91: Sunny Yellow Robins

I switched off the news, sick of statistics from a world grappling with Covid-19 for the third year. An Eastern Yellow Robin sat on the fence outside. It wanted to watch me as much as I wanted to watch it.

These birds are usually in pairs of family groups. This one is scanning the ground for a juicy insect.

It hasn't quite come into all it's glorious yellow breast plumage yet.  

Yellow Robin chicks hatch brown and streaky white. Golden feathers are too obvious to predators. 

A beautiful adult, checking me out from the Cypress Pine forest on my property.

The chicks start plain and take a while to grow into their glorious golden feathers.

The birds are such darlings, sleek and pretty.

They glide in to landing.

Sitting on a post, they come closer if you make squeaky sounds.

Two young Yellow Robins busy bathing in the heat of an Australian summer.

Robins are always searching for the next snack on the ground.

Nestmates stick together and are as cute as yellow buttons with their own individual shape.

Sometimes I can catch the robins flicking their wings in excitement. 

Sometimes, I hear their clear piping whistle in the pines or scrubland past the garden, and rush outside. 

But, every time I catch sight of them, Eastern Yellow Robins add a little sunshine to my day.

90: Glowing Green

I visited my next-door neighbours this morning. Photographing Musk Lorikeets gorging on honey in the flowering gum tree in their yard.

This afternoon, all NSW went into Coronavirus lockdown. 

Regardless, it couldn’t put a dampener on the bright green Loris I saw.

If you’re locked down or tired of the pandemic, come and see some acrobats.

 

The camouflage birds.

Flighty little things that shine and glow with vitality.

Bright beauties that drink and chirp at the same time.

Feathery things intent on guzzling sugar, they don’t realise you’ve crept closer. 

Musk Lorikeets with blue crowns are males.

The females wear turquoise green hats.

Nomadic birds, they go wherever gum trees are flowering. 

Staying only as long as the nectar in the blossom.

 

These birds were so plump full of sugar they seemed hyperactive.

 Drinking from the pale lemon flowers, blooming just before spring.

 

So lively, they’re exquisite to watch, even when they’re in hiding.

 

Watching them made me forget there was such a thing as Coronavirus.

Thanks to my neighbours for morning tea and the photo opportunity!

 

Lockdowns will end, things will always get better.

Rainbow coloured birds will still fly and fill the trees with soft chattering.

We can still feel joy that there’s such enchanting creatures to see in our world. 

 

89. Wild Willies

We have a high walled courtyard off the main bathroom. 

When my children were preschoolers, they planted a branch of cypress there.

Surprisingly, a pine tree grew. It must have come up from a seed on the stick. 

The kids thought themselves master gardeners, especially when a pair of Willie Wagtails built a nest in that pine. 

88. Happy Christmas from the Angel on the Tree Top

Christmas Day was yesterday. I didn’t imagine it, but birds seemed to be in on the human celebrations, tweeting from 5 am to 7 pm. Especially the Cockies who are kind of cocky at the best of times.

87: Scarlet (Hay) Fever

 

You rarely see something so enchanting it seems like an illusion, but that’s what happened last spring.

Double Delightful Double Bars

Every day I see Double-barred Finches on my birdbath.

86. Peacock Practice

                                       

My Peacock Pops has full breeding plumage.

85. Blue-billed Duck Making a Splash

The absolute need to replace ourselves is scratched deep into the DNA of every living creature. But few birds have such an awesome courtship display as the Blue-billed Duck.