I mentioned recently that we had a group of Koels around for a few days.
Overlapping with them, a party of adult and juvenile Dollarbirds used a
couple of trees close to the house every afternoon as their base for a lot
of cackling and short aerial circuits.
Just for a few days, each of these little groups became a familiar focus of
activity around the house each afternoon. We still get Koels and Dollarbirds
around each day, but both of those parties have moved on. When I took a walk
yesterday I found the Dollarbirds elsewhere in the garden, but that
particular burst of noise and business and colour just outside the window,
or just off the verandah that was looked for and enjoyed for a short spell,
has passed.
However, the gap has been quickly filled by a family of Sacred Kingfishers
that has got into the habit of coming to the melaleuca structure that I've
erected alongside the rock pool outside my window. Again, these are regular
birds around the garden, but there's an extra pleasure from having them move
in close up. For the last few afternoons, two Sacred Kingfishers have posted
themselves there, making occasional visits down to the pool for a wash, or
dodging off to capture a grasshopper or a caterpillar which they bring back
to their perch for bashing before gulping it down.
As these visitations have settled into regularity, it's provided good
opportunities for photos, but I've become increasingly frustrated by having
to photograph through the glass of the window next to my desk. This has
driven me to make a sort of camera platform at a semi-hidden vantage point
close to the rock, and I'm attaching one of the first pics from this spot to
the off-line copies of this note.
This-morning, at around 6.30am, there are three Sacred Kingfishers in a line
on the rail overlooking the pool. Although I expect this special treatment
will only last a few days, who knows what might be next...
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at www.abberton.org
email:
ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111
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