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.

84. The Swallow Sagas - Part 1

Welcome Swallows are the most prolific and resilient birds I know. A flock of them breed permanently at my farm house, getting through to the eaves. 

83. Babysitting a Finch

I heard a plaintive cry outside the lounge room. It usually means the finches are in danger; that either a goanna or a snake threatened. 

82. Feathering the Nest

In spring
birds fly two by two
playing
chasing
dancing on branches
bobbing and bowing
mating
nest building
finding feathers
for beds
for eggs
to nestle nestlings
the babes to be
hatchlings
and chicks

81. Naked Birdwatching

I’ve never watched the birds unclothed before. I was so focused on a young Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo out my bathroom window, I didn’t even grab a towel.

80. Rainbow Birds, Bees and Blossoms

Rainbow Bee-eaters are back from wintering in north Queensland or New Guinea.