Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Sunday 8 January 2012

Sunday Selections




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 while now.  This week I have chosen Sulphur Crested Cockatoos to star.  And stars they are.  People will tell you that they are noisy and destructive.  Both of these things are true but I think they also have a lot of charm.  They visit us each day, sometimes in flocks of up to fifty birds, and they never fail to make me smile.  Seeing their charm is by no means universal though.  One of our neighbours once ran across our front lawn bashing on a metal garbage bin.  He scared them away for about ten minutes.  If that.











44 comments:

  1. Oh, how beautiful. I especially love the third one down, that looks like it's backlit with green - just lovely.

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  2. On the long list of breakages in SE Qld we could number rain guages, mail boxes, gate posts,trellises,aerials, feeders...
    They are fewer here;red-tailed blacks are our current "local" cocky.

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  3. Kathy: Thank you. He/she did look pleased too.

    dinahmow: Yes we have a fairly long list as well. Uprooting the tulips just as they are about to open makes me a tad unhappy. All in all worth it though. I don't think I have ever seen a red-tailed black except in documentaries, and would love to.

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  4. I like them :) BUT The Spouse hates them. He is an insomniac who seems to have his best sleep at about 6 am til 9 am. The cockies came down here in a giant flock at dawn and made "The Spouse" very grumpy. I watched them closely and took some photos with my old point and shoot. They send an advance scout out first to see if everything is safe, whilst the rest of the flock waits in a huge old tree on top of the ridge.
    On the third morning, as the advance scout was scouting, The Spouse went out and fired the shotgun into the air.(not near the bird at all) The advance scout went back to the flock and amidst much screeching they flew down the valley. They have never been back.
    It is the wrong country for them here, it is a bit too high up for them, too many trees and predators (hawks and eagles) for them.

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  5. and I do like the third photo in the Christmas Cactus very much :)

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  6. Kim: And the scout shrieks to let others know that the coast is clear and/or that the pickings are good. They are rotten, destructive noisy birds and I love them for it. And smart too - recognised the shotgun and cleared out permanently.

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  7. I have heard of all their loud, destructive habits - but you have captured their essence so well in these shots; they are real characters, full of themselves and bursting with cheekiness and life.

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  8. Another one of my fave aussie birds! Great shots.

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  9. Alexia: Thank you - your comment indicate that you did see their charm (which is what I hoped to convey). However, if they were as intelligent as your Kea we would be in real trouble.

    Karen: They are great aren't they?

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  10. Amazing to think of tropical birds like that around all the time. Great photos!

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  11. Bonza photos, i especially like the cocky in the last three photos demolishing the granny smith apple. You should have turned the garden hose on your stupid neighbour banging on the metal garbage bin, what a party pooper :-).

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  12. There are so MANY of them in that one picture. I had no idea they are considered to be a nuisance to many people. They are so pretty, but they are also BIG! :-)

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  13. Lynn: They are a never ending source of fun.

    Windsmoke: The cocky with an apple was having a ball wasn't he/she? For some reason none of our regular visitors like red apples. That neighbour has separated from his wife and moved on. I suspect he was airing his aggression at a heap of things not really related to the birds.

    DJan: They are big, but smaller birds (particularly the corellas) can move them from the feeder or the apple. Some farmers dislike them as well. Flocks in rural areas can contain hundreds of birds.

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  14. DJan: In that second shot there are four of our native species are represented. Getting along quite nicely too.

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  15. Fantastic photos!! Love the ones with the green apples. What a talented bird!!

    The neighbor who didn't like the walnuts being eaten is gone??? Good thing!!

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  16. Nicky: Yup he is gone and I can't say I miss him.

    Green apples get them in every time. They love them. Can't you tell?

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  17. Awww - what amazing shots of these cute fellows!

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  18. That looks like one very happy cocky :)

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  19. I love the first photo with the outspread wings!
    My mum used to have a sulphur crested years ago in a cage, (I believe that's illegal now), about four metres square and ten or twelve feet high. He was a great talker and could imitate mum perfectly.

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  20. ladyfi: Thank you.

    Marita: I think they do enjoy themselves. Anthromorphism? Perhaps, but cockies do always seem like such happy birds.

    River: My mother had one too. He had a huge aviary which he chewed his way out of. From that time he stumped around the garden picking strawberries (only ripe ones) and generally acting as an overseer. He could (and did) imitate every dog in the street. His name was Hugo, but later he took to laying eggs. Always from off the roof. He liked throwing leaf litter on the heads of visitors too.

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  21. Lovely blog...amazing photos!
    LOVE IT HERE!

    BShell

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  22. BlueShell: Welcome and thank you so much.

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  23. They are beautiful birds aren't they? I love the photos, especially the third one (the close up) and the fourth one (in the tree).

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  24. sleepydwarf: Welcome and thank you. And yes, we also think that they are beautiful.

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  25. The birds will probably consider humans to be a noisy and destructive bunch. Especially your neighbour ;-)

    Beautiful birds and some truly great shots there.

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  26. Look at the little devil ripping his dinner apart. They are so cocky looking.

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  27. Love these blokes - they even used to congregate on Flemington Road, blissfully ignoring the raging traffic of cars, trucks and trams around them.

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  28. Carolina: Thanks. They have some justification if they do think of us as destructive and noisy. We destroy many more trees than they do.

    mybabyjohn/Delores: He was just loving that apple. They throw quite a bit of it of the ground - but mostly the smaller birds clean those up.

    Kath: And on some of our main roads too. Looking for grass seeds on the verges I think.

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  29. Oh, I love them! Actually, I'm like you, I am very fond of starlings, which most people see as noisy, argumentative and destructive (though they can't hold a candle to the sulphur crested cockatoo in that department). I see them as interesting, funny, sociable birds, and if you watch, they never bully another species, only each other.

    You got some great pictures!

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  30. Some great photos, i just love cockatoos. We used to get 50 or so in our yard too, when we had the fig tree. They also liked the neighbour's peach. I never managed to get any photos, but would always run and get Miss 5 (then Miss 2 or younger) to come and see them :)

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  31. Jay at the Depp Effect: Welcome. Cockatoos do at least attempt to bully other species, but I have never seen more than sound and fury. No biting. No gouging. They go beak to beak with the corellas, but there is still no attempt to bite - just loud clashing.

    Permanently amanda: I am so glad that most people agree with me rather than our erstwhile neighbour on the subject of cockatoos. I hope Miss 2 or so liked them then and continues to do so now.

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  32. Thank you for popping by my blog and leaving such a lovely comment. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos too!

    Grace :)

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  33. Terrific photos of wonderful birds. I would love to see them, even if they are a bit troublesome.

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  34. A bumper crop of lovely birds; you are very generous to show all the pictures in one go.

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  35. Awww....I like the white look, it is so regal. Cute eating too

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  36. I think if I were that beautiful, I would be cocky, too. So elegant.

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  37. Greetings From Southern California

    Great Photos!

    I Am Your Newest Follower

    Have A Nice Day :-)

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  38. Grace: You are welcome. Thank you.

    Anne: They are truly delightful.

    Friko: I have many, many more photos of the cockatoos. I love them.

    Kim@Stuff: They are beautiful, but they have too much cheekiness I think to be regal.

    Susan Kane: That makes two of us.

    Ron@*TOGBlog: Welcome and thank you. I will go over to your place later today.

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  39. who's a pretty bird?



    Aloha from Waikiki
    Comfort Spiral

    > < } } ( ° >

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  40. Cloudia: All of the birds who visit us.

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  41. They are amazing birds. I especially love the third photo.

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  42. They are SUCH noisy birds. However I wonder how intelligent they really are. They used to come in vast hordes and break off branches of the flowering plum tress. They'd crack open the kernel of one nut, and then drop the branch, ignoring all the other fruit of that branch. Not efficient!
    They loved Canberra and gathered in huge numbers - probably because so many trees were planted which they could attack.

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  43. persiflage: Welcome (love your name). I think in times of plenty they get greedy (don't we all). I have watched them throw bits of apple around with gay abandon. If they come back again before the apple is replenished they will hunt around for the bits they discarded previously.

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