Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Wild Bird Wednesday

A success story this week.  A couple of years ago I rescued a rainbow lorikeet from the edge of the road where it had been injured.  I am a sucker for this and just have to stop and pick up injured wildlife. Most often they do not survive, though we have had successes, especially with magpies. A couple of times when I rescued a lorikeet, I took them to the local 'bird' vet and was told that they would have to be put down as they had broken wings and could not be fixed.

This time however I decided to keep the bird myself, even though the wing was broken. We put it in a large cage where, after a time, it thrived altthough it could not fly. It seemed happy enough.



 We decided to find it a companion and were able to purchase a hand reared lorikeet from a pet shop. Well, for the first few weeks they fought!!!!  They hated each other!!  They screeched  at each other!!

Then, they gradually became friendly, then bosom mates. And now,  I actually believe they are happy!!!



Then, this year one of them laid a couple of eggs in a hollow log that Don had put in the cage. Totally unexpected!!!  Very exciting!!  Unfortunately the eggs finished up on the floor of the cage, but that was probably our fault as there was nothing in front of the hollow log to stop the eggs falling out.  Now we know that one of them is a 'lady' - albeit a very noisy one - we can re-organise the nesting arrangements.



But the pleasure for us is knowing that we have managed to give another life ( albeit a captive one) to a lorikeet that would have otherwise perished on the side of the road.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Wild Bird Wednesday


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Wild Bird Wednesday - We'll drink to that

Each evening lately I have taken my chair and spent a pleasant hour watching the birds come down to drink at the birdbath and play in the nearby shrubs. I get quite snap-happy with my new camera. I had dreams of buying myself a better zoom lens until I looked at the price of them! Maybe when I win Cross Lotto!!

The little red-browed finches are frequent visitors

It is unusual to see a finch drinking with a Striated Thornbill.  And I though finches were small!!
Yesterday we had a mother and baby Thornbill
And then there were three
The New Holland Honeyeaters are probably the most enthusiastic users of the birdbath

And tonight we even had a visit from an Adelaide Rosella which is pretty unusual as they don't usually drink from the birdbaths.
As you can see, the birdbath is the place to be seen in the evenings at Lenswood.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

PS: Re last week's post. The apartment building seems to have been unsatisfactory on all counts as both couples have abandonned it.