aussiebirder

Finally a blue sky and a chance to walk again, though much damage had been done to tracks still filled with puddles of water from the intense rain in the recent week. I thought I would check out the nesting hole again where the resident Southern Bookbook Owl had been lodging, preventing the resident Powerful Owl from nesting again as it does each year in the same nesting hole. I was pleased to see that the Boobook had appeared to have vacated the hole and now the male Powerful owl had returned and had a direct line of sight once again to the hole from deep whin the mangroves forest opposite.

The Boobook is Australia’s smallest owl and the Powerful the largest. The Powerful Owl will usually take a Brush-tailed Possum, Ring-tailed Possum or Sugar Glider per night being its first preference, otherwise they will take large birds, cats, rabbits and the occasional small fox. The male always removes the entrails of the animals before eating the body, often leaving them displayed on the walking track. The male will eat the head, often with one bite, and give the body to his family, similar to the Osprey.

While I was on the track I managed to capture this footage of a male Australian Magpie foraging in the unique Magpie way learnt by example from its parent. The Australian Magpie with is unique and larger brain learned to stop and listen for minute sounds beneath of the ground of the movement of insects and their larvae, particularly that of the Christmas Beatle. These birds are known as farmers friends since they meticulously search over paddocks and gardens removing underlying pests. They are one of Australia’s most intelligent birds and have an amazing ability to learn and mimic. Here is an example of their walk, stop and listen drill.

Australia experiences an early Spring each year about the middle of August where many of our wildflowers appear together. Our national floral emblem the Golden Wattle which is depicted by the green and yellow uniforms of our athletes in soccer and the Olympic Games. Here is a selection of the flowers I saw. Click photo to enlarge.

I decided for a change to walk in another park nearby which I rarely visit where I was rewarded with a small flock of Eastern Rosella, a beautiful bird from the Parrot family which is very shy of humans, and which we usually only see in our area this time of year feeding on grass seed. The wonder of this moment was to see a parent teaching its juvenile to feed as the two quietly fed away from the flock. Thankfully, as I kept my distance they did not fly off. It was a such a privileged blessing I was gifted to experience these mindful moments watching these birds. Here we see the love of the parent to its child, the sharing of food, and the parent proudly observing the youngster feeding by itself.

As you can see the juvenile has not yet acquired its full adult plumage and will go through several changes in the coming months

The Eastern Rosella, similar to most Parrot species, pair for life. The male or father pictured here is responsible for feeding the nesting female and for feeding and training its offspring, as is the case for many bird species including the Magpie.

The intelligent Australian Magpie and its very human like behavioural characteristics is featured in my book What Birds Teach Us, which can be purchased securely online, posted to your address. With Christmas coming, this book will make a wonderful addition to your child’s learning and reading. Not only will it introduce them to our beautiful and interesting Australian birds, it has the added bonus of each bird teaching a helpful life skill or lesson that will assist them to make wise life choices for a happy and healthy life. This book has become a very popular gift idea for Primary school aged children as it addresses important issues which help them to better navigate their their life journey. It has a reading age of 8 years to adult. Many adults enjoy it, and has proved to be a wonderful gift for overseas friends and family. Click on the image below to find out more. The page will open on a new tab.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the birds !

My second book Flight of a Fledgling has many helpful family counselling tips for parents, using our clever resilient Australian birds as its inspiration. It is so important that we model the behaviour we expect from our children, since they are sponges and learn most of life training from what they FEEL and OBSERVE from their parents and teachers. Like us we do better if we feel and know we are loved rather than judged. This book is also available securely online. Click on the image below to find out more. The page will open in a new tab.

“The right-living [people] act with integrity;  the children who follow their example are happy.” – Proverbs 20:7 (The Voice)

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” – Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)

<<< Back To Top of Page >>>

Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

Member of Birdlife Australia

To introduce people to our unique Australian birds,

And learn from them how to live a healthy and happy life.

NOTE: All photos, videos and music used on this website are photographed, composed, performed  by the site owner and remains his copyrighted property, unless otherwise stated. The use of any material that is not original material of the site owner is duly acknowledged as such. © W. A. Hewson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.