Sid and Sharon Genaux <> wrote:
Subject: Outback sunrise
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 04:45:36 GMT
Hi everyone,
We are not in the outback now, we are in Darwin. It is
a shock to be in a city after the sparsely populated
areas we have just traveled through. Darwin is a new,
vibrant, multicultural city. Lots of good restaurants,
interesting shops, and sunshine. It is a little warm
and humid for our taste, but still a nice place to
visit. Amid this bustle, it is nice to remember
watching the sunrise at Barkley Homestead.
The area around Barkley Homestead is dry grasslands,
so the birds are attracted to the small ponds where
water is stored. One of these small pools was next to
the caravan park. Imagine yourself sitting at the edge
of this pond just before daybreak. The sky is just
beginning to lighten in the east. The first birds to
take to the air are the Black Kites. They assemble in
groups in the trees near the water to wait for the
early morning breeze. Later they will slip away, one
by one, to look for a dead cow or a road killed 'roo
hit by a road train during the night. Meanwhile they
loom over the pond like dark sentinels.
As the sun breaks over the horizon, the first of the
Galahs arrive. They are a lovely parrot with Quaker
gray back, white topknots and rosy-pink underparts.
The rose of their breasts is more intense as it
catches the first rays of the sun. They land in pairs
and look around self-consciously, like early arrivals
at a party. Next to arrive are the Crested Pigeons.
This is the big social event of their day. They land
close together and mill around gossiping with each
other. Here and there a male will bow, spread his
tail, and coo urgently at a female he is interested
in. Crested Pigeons are about the size of Mourning
Doves. They are mostly brown and black with a metallic
green panel in their wings. Their tails are long and
narrow and they have a two inch spike of dark feathers
standing straight up on the top of their heads. When
they gather at the edge of the water to drink and lean
forward to dip their bills in the water, they look
like a row of
animated check marks with their crests and tails
sticking up. Occasionally a group of them will take
off with a rustle of wings and some frantic cooing,
only to land again about 10 feet away. There are
probably about 250 0f them at the pond. At the fringes
of the flock of Crested Pigeons are a few Peaceful
Doves. They are about half the size of the Crested
Pigeons, gray with blue around their eyes. They hang
around the edges of the flocks like small kids trying
to become a part of the big kids' games.
A White-necked Heron has flown to an area near the
pond and stalked slowly down to the water's edge. He
pulls in his neck and half-closes his eyes, watching
the antics of the smaller birds and keeping a watch
for any
fish foolish enough to come near him. A few honey
eaters and finches flutter in and make a dash for the
water, drinking quickly and flying away. Then a flock
of about twenty small birds circles the pond and lifts
up into the air again. More birds join the flock and
it comes around again, flashing lime-green in the sun.
More and more small groups join up until the flock
numbers about 300 or 400 birds. The Budgerigars circle
again, lower this time. As they go around, their color
seems to change from medium green, when you can see
their backs, to lime green, when their underparts
catch the sunlight. They wheel again and again, coming
lower.
Finally, a few of them fly down to a clump of grass in
the water and perch to quickly snatch a drink.
Frightened by their own daring, the flock nervously
flys higher again. For almost half an hour, they wheel
around--part of them descending to drink each time
they near the water's surface. This is a small
flock--it is not unusual for groups of several
thousand to descend on waterholes. Still, their color
and sound fill your
eyes, ears, and heart. Finally, it begins to get hot.
You look at your watch and are surprised to find that
two hours have gone by. The birds leave, except for
the motionless, watchful heron. But in your memory is
a record of this one sunrise that will be a vision of
serenity and joy. We visited the Immigration Office in
Darwin and got our tourist visa renewed until March
13, 2001. It is a relief to get that taken care of. We
are going out birding with Denise Goodfellow. We went
this morning, and will go back out looking for Rainbow
Pitta later this afternoon. Denise is a great guide
and an interesting person to spend time with. She is
writing
and illustrating a bird book for the Northern
Territory and lectures on bush medicine and bush
tucker. We are really enjoying her company. From here,
we will go to Kakadu National Park for about a week.
We are excited about seeing the birds, wildlife, and
aboriginal rock paintings there. It sounds like a
great place.
Thanks for your e-mails. We enjoy hearing from all of
you. If you haven't written us for a while, please
take a few minutes to let us know how you are.
Hugs,
Sid and Sharon
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail ? Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
