The Birds

One of our favorite things to do on our walks is look at the flora and fauna - not just the exotic kind, like wallabies, but the little bushes and birds that are new to us. My favorite bird is still the little bright blue one from the beach.

A "superb fairy-wren" - honest, that's it's name.

One of the most common birds we see all over town is the magpie. Some of them are HUGE and we have been warned a few times that they can be very territorial and have been known to dive bomb a person. In an earlier post we shared a photo of two of our local magpies who were, as Father John used to say in Catholic School, "playing checkers." (Seriously, what kind of euphemism is that? Totally ruined the game for me.) There seem to be two large males that live in our yard. Here is one on our antennae, ruling the roost.

Here's a big-ass magpie that was sitting on the fence just about 3 feet (or, as they say here, a meter) as we watched men lawn bowling at Warrnambool Bowls. He was almost the size of a "chook" (a chicken).

I've seen some crows, but I'm pretty sure this one is a raven. I looked it up. (Just let me believe it.)

On our visit to the beach at Port Fairy we saw this shore bird. Google tells me it's a Pied Oystercatcher. Very cool beak.

When Andy was on his walk at Deakin, he saw a tree full of parrots! You have to look really closely, but you can see them here.

And on the dock in the Hopkins River, on the backside of Deakin, there were birds that look like blue herons.



Finally, we captured New Holland Honey Eaters making beautiful music, just down the street from our house. You can watch a short video here.