They’ve been taunting me with their cat-like calls from the tops of tall trees for weeks, but today was my lucky day! Forty minutes of sitting still with a cramp in my hip and mosquitos biting me through my clothes and I finally had a photo of a Green Catbird …
He seemed quite aware of my presence as he kept looking in my direction and cocking his head but providing I didn’t move, he seemed quite relaxed. Another photo for the Bird Gallery.
Words would be a bit superfluous here … so other than to explain that Kangaroo Island’s Raptor Domain is home to rescued, orphaned and injured birds of prey, I’ll pretty much let the photos tell the story.
I suspect that this is the closest I will ever come to a Wedge Tailed Eagle …
I suspect that not many bloggers write posts on public conveniences … most of them being either unremarkable or indescribable (the loos not the bloggers). But the loo at Stokes Bay on the north coast of Kangaroo Island deserves a special mention.
At first glance, nothing unusual, just a conveniently placed beach loo.
But a surprise awaits inside. The walls being covered with a soft lime-wash in beach colours and beautiful relief sculptures …
A bit of research uncovers that the project was part of Eco-Action’s BirdLife Australia Beach-Nesting Bird Project funded through the Federal Government’s “Caring for our Country”. Two artists Gay De Mather and Lara Tilbrook spent a summer preparing the site and plastering and painting the walls.
The murals focus on the life of beach-nesting birds, Hooded and Red Capped Plover and Pied and Sooty Oyster Catchers, and the impacts that humans, dogs and predators have on them.
This is the first time that a public convenience has been the highlight of my sightseeing day. Unfortunately it probably means that I will be visiting them on a more regular basis, whether I need to or not!
I’ve been on a couple of bird-watching expeditions and had a great time. I remember being particularly impressed with a National Parks & Wildlife ranger who produced a freshly baked cake and a coffee plunger from the back of his car! But I hate ticks and leeches, and my distance eye-sight is not the best, so I’ve decided that traipsing through the bush hoping for a momentary glimpse of a disappearing drongo is not for me.
Much better that I set up my garden as an oasis for birds, with plenty of water, native flowering plants and small snacks. That way I can sit on the veranda with a coffee (or a glass of wine), a camera and my bird book and wait for the birds to come to me.
Yes it’s lazy, and so far it’s working quite well. On a hot day, there’s a queue of birds waiting for their turn in the bird bath. You’ll have to take my word for it that this is a Satin Bowerbird …
And there’s a constant procession of birds dropping in at the feeder to check if there is anything there that they fancy. Sometimes it’s a bit of paw-paw, a piece of bread (wholegrain of course!), a sprinkling of seeds, a dead bug or a piece of sweet corn – not enough to make them dependent though.
As of today the count is at 34 confirmed species, and a few manic birds who won’t stay still long enough for me to identify them let alone take a photo. Visit my Bird Gallery which I update as I identify new bird species.
A Bellingen Diary 