Ever seen Galahs shower? Up-side-down? Like they are bats? Before this wonderful rain it had been hot. I'm talking cook an egg on the lawn hot. Then it started raining. You should have heard the noise in the backyard. The Galahs thought it was THE. BEST. THING. EVER. After weeks of dusty and dry, who doesn't need a little sprucing up in their under-wing-feathered-area?
Still on the crazy bird lady stuff (I know, this blog was supposed to be about my art and the dark side huh?), there were two Lorikeets and a Magpie on the feeder today, neither party were willing to give up their place. Lorikeets aren’t much bigger than a large budgie but they are the bullies of the parrot world I’m sure of it. S says it’s because they’re sugar junkies, and would you fight a smack-head even if he was half your size!?! Point taken. In any case, Galahs and pigeons will graciously get down off the feeder rather than provoke a carry on with a Lorikeet – a Magpie however, isn’t afraid of anyone or anything, and will put up a good fight. And much hilarity ensued. The Lorikeets still won...
We often have Corellas fly over head – they have a very distinct noise, a kind of cackle (very different to a sulphur crested cockatoos screech, or the plaintive cry of the black cocky) and they always sound like they’re up to no good (which is more than often the case, mind you). Today a pair landed on the feeder like it was their regular go-to. A pair of Corellas is loads of fun to watch, it’s when you get two dozen pair in the yard that you should be a-feared for anything not tied down! I love how they use their feet as ‘hands’ to politely and with many manners eat their food. They were most wondrous as to what I was doing, and allowed me to get close. Yes, I have turned into crazy bird lady.
Stella Nova gets to sit outside on the weekends, and chat (and when I say chat, I mean whistle, chirrup and SQUWAK) to his many feathered friends (when I bring him back inside in the afternoon he is usually exhausted and goes to sleep early!) Today two Galahs landed on his cage – they’ve never done that before (the Magpies will sometimes hop on the top of his cage) – I watched them for some time before I thought to grab the camera. They looked quizzical indeed, turning their heads to the side to watch Stella carry on inside his cage like a mad man. It’s almost like they were saying “What you doing in there?”. Two native species of parrot – look at the size difference!
Meet Monsieur Le Strange (as he is known around these parts), a male Corella cross Galah. Isn’t he magnificent? He acts like a Galah in all his manners, though he is a little louder. He is, as you can see, much bigger than a regular Galah, (that is his partner next to him on the feeder), but I love how he has retained the Galah colouring, but in an almost opaque way. I wonder what their offspring would be like? He often frightens off the other birds as he comes in to land, because he is so much bigger – and he is very gregarious, allowing me to get very close to him before he moves – particularly if he knows I come bearing seedy-good gifts. I just love him to bits!
How lovely has the rain been? April was predicted to be a wet month, but so far there has only been a handful of fine days - the rest have been perfectly cool, gloomy and precipitous! All my plants look very happy, but our lawn (I hate lawn) is rather feral. One feels one is on a safari adventure when one journeys to the Otto bin. After so long without I know I shouldn't complain - but the ground is a quagmire (damn you clay soil!), and S can't mow for fear of losing the mower into some sort of quicksand like abyss! There are, however, and abundance of 'jewels' on my white flowering oleander outside my bedroom window. Nature is just beyond amazing, huh? Enough to take your breath away...
