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This Grey Butcherbird has been visiting, tidying up and stealing – and turned up just as I started writing this sentence!

During lockdown it’s especially lovely to share brand new photographs with you. This Grey Butcherbird is quite a character, I’m wondering whether it’s the same bird that I rescued from my woodshed a few years ago.

My bubble person (how wonderful to have a bubble person during this lockdown!) sometimes needs to bring children with her. We stay in the garden, wearing masks and socially distancing but it is amazingly wonderful compared with the months I’ve had without having visitors like this. Anyways, back to the butcherbird. One of the children had brought a little dog ornament to show me. She put it on the veranda railing, between her and me. It’s a tiny little dog, just a couple of centimetres high. As I was looking at it, from a distance, this resourceful bird flew in, scooped it up and flew away with it! The poor little girl was so upset. Our only hope was that the bird wouldn’t fly too far before realising it wasn’t edible.

I saw where it landed, half way up a tree, about thirty or forty metres away. The little one and her mum started running and saw where the ornament had been dropped. Phew!

After my visitors left I saw the butcherbird on the veranda, right next to the door, picking up some pretty tiny crumbs that must have been dropped. The shot above is a high key photograph showing the bird looking down from the pergola. Maybe it’s especially busy because it has youngsters to feed, I might find out soon if some juveniles turn up.

Ethical Nature Photography is a fantastic new website by Georgina Steytler that is well worth a visit. Click on the link to check out the three guest articles with images by myself, Melissa Groo and Doug Gimesy Ethical Nature Photography

Happy birding, stay safe, Kim

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