In the past I've kind of dreaded late September, into October as the butcher birds who've nested in the big tree at the front of our place have 'terrorised' me by swooping very close to my head whenever I've taken a wander outside the door. Being away out from home for the last 6 weeks has meant I've missed that dreaded swooping business that seems to last for ages - at least until the babies 'fly the coop'!
Yesterday I was repotting some hanging baskets just outside the front door of our house and heard a twittering, tweeting commotion quite close. Our neighbour's garage backs on to our boundary line and has a flat roof - Mama (or Papa) butcher bird had brought baby on to the flat surface and they were perched right on the edge, baby getting his fill of tidbit. Parent flew off again for a refill and baby remained sitting very close to the edge. I popped indoors to get my camera and shot one of it but there was a twig in the way. I continued with my repotting expecting parent to be back soon but when I looked up again, baby had flown - right on to a branch of a gum tree which grows quite close. I think it might be time for baby to be out of the nest and on it's own as it flew off quite soon after that. I was surprised to see it flying very proficiently.
I love this time of the year - so many lovely birds in our back yard including the family of Noisy Miners who come daily now for their feed of bread. Since I've been away though, my two favourite little green parrots have disappeared so I'll be keeping watch for them in case they arrive back. They could be nesting and staying close to 'home'. A couple of rainbow lorikeets must have stuck around as they appear each morning quite early waiting for their handout.
No doubt the amount of rain that Sydney has had over these past few months has meant that lots of flowering natives have an abundance of blooms at present and the local birds just love it. In that respect, I'm pleased they are not needing to call in to my back door for a top up. It is much nicer that they are feeding as nature intended.
Blessings!
