It’s been an exhausting few weeks with sick babies, car troubles, lurking termites and run-off continuing to inundate my place. On a brighter note a male fairywren has appeared proudly sporting his breeding colours.
The male fairywren in my garden was too fast to photograph as he zoomed around the garden with a couple of females and a non-breeding male. This shot is one I took at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Cranbourne with the red sands of the arid garden as a background and kangaroo paw as the perch. I’m hoping the local family will nest in the middle of a large lomandra as they have for the past couple of years. I’ve also known them to nest here in long grasses and in juncus.
Other signs of spring are literally blossoming around me, including fruits trees and wattle trees. And the bird song is ramping up. Ravens are already nesting and the Grey Shrike-thrush are singing even more loudly than usual.
Happy birding my friends, Kim
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Such a beautiful shot! It’s lovely to see the handsome males flitting around the garden. Happy spring! 🌼
They always make me stop and watch, so gorgeous! Happy spring to you too xo
ALways a joy to see that flash of turquoise from our beloved Fairy Wrens! I am, as you know, Kim, rather obsessed by this beautiful bird – but it has been so hideously windy here in Port Phillip bayside – howling gales up to 120km per hour – that I have not seen any lately. I hope that your big gum trees up where you live near the hills, haven’t toppled over. I read that up to 600 trees – mostly big eucalypts in Melbourne, were blown down in the gales. I do worry how on earth all our beloved birds manage to survive such bitter wind force – but found out that all birds can lock themselves very tightly onto branches with their claws, and just ride out the storm. I do feel anxious for them, though. The couple of magpies that I usually feed every morning, did not greet me with their usual carolling after the wild storms we had last week – and the poor things looked very bedraggled and shell shocked – as if they had barely managed to cling on for dear life. It is a hard world for little things…
I often think of the birds in storms Deirdre. They are truly amazing that they can cope with the kinds of winds and weather that we’ve been having. There’s been a few branches down here but nothing like I experienced a few years ago with more than two dozen down just in and directly around my place. I hope the magpies recover their equilibrium soon and that you’ve seen the last of the high winds that have caused these issues.
It has been an exhausting few weeks here too. I hope your problems are now sorted as ours are (knocking firmly on wood). And yes, Spring is here too. A vibrant and delightful season. And thank you for the delightful fairy wren.
I hope so much that everything stays settled at your place EC and that spring brings many smiles.