Wild Bird Wednesday - Sitting like a pigeon in the park

Saturday morning, dog was so patient while I shopped

that I took him for a nice long walk in the Nuriootpa linear park.

We discovered an old orchard that had been incorporated

 into the park

a Masked Lapwing complained at our approach

but was not too phased by us

two Crested Pigeons were pecking in the grass

this was the first time I have captured that iridescent 

magenta on it's wing
click the picture to see the colour

 one of them looked up but otherwise

they did not mind us

I don't get out much so getting birds is a bit of a 

hit and miss affair

at least these were big enough for me to see LOL

Linking with Stewart's 

Wild Bird Wednesday

World Bird Wednesday - Crested Pigeon and Tweetie

Oh what it is to wake up in the morning and be serenaded by a

tiny tweetie with a very loud trilling. He kept on and on, first

from the vantage point of the grapevine on the pergola directly

outside my window, then across a tiny bit of lawn into a rosebush -

more trilling. I got up, grabbed my camera and snuck outside, he

was not best pleased and flew across the yard to a faraway bush.

Rats! thought I as I stood in the shade of the rose arch - but then,

wonder of wonders, after trilling in the Melaleuca bush, he flew

right back onto the grapevine and gave me a full blast of his

wonderful song. Such a little bird with such a big voice.

I have a flock of them in the garden and at this time of the year

they seem to think it is mating time, although it is autumn there

is probably still time to raise a family before the cold weather comes.

Yellow-Rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa, 11-13 cm

Dawn at Second Valley, South Australia, in front of the verandah

of the hired house we stayed in, a perfect perch for a pair of

Crested Pigeons, Ocyphaps lophotes, to warm themselves up

after a cold and windy night.

We look this way and that way, and then we fly away . . . .

For lots of flapping wings, check out World Bird Wednesday by

clicking on the Logo.

A Few Silly Galahs

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This is for all you birders, a few fledgelings
from this summer just ended...
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...showing off, or hangin on for dear life...
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in Australia we have an old expression: 'ya silly Galah'

it is dual purpose, it can be used lovingly as when

someone gives you an unexpected present just because,

as in 'ya shoodna done that , ya silly Galah!' or con-

versely yelled loud and clear across an intersection when

someone pulls out in front of you. It is also handy

when someone is over dressed to liken them to the

proverbial Galah.

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When young they are ungainly and quite silly, but

there is nothing to compare with a large flock of a

few hundred veering across a late afternoon sky, one

moment a sunset cloud of red, the next a gleaming

pearly grey, that keeps you spellbound just watching

the shifting colours against our deep blue skies.

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For a complete change, a Crested Pigeon. They are

in the habit of camping in the middle of dirt roads at

night and taking off at the approach of people or

vehicles with loud whirring wing beats.