Pigeon & Swallow

Pigeon

One evening, on my way to the shed, I saw a pigeon on the ground.   While this may not seem much to anyone, it was really was an unusual sight, as the only pigeons to be seen were in Kingscote.  This bird had a tag on its leg, and after much to and froing we managed to read the phone number, only to find that it was in Baccus Marsh!  Apparently the bird had flown in the opposite direction to where it was supposed to go.  It was expected in Melbourne!  The guy said to take it to where there were other pigeons, and release it.  We opened the shed door, and it flew in and landed on one of the shelves.  In the morning,when we opened up the shed it flew onto my head! It was a very strange feeling and it did not seem to want to go until it was tempted by some food in a cage, which we took to Kingscote, and then opened to release the bird.

Swallows

These birds always seem to be chatting to each other, as they line up on the pergola outside the front door. They were the first to be heard when we camped on our property.  No wonder they are called the welcome swallow! They seem to spend their lives either chatting, or flying low over the grassy areas catching insects, and often came quite close. They are very sociable

In fact, we had a couple nesting just outside our  front door.  We had built into the stonework  nesting holes, at the recommendation of a friend, and a pair of swallows decided to make a nest in one of them.  We were delighted, and watched with interest, discovering that babies had arrived as the parents were kept very busy going to and fro, obviously feeding them.  Actually, one day we shone a torch inside and confirmed that there were baby swallows in the hole.

Then the unthinkable happened.  One of our resident snakes, on his daily external tour of the house

managed to climb the wall, and ate all the baby birds.  He would not be deterred from climbing that wall – we tried everything, bar trying to injure him.  The interesting thing is that some months later, on his usual tour, as the snake was approaching the wall, a swallow came flying to the opening, and hovering in front of the hole started to chatter away very excitedly.  It appeared to us that he was trying to warn any bird that may have been in the hole!

Another time, the snake was not having much luck climbing another section of the wall, to get to the baby birds, so he climbed up one of the pillars and along the beam, then the gutter, and tried to lean over it to get to the nest.  He fell, and undeterred tried the whole procedure again.  However, the babies had fledged, and were happily chattering away at the front of the house!

Janet Martin
Kangaroo Island

The Hungry Magpie

My Mummy, my brother Alister and I (Adilya) look after a family of magpies. They eat the cat food when the cat is still eating it. Sometimes the magpies push the cat out of the way and he has to wait. One day we spent a long time trying to take a large moth out of the house. We were very careful not to hurt its wings. It escaped a couple of times but we finally got it. When we opened the back door to release it, the biggest magpie swooped down and ate it! We didn't speak we were so shocked. But then my Mummy laughed.

Adilya Fitzgerald
Age 9

Blackbirds - stories

Blackbirds - story #1

When I was little my Mum used to tell us kids: "the blackbirds are Father Christmas' helpers... they're watching and they'll tell him if youv'e been bad or good".

We had a green back lawn, with stepping stones out to the HIlls Hoist.

I would look out of the kitchen window onto the lawn and see the blackbirds hopping, just going abut their business (perfectly nonchalant I used to think).

I was a good girl.

I love that very effective ploy of my Mum's but I never used it on my own kids, I think because of another story my nephew (now in his thirties) once told me: that his Mum had told him Father Christmas watches, and that he was always a little bit scared going to bed each night he might catch sight of a bearded old man peeking through the curtains.

  

Blackbirds - story #2

Someone once told me that blackbirds are the rats of the garden.

When I go down the back, where the veggies grow, I sometimes catch one out the corner of my eye  scurrying past through the undergrowth catching bugs (they make me jump sideways). 

I am always relieved when it is a blackbird not a rat.

Blackbirds - story #3

A blackbird used to nest each year in the same spot, in the ash tree just next to the pergola, where we would throw the ball for the dog (the dog would go crazy barking at the birds all through spring as the babies grew, but the birds don't nest there anymore, and at any rate, he is too blind and too deaf to notice).

Blackbirds - story # 4

There is a bird call that my husband whistles back to (I think it is the blackbird). My son does it too (really well). I can't always tell if it is the bird I'm hearing in the garden, or if he is somewhere just out of sight.

Lisa Harms

The Magpies wake gathering.

My mother told me these stories. I was living in Sydney at the time, around the late 1980s. My father and my mother used to like to feed a family of magpies each day. They would arrive near the back door each waiting for some diced ham that my father would give to them. Being recently retired and unwell, he enjoyed this task and seeing the birds each day. My parents were very fond of this family of magpies. The male magpie started arriving initially, he must have been single and then for a while he disappeared and then returned with a female magpie and three little ones. He came to the back door and called. Then turned to his family just behind as much to say I would like to introduce you to the clan. They waited anxiously a bit away. He made a sound to the female bird, she then came forward to say hello or to be introduced to my parents. Consequently the diced ham needed to be increased somewhat.  

On another occasion my mother spotted an injured magpie on the front lawn. It didn't look very well. It had a couple of magpies nearby keeping watch so it could die in safety. The bird did die near dusk. My mother saw many magpies sitting on the telegraph wires in front of their house. There must have been about 40 magpies. They starting singing. This lasted for about 45 mins. From dirges to more uplifting "hymns". Eventually they flew off. The funeral or gathering was over. The bird then could be picked up by mother and buried.

Bev Southcott

The sorry Lorikeet

In the house behind ours in Prospect there is a huge palm tree. We sit outside in the evening watching the comings and goings of the many different types of birds that treat the palm tree as a multistorey residence. One evening there was a really strong wind and in the morning we found a very young Rainbow Lorikeet among the geraniums. It was looking very sorry for itself.

We have two cats and we realised that once the cats got out in the garden the little bird was too vulnerable to survive their attention. We kept the cats inside and I rang the RSPCA. They couldn't help directly but referred me to the Bird Rescue and Wildlife Care organisation. I rang them and they said, try to keep the cats in as long as possible. Put the little bird higher up in a tree where it wouldn't be so vulnerable to the cats. If the parents of the bird were nearby they would come and feed the little bird and it was highly likely in those circumstances that it would recover and eventually be able to fly in a few days.

When I went back outside the little bird had already managed to move to a low branch on a tree. As the day went by the little bird made its way further up the tree until it was very close to the top. A mature Rainbow Lorikeet began  to appear at the top of the huge palm tree and began a sad call. We guessed it was the mother trying to locate the baby bird.

Eventually she located the baby in our much smaller tree. Mum came down and started feeding the little bird and was then joined by Dad. We watched over a couple of days as this took place and eventually we came back from work one night to find all three birds had gone and no doubt returned to their penthouse suite in the palm tree.

John Hewson

Photographs copyright of John Hewson

SCRUB WRENS – ADDRESS “Garage”

Hanging on the wall in our garage,  is a roll of fencing wire.  A pair of scrub wrens have built a nest using grass and the roll of wire as foundation. This little family have had several lots of babies in the nest. They do renovate the nest and make a new entance way each time.  They keep the old material as foundation, making  a bigger and bigger pile of dry grass each time.

Sandra Edlington

All photographs by Sandra Edlington

WILLY WAG TAIL

Mr and Mrs Willy Wag Tail have built a nest in a shrub in a pot which is in our carport, just outside our side door.  We can sit inside and watch the proceedings. They built the nest in 2009 and reared 3 lots of babies.

Between each lot of babies, they would do a little tidy up of the nest.  Add a little more Cob web for strength.  In 2010 they had 2 lots of babies in the same nest, after a little more renovation.  Both parents take full part in the process of rearing the babies.  We discovered that they have a special whistle, when they return to the nest, as if to announce to the eggs that it is Mum or Dad here now.   When they have sat on the nest for a certain length of time, they whistle as if to call the other parent to come and take over the duty for a while.  Some times they would sound cross, as if the other bird had been gone for too long. 

The nest is still in the bush in good repair.  They can come back any time and take up residence after a little home renovation.

Sandra Edlington

All photographs by Sandra Edlington

SUPERB BLUE WREN

We live at Compton near Mount Gambier.  Our garden is a birds paradise for little Blue Wrens, Willy Wag tails, Scrub Wrens, Finches plus many more varieties pass through in a day searching for food.

Mrs Blue Wren took a fancy to our Christmas tree, growing in a large pot on the back veranda, which sits just on the other side of the window from  our dining table. She began building her nest, using grass and cobwebs and dog hair as a lining.  We would brush the Labrador dogs and leave the hair in a small pile in the backyard. We were amazed to find that nest building and the sitting and feeding of baby wrens is a family affair.  Daddy Blue was also just as much involved with the whole process as Mrs Blue.  Also another female who we called  Aunty Blue also took as much interest in the nest building and feeding of feeding of the young.   At one time they were well into making a nest and the dog took interest in the nest and smashed it.   I saw Mrs Blue bring in Mr Blue to inspect the spot where the nest had been. They sat there looking in disbelief.  We put a circle of wire mesh around the Christmas Tree to protect the nest from the dogs.   The Wrens soon got back into re building and sitting on the eggs.   They reared 3 babies in all. Not that we could see the babies during the rearing as the nest is very private and we could not see into it.  

I have a photo of Mrs Blue bringing in a beak full of dog hair for the lining of the nest.

Sandra Edlington