A Free Parrot Tour to Australia!

[strudel]

Trish, it sure sounds like you see a wide variety of birds where you are, many of which are parrots and parakeets!

I think all of us in Australia get to see them. I"m in the city and I see all the "usual" birds every day. There are cockies (pink and greys) in all the parks around where I live. There was a crow drinking out of next-door's sprinkler when I came back from the shops the other day. Flocks of cockies or 28s come and strip fruit or nut trees if you have them in your backyard. Lots of magpies.

Where I used to live, I had an area of undeveloped bush across the road. There were heaps of birds and wildflowers in there, lots of goannas. The racket from the birds early in the morning was quite "something". It was the same sort of experience you'd have if you "went bush" but it was a suburban "park". There's a patch of bush at the local TV station where there are groups of kangaroos. They sit on the lawn at the TV station. There's a bush "park" up the road. If you want to "bushwalk", you don't have to leave town.

We are VERY lucky in the wildlife we can see regularly, right in the middle of a city.

I agree with Mekaisto, there's nothing in particular I want to see, it's all good. I even like pigeons and those mean brown birds I can never remember the name of.

 

[RavensGryf]

Here, what you see day to day is mostly crows, pigeons, sparrows, starlings, seagulls....

Mammals are Opossums (not the same kind as in oz), raccoons, small vermin, and if you live more by the hills you might have coyotes... especially if you have small dogs or cats :32:

Most definitely nothing you in Australia would say you need to come to SoCal to see LOL.

 

[strudel]

Oh, we've got heaps of pigeons (in town) and seagulls (on the coast) as well as crows, too. It isn't all good...

 

[Betrisher]

Yep, Mekaisto's got the right of it! The little things that crop up to surprise you: the day I nearly fell on top of a Pale Headed Rosella in the park; the time I heard a raspy, raucous noise just overhead to find a group of Gang Gangs gorging themselves on gumnuts.

Speakin' of parks, I have a nice story to relate. Near home, we have a rather large and spreading tree-filled park whose main feature is a formal rose garden that looks onto the main road. It's very popular for weddings and wedding photos, as well as football, cricket and rugby league. The wider park has play equipment and free solar-fuelled barbecues for the public to enjoy. Of course, this park is popular and nearly always crowded.

One thing I've loved about Jesmond Park (that's what it's called) is the interesting variety of birds to be seen there. Lots of parrots from the SC2s and Corellas right down to the little Grass Parrots are there in numbers every day. I've even seen a Crested Hawk (unromantically renamed 'Crested Baza') fumbling around in the bushes!

Anyway, a year or so ago, various trees were fenced off by six-foot chain-link fences, ostensibly because they were 'dangerous'. That meant they were all mature enough to start dropping branches, which is a common thing among our native gum trees. They'll often shed branches during a hot summer in order to conserve energy. This, of course, is what makes way for fungus and termites to hollow out the holes so vital for parrots to nest in. You can imagine my distress when I saw all these trees being fenced off as if earmarked for removal!

Well, I can't have been alone. Someone wrote to the local newspaper and expressed their worry about the trees in Jesmond Park. Next thing, a Consultation was had and the trees were made safe by judicious lopping of various limbs. When they fall, only small amounts of timber will go and, presumably, if one falls on my head I'll live to tell the tale.

What impressed me most is that one really special specimen, a Sydney Blue Gum of advanced years (probably older than the settlement of Australia) has been left with a permanent fence around it. This tree is really huge with a breast-height circumference of over three metres. Its branches are long and flexible and many have already fallen, leaving visible holes on and near the trunk. I have seen SC2s sticking their heads out of such a hole as well as Galahs and Rosellas. It's a Special Tree!

Well, when the tree surgeons came to inspect it, this tree contained so many nesting pairs of parrots that it has been left alone. FOR THE BIRDS' SAFETY, a fence has been installed to keep inquiring members of the public away. This one small gesture means so much to me as I grow older and watch what used to be a nice, quiet little town grow into a busy, traffic-filled city. At least someone in authority still cares for the birds.

 

[strudel]

Thank god there's somebody with a bit of a clue on council there. So often, some bureaucrat just decides to nuke things rather than preserve them. Win!