29 September 2006

Birds


This morning, after I had showered, I was brushing my teeth and could hear a peculiar bird noise outside. I could hear the Mickey Mynahs going off so obviously something was encroaching on their space. Anyway, this peculiar noise sounded like a bird with a croaky voice because of a sore throat, you know, maybe laryngitis or something.

I crept out the door and looked to where the noise was coming from. Up in the large black wattle about 5 metres from my door was this bird. It's a channel billed cuckoo. They are very raucous birds and have very loud harsh cry. But the one in the tree was a juvenile (as on the left in this picture). It was sitting up in the tree, giving out this forlorn croak as if to say, "Muuuuum! Where are you? I'm lost!" Poor thing. It didn't help that the mynah birds were harassing it, either. What an introduction to the big wide world.

Anyway, I scanned this picture from my book "The Field Guide to Birds of Australia" by Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight. We have such a lot of birdlife where I live so it's a wonderful reference book to identify each species. Most of them I know, but just occasionally, we get something like this and it's great to be able identify what bird it is.

6 comments:

Lee said...

What a great discovery and morning greeting! I've got lots of birds around me up here, as well. We get all types, including rosellas and the king parrots. I love the kingies! My kookaburras, maggies and butcher birds are like pets now...they get the meat scraps left over from my two cats, and even come when I call for the cats! I've got the Readers' Digest bird book and, like you with yours, I find it a great reference. I love having the birds around...I'm not a lover of caging birds...I prefer seeing them free in their natural habitat. I've got bower birds too...I wondered when I first arrived up on the mountain where all my pegs were going to! I discovered them over in the vacant bushland across from me, particularly the blue pegs! So, I left them to it and purchased some more pegs! They still keep dispearing, but what the hell! My contribution to their home building! ;)

Meow (aka Connie) said...

How wonderful. I love trying to identify birds I see ... I have the same book !! Lucky you to find something so unusual in your garden.
Have a great weekend.
Take care, Meow

TJ said...

very exotic looking...I would someday like to visit your country...you make it sound so interesting...plus my favorite show used to be McLeod's Daughters which they haven't shown in a year here!! Do you get it there?
:-D

rel said...

Robyn,
You are lucky to have all that delightful wildlife. We too enjoy the birds and provide food trees and water to entice them to visit and maybe nest.
You have quite exotic birds to my eye. Our visitors are Orioles, robins, bluejays, sparrows,finches, nuthatches, grackles and crows.
They do keep the cats entertained. (our cats are indoor only) They watch from the windows with tails twitching and gutteral meowing while the birds are quite content to tease them. ;-)
rel

Carole Burant said...

I always find it so fascinating the types of birds that are wild in your country...for me to see those types of birds, I'd have to go to a bird zoo! These days we don't have the wide variety we have during the summer..most of them have all flown south for the winter. What I love the most is seeing the Canadian Geese flying in their V formation, heading south...you can always hear them coming:-) Have a wonderful weekend Robyn!! Hugs xoxo

SnowWhite said...

maybe it's voice hadn't broken yet . : )