDeleteKim @ Stuff: Needless to say there is a big black market for these birds, but we are so so lucky to have them just dropping by. We spend lots of time every day watching the birds.
ReplyDelete