lirralirra

Today I was busily weeding the garden when a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, and a couple of its mates, flew over my head, screeching.

They landed on a young apricot tree where the fruit is just starting to develop. The fruit from this tree is absolutely delicious and I’m usually happy to share it with the rosellas, lorikeets and cockies.

The scallywag picked a developing fruit, hard, small and green. It tested it, spat it out and flew away! If they keep testing them there won’t be any left to ripen. I threw out all my nets a few years ago as they were dangerous to wildlife and thought all was going okay to share the fruit but I’m thinking I’d better get some bird-safe nets or give up on apricots this year.

The sun was still pretty high which isn’t great for photography and made it a challenge to ensure I had detail in the white of the cockie’s feathers. The background is distant trees that are about 50 metres or so away. They were mostly in shadow from some very large eucalypts.

The cockie kept its beady eye on me as it nibbled.

It was lovely to have weather that was nice enough to work in the garden. I was delighted to see so many skinks as I worked. And, unlike Monday’s weeding, I didn’t manage to be stung by a bee in the palm of my hand and stab my own lip with the stinger!

Happy birding, Kim

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