freebetty

Birds and others

Birds' interactions with other animals

Fiona's Peewees Help a Turtle

peeweesFiona loves Peewees and has a favourite Peewee family living in her yard (see slideshow below).  Also called mudlarks, the birds are friendly and get along well with her gorgeous hens (Lucy and Gertrude –Columbian Wyandottes, and Edna - silver-laced Wyandotte), but Fiona was yet to discover how amazing these birds can be. read more »

7 Tips to Get To Know Your Wild Birds - Part 1

Vicky magpie with visiting rainbow lorikeets  By now you will have a few friends whom you recognise and call by name. The next stage is to get o know more about your birds. 

There are seven main points that you can follow to further develop your relationship with your new wild bird friends.  These are:

1. Make Time For Regular Interaction

2. Learn More About The Species

3. Gain Insight's Into Your Individual Bird Friends

4. Listen for Cues

5. Notice Changes In their Behaviour

6. Keep a Daily Journal

7. Look for Wider Patterns and Stories read more »

Maggie magpie and Minnie noisy-miner Keep Me Safe From A Snake

Our birds have rescued us from snakes on many occasions.  Magpies, butcherbirds (both the pied and grey species), noisy-miners and others have all played a part at one time or another in keeping us safe.  Most of the time we do not have a camera in hand to capture a photographic record of the event.  But on a few occasions we have been lucky enough to be able to do so.   read more »

Keys To Encouraging A Diversity Of Birds In The Garden

The superb fairy-wrens are delightful to watch as they play and bathe in the shallow waterbath near our front door. Each morning they make their way from the paddocks beyond, through the lantana weeds and the honeysuckle twines, onto the branches of the weeping rose behind my kitchen window. Here they spend some time catching a few insects for their late morning snack before hopping under the murraya, geraniums and  four-o'clocks all the way to the front.  They absolutely love diving in and out of the bath, like kids at a swimming pool.
 read more »

Waiter! There's a Goanna in My Water Bowl!

What's that loud rustling of leaves under the frangipani tree?  The miners are screeching and the butcherbirds sound like they are gargling!  The sound of a plastic bowl tipping over reaches us as we run to the front door just in time to catch a glimpse of the majestic creature searching for water.  Yes, it's a goanna.  He catches sight of us from t read more »

My New White-backed Magpie Friends

by Shirley Oelman

I have magpies that visit every now and then and would like to talk about them. 


They first came calling regularly in late July 2009.

 warbling magpies

  17Oct 09, 10:01am  Warbling so beautiful      

  

 

At first I ignored them, then, as they seemed so insistent I went out outside to check out the noise.

There were 5 to start with and the numbers dwindled to 2 from November. I threw out onto the ground minced steak, multi grain bread and some varieties of fruit & veg, plus crushed up biscuits. There is always 2 lots of water for them. One of the magpies loved grapes. The other one would not touch them. If I ignored their call one would come up to my front door and call, then stand and wait looking at the door. When I stepped out it (the darker, taller one) ran away a short distance until I called it and dropped food and then it came within 4 foot of me and ate. The light grey one always kept back and never came too close.

 
 read more »

Lessons From A Chance Rescue - About Babblers, Magpies and more

When Ron rescued a small bird running desperately for its life from a crow, little did he know how much joy and learning the day would bring.  The full story is in our blog A Lucky Rescue Makes A Happy Family and in the pictures below.

 read more »

Loch Ness Monster In Our Yard!

GoannaLooks so like a dragon head - right at our front door....

... check out the slideshow for the full story.

 

  read more »

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! I've been a bit slack posting during December, partly because of all the diversions and partly due to having to chase after problems with our hosting service, which took a lot of time. read more »

Birds and Animals Celebrate at the Lilypot

 

minnie and cresty at the lilypot

The rains have broken the drought.  Crested pigeons and Noisy Miners share a drink at the lilypot while the other birds and animals enjoy the fresh grass, new shoots and a greeener summer.

The pictures tell a better story. read more »

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