A Brisbane Backyard

Waking to the sound of bird call every morning has to be one the of best ways on earth to wake up.

One of the things that struck me during our time in Brisbane was the variety of bird calls. They ranged from the soft & gentle through to the loud & raucous, & it was all music to my ears.

I was however feeling a little disappointed that, although I had seen a huge variety of birds from a distance, I hadn't seen any of Australia's wonderful parrots close up enough to get a photo of any of them.

Late in the afternoon of the day before we flew home we visited John, a friend of Allan's, & what a treat I got! We sat out on a deck that surrounds the upper level of his home & watched as gradually the birds came in to feed. For me it was an 90 minutes of absolute bliss.

First the Ranbow Lorikeets arrived & hung out in a tree surveying the territory in order to make sure it was safe to go down & feed I expect.

Then came an Australian King Parrot, I held my breath as I watched him almost scared that the 'click' of my camera would scare him away.

No fear of that! He didn't waste too much time in surveillance & quickly went down to feed.

Next the Rainbow Lorikeets got brave & left the safety of the tree, scaring the King Parrot off in the process.

Meanwhile the Galahs had sent a scout to make sure the area was safe before the rest of the team came in to see what was on the days menu.

Every now & then something would spook the birds & they would all fly off, but up on the deck we had no such problem with a fearless & very curious visitor.

 

Back closer to ground level the bird restaraunt was positively humming with a rather diverse clientele of Galahs, King Parrot & Lorikeets.

Then a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo arrived!

When he went down there the Lorikeets took off...

Our friend up on the deck seemed to think he was special & entitled to a more personalised service.

He got it too! 

The Lorikeets gradually came back, bringing a Noisy Miner to the party with them. I guess they felt a little sorry for him - being so plain & all.

With the constant coming & going of the birds I'd almost given up hope of getting a photo of all of them together. Then.....

It appears that John is quite popular with the birds ;)