Rainbow and Scaly
Breasted Lorikeets

Little Corellas

One of our favourite pastimes, when we are not working on the house, is going to look at houses for sale. This is not as sad as it sounds because real estate agents host open house viewings on Saturdays, where the house is opened up for half an hour for anyone to go and have a look. We get plenty of ideas for the renovations on our place when we do this but never miss an opportunity to have a nose around a really expensive property. This morning's trip out was to one such place, right on the waterfront in the koala park in a wonderful location. It was huge and splendid but the setting meant that, in order to enjoy the wonderful view, the residents would have to sacrifice their privacy as the koala park is a popular walk and an evening sitting on the veranda would be constantly interrupted by dog walkers and joggers passing by.

Galah

Pied Butcherbird

It got me to thinking how much we enjoy our, far more modest, little house. We can see the water through the trees from our balcony but one of the best things about it is that we are up in the treetops so the wildlife comes to us. There are plenty of bats circling in the evenings and, last night, Monty drove us nuts because he had spotted a possum in one of the trees, we occasionally hear a koala but best of all are the birds we can see without getting out of our chairs.
The Rainbow Lorikeets are our most frequent visitors and Ian feeds them by hand, they are sometimes joined by the smaller Scaly Breasted Lorikeets. Little Corellas (they are huge, not little at all) come by in a flock of about one hundred every evening, we try not to feed them because they are bullies and scare the other birds away, they will also start to eat your window frames and balcony if you stop feeding them once you have started. Beautiful pink and grey Galahs stop by too, I can never understand why, in Australia, a stupid person is called a Galah, they are gorgeous birds, but it is less bold birds we like to see the most.

Kookaburra

Eastern Koel

Pied Butcherbirds have taken a long while to get used to us but will come if there is bacon rind on the bird feeder, as will Australian Magpies, I'm not so keen on them as they are big with huge beaks but they sing with a lovely warbling sound. Bacon also attracts the occasional Kookaburra and it is always a treat to have one of those come to call.
There are other birds who will not come close while we are there but sit in the trees surrounding us such as the Eastern Koel, Tawny Frogmouth Owl, the slightly nutty Dollarbird who makes strange noises and flies in a very haphazard manner and, my absolute favourite, the adorable Eastern Rosella.

Dollarbird

Another little treat this week was to spot this nest a pair of Noisy Miners (I have spelled that correctly, a mynah is different) have built in one of our trees. It is very precarious and blows around terribly in the slightest wind. If you look closely you can see the second Miner sitting on the nest, it is Autumn now, so a bit strange they are nesting but apparently it can happen if the summer has been good.

Noisy Miner

Eastern Rosella

Tawny Frogmouth Owl