My inspiration for this story on the Aussie magpie was an amazing piece of free-form machine embroidery by Lynda Worthington. For someone like me who struggles to take up a hem, it was mind-blowing. There is enormous affection for magpies in Australia. They are so engaging and
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WELL HELLO AGAIN GANG-GANGS! After not seeing Gang-gang cockatoos in my Blue Mountains garden for several years I was delighted when a lively group arrived a couple of weeks ago. There were lured by the ripening seeds on my various wattle trees (acacias). They have been returning
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I have obtained permission from my two ‘boss’ brown thornbills to write a little story about them and their relatives. We have a resident group in our Blue Mountains garden. They are really small; about 10cm long. They weigh in at around 7 grammes apiece. My darling
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FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER, CLICK HERE. August 26 2018 – A second chapter in the life of Mr S. Bowerbird of Memorial Park, Blackheath. It had been raining all day, converting many bottle caps in the bower to miniature swimming pools. Poor Mr B. was kept busy
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Introducing Mr Satin bowerbird outside his Blue Mountains home at; No. 1 Memorial Park BLACKHEATH 2785 This is a very well located, private property only a two minute walk to the village (twenty seconds in full flight). Swimming pool complex nearby and someone to cut the grass.
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This is what the bower of a satin bowerbird looks like (below right), with its collection of predominantly blue ‘treasures ‘, assembled to impress the ladies. I’m afraid the birds mostly use human trash these day, especially bottle tops. Bowers were full of plastic straws in my
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FROGMOUTHS HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT Can any bird or animal camoflague itself as successfully as the Australian Tawny Frogmouth? They are truly astonishing. Here in the Blue Mountains of NSW they are quite common. Mind you, the only way I can find them in my Blackheath garden
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A story about birds by me, Editor Des WOT’S MORE SCARY….A COCKATOO OR A KOOKABURRA? Do you know what? A kookaburra called Toffee visits our garden every day. At first I was a bit scared of him, I thought he might start pecking my fur off for
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THE ENGAGING BOWERBIRD Perhaps the most entertaining and interesting birds in my garden are the Australian Satin Bowerbirds. The difference in appearance between females and juveniles and the adult male is hard to believe. Initially the birds are olive green, with cream and brown scalloped
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When the First Fleet arrived in Sydney in 1788 the bird life was incredibly rich and varied. Before long the artist John Lewin was producing watercolours of the colony’s unique species, such as the beautiful lyre bird pictured at left. The old Tank Stream (which now runs
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