A Lovely Lorikeet caught in the act! What do you think--is she saying, "Do you mind? A bath is a private matter--mind your own business!"
We are enjoying the entertainnment provided by the local birds that have discovered the makeshift baths that we put out for them.
Apparently, here it is a better idea to provide the local birds with water, than food--we have yet to see any "Wild Bird Center" equivalent, or any bird feeders or seed like we're used to providing in Colorado. So, instead, we made a trek to the local "Bunnings Warehouse" (a Home Depot equivalent) and picked up some plastic pot saucers and strapped them to the deck and filled them with water.
Our earliest visitors were the Butcherbirds. Mom Butcherbird brought the fledglings for a bath, and several months later, we have a regular juvenile Butcherbird visitor. He/she likes to pull the nylon twine holding the bath onto the railing, and has done quite the shredding job. He also likes to drink the bath water and practice his singing voice.
The sneak, Molly the indoor cat, trying to hide among the vegetation hoping we won't notice her making the escape out of the house... We've planted some catnip and catgrass for her. She just says no to the lure of the catnip, but chows down heartily on the grass. Don't know what that means as she gets hormone-free chicken and Tasmanian salmon in her Natural Choice kitty food (as well as "yucca extract that reduces litter box odours and makes living with cats even more pleasant")!*
Note the stubby parsley and carrot plants in the pots in front of Molly... someone, (not Molly) has a particular fondness for parsley and carrot leaves. We have yet to catch anyone in the act. Maybe the possums or sugar gliders after nightfall?
*Nutro natural choice literature
The lorikeets seem to always travel in twos and are quite gregarious. They are not delicate bathers, either--they're full on! These two were practically snorkeling their way through the bath water, rolling over and dipping their heads in, and making the most of the splashiness of it all!
Noisy miners love taking communal baths--we've seen up to five at a time! They look quite grumpy, but they're having a fabulous time.
Other visitors have been the Currawongs and even an Australian Magpie. These big birds seem mostly to be looking for a drink of water.
Although we think they're beautiful, people seem to think these sulphur-crested cockatoos are pesky. They can create hugh swirling flocks, one of which we saw while travelling in the Blue Mountains down by Sydney. They also congregate in trees, looking like big white Christmas ornaments on the Rainforest trees--they're very distinctively BIG and WHITE. They're only occasional visitors to our deck, and we haven't seen one try to fit into a bath, yet!
A slightly bedraggled kookaburra sitting on the picnic table in the rain after stealing our picnic cheese. Cheeky little buggers! Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra, gay your life must be!
Watching the birds was so much fun, we recently added a "real" bird bath to the deck garden. The noisy miners love plopping into it from the deck railing. Although not captured here, the lorikeets love it too--the plop into it backwards, though. But the little miners are not shy about yukking it up and enjoying the moment!
Nancy at our local favorite esplanade by Burleigh Beach, with the Surfer's Paradise skyline. (That's pronounces "Souffahs" to you non-Ozzies...)
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