Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

Garden Guests Diary - Are you sitting comfortably? [31 March 2008]

I took this favourite photograph of mine a couple of months ago, which I had forgotten about and just came across it again which prompted this post.  This little fellow, a young pied butcher bird has made himself at home in our hanging basket, maybe just waiting for his next meal or just shooting the breeze.  He sings his little heart out as well and the sound has to be heard to be believed, quite a range and talk about making yourself comfortable -  I have never seen a bird actually sit before and it’s an interesting position for a bird.  Since we have been feeding these pied butcher birds, we are now on to our fourth group of youngsters!

Garden Guests Diary - Singing in the Rain [30 March 2008]

We’ve had a lot of rain over the last month or so which is fantastic for the drought Queensland is suffering from. When it rains here, it really RAINS and I thought the rain was bad in Scotland!  The rain always brings down more birds and they just love our garden on a wet afternoon and we see the rainbow lorikeets sheltering together under the eaves of our pergola or canoodling together on our fence, totally drenched!  The Galahs seem to just love sitting out in the rain and they almost fall asleep on the clothes line with the rain pelting down.  I love the atmosphere the rain creates and enjoy trying to capture the dewy, misty mood surrounding our garden guests.  A few captures …

top to bottom: “Singing in the Rain“, “Rainy Day Blues“ and juvenille pied butcher birds on a rainy afternoon

Garden Guests Diary - Pale-headed Rosellas [27 March 08]

I haven’t seen the pale-headed rosellas coming down to feed for a while, until few days ago.  They are intimidated by the rainbow lorikeets and galahs due to their shy and wary natures.  I am fond of these birds and still marvel at their gorgeous plumage.  A few recent photographs of them.

Snowball loves to dance

As you know we feed the sulphur-crested cockatoos in our garden and this video caught my attention on YouTube - it’s very funny and they are such intelligent birds.

Garden Guests Diary - Brandon is growing up [12 Jan 08]

Brandon is the boldest of last year’s pied butcher bird babies and after a year, his feathers are gradually turning black and he is losing his brown colouring. When they turn black and white completely, it is impossible to tell these birds apart!

            … a  youngster                                                        … becoming an adult

  … with his younger sibling, one of this year’s babies (much lighter brown colouring)

Garden Guests Diary - Young Galahs boldly introduce themselves … [8 Jan 08]

If you’ve been following my blog, you will already be aware that my husband & I have been feeding the native birds for a few years now.  Recent new guests who have been coming down for some tucker have been three juvenile galahs with their parents.  We have never seen young galahs in our yard until now so it is very rewarding that the parents feel comfortable enough to bring their “offspring” down.  It certainly wasn’t difficult to see that they were ‘youngsters’ as their plumage is a lot paler than the adult bird, they are smaller and they make an annoying soft, consistent “feed me” screech!

l to r: Young Galah, Adult and Young Galah

The youngsters are finding their way at the moment and are amusing to watch (they have the most ungainly walk on land, just like a baby human really when you think about it) and they don’t quite have a grasp yet on the “pecking order” so their bold bravadery is getting them into strife ..

This youngster was having a dispute with a rainbow lorikeet and he hasn’t quite worked out yet that the lorikeets always win the battle for the seed bell but you’ve simply got to admire “Junior” for trying …

Garden Guests Diary - Magpie and her Youngster [31 Dec 07]

It’s a wet and windy New Year’s Eve afternoon and this weather always brings down more birds to our garden. Today, I enjoyed watching a magpie feed one of her youngsters with mince I had just put down for them.

Finally the youngster is full up and happy!

Crow befriends Kitten

This is one of the most unusual friendships you will ever see - it’s hard to actually believe it’s happening - a delightful story.

Garden Guests Diary - Cheeky Cockatoo [20 December 07]

I was out in the garden today taking photographs of insects when I happened to spot a sulphur-crested cockatoo in our pergola, perched on a chair. We feed the native birds, including the sulphur-crested cockatoos, by hanging up a seed bell and there was, infact, a seed bell in the garden but this fellow decided that he wanted the ‘other’ seed bell which my husband had just bought, still in its plastic wrapper and placed on an outside shelf. What followed was amazing …

I was using my macro lens so the photographs are not the best of quality but I managed to capture this cheeky fellow’s antics …

“Cocky” has spotted the seed bell and is about to fly over to investigate …

“Cocky” gets closer to the seed bell and perches on my exercise bike and treadmill.

“Cocky” makes it to the shelf and has one quick look to make sure that nobody is watching …

“Cocky” has his first nibble on the seed bell but wait, what’s this plastic stuff?

“Cocky” tackles it from a different angle but the plastic stuff is still there!

I ended up scaring “Cocky” but you will be pleased to hear that he flew on to the seed bell which was hanging up in the garden and ended up having some tucker.

Monkey and Pigeon Love

I stumbled across this photograph and thought that it was adorable - unfortunately I cannot acknowledge the photographer as I do not know who took it. I did not see it on this site but it is available at http://www.photoshot.com/home.jsp