My evening with Rainbow Lorikeets

There were many magical things that I was able to witness while I was holidaying in Australia. The evening I spent watching rainbow lorikeets is one from the top of the list!

I had a free evening to find a place to eat and enjoy a beer. Strolling up to the main area of the town I was staying in, I watched many species of bird coming and going. All clearly heading home for a safe restful night, all calling to each other. Some starting to form flocks.

I chose a bar with outdoor seating, and sat back to enjoy the cool refreshing lager and the ever growing flocks of birds. The main species was rainbow lorikeets. I had come across them before, both earlier in my trip and on a previous visit to Australia (10 years previous). I had quite a fondness for the brightly coloured birds, fantastic characters.

The lorikeet flock grew in numbers, they started flying lower over the main street. With that came the unbelievable noise! It was deafening and amazing! They would circle, coming back over head, with more birds in their group! The locals at the bar didn’t blink an eye, they didn’t even raise an eyebrow to acknowledge the natural spectacle around them! I was in awe.

Still the numbers grew and so did the noise!

Then I spotted a bird that wasn’t like the others, a peregrine falcon! It flew over twice, I didn’t anything in its talons, so I hope all the Lorikeets got home to roost that night!

Once I finished my beer, I headed up the street. Four palms framed the main crossing of the High Street. This was the chosen roost of the hndreds of lorikeets I had been watching, and they were all in those trees. The noise was incredible! They may have been coming into to roost, but the birds were not ready to settle yet. They continued to call and squawk to each other, flitting between the trees for quite some time!

I was able to take some photographs and video to the moment, but it pales in comparison to being there in person! I do hope it gives you an idea of the sights and sounds I saw.

I am so glad I chose that bar, that beer and the seat outside. What I witnessed may not have been anything new to the residence of that small town, but for me, it was a memory to last a life time!

Australian encounters: Parrots and Kookaburras!

On my holiday to Australia in February, I had the good fortune to be able to photograph many different species of wildlife. The colourful and often noisy birds, cute mammals, fascinating lizards and the many species of gorgeous insects I encountered will, I hope, all be blogged about in the near future.

As it’s World Parrot Day, I thought I would share with you the photographs of some parrot species I saw on my holiday. I managed to spy a few more species than I was able to photograph, I was most excited to see a King Parrot even if it was only for a split second! I have also included a short video of a pair of noisy but charming Little Corellas!

I have included some photographs of kookaburras because they are as iconic as the beautiful and colourful parrots of Australia!

The Bats, birds and bees of Wingham

During my recent trip to Australia, I had been told about a nature reserve in a small place called Wingham. Only a few miles down the road. I thought it was worth checking out.

I was given instructions on how to get there and for a view point to stop at. It looked across the Manning River Valley, rolling hills and lush green farm land. It was worth the stop!

Onwards to Wingham Brush Nature Reserve! I pulled up into the dry mud car park, a little greeting sign and a small wooden gate marked the place. There was something that reminded me of the little nature reserves I visit at home in the UK.

I was more than a little excited about visiting this place, I had been told that there were some rather special inhabitants here … flying foxes!

I walked up the boardwalk and along into the reserve. Bush turkeys strolled around without a care that I was there, I even watched one digging into its huge mound of a nest, clearly preparing to lay! I saw a small colourful moth, listened to the eerie calls of Australian ravens and admired the giant stinging trees the entrance sign warned me about. Where were these flying foxes? I kept one eye on the boardwalk and the other on the tree canopy. I kept walking, trying to take it all in slowly, absorb the sights, sounds and smells around me. But I was a little impatient to find these flying foxes.

I started to be able to hear them, their high pitched squabbles. I was getting near! I caught a glimpse of upside-down bodies in the distant canopy, I hurried along the path and all of a sudden I was in the middle of a roost!

High in the canopy the bats hung restfully, a few were waking up and stretching out their huge wings, occasionally making their squabbling calls at each other. In some areas the resting bats hung, using their wings to fan themselves. In other areas, they were far more lively, clambering over each other and taking short flights.

I could not escape the fact that as I walked quietly along the boardwalks looking up, the bats hung in the roost looking straight down at me. There were many more curious eyes looking down at the two looking up!

I eventually had to leave, I had to drag myself away! It was hard, I could have stayed there the rest of the day and the next. But if nothing else, my neck ached from looking up! The boardwalk opened out onto the river bank, and a short walk up the river bank I was back at the dry mud car park I arrived at. I decided to have a look around the town of Wingham. There was only one shop open when I arrived, not that that mattered to me as my attention was grabbed by the flock of galahs. The galahs were foraging in the grass of the town square. I also stopped to admire a beautiful flowering bush at the edge of the square, on closer inspection I noticed tiny bees visiting the unique flowers.

It was a day packed with fascinating and beautiful wildlife, I returned back to my accommodation tired. I slept deeply that night, dreaming of the mischievous squabbles and curious faces of those fabulous flying foxes!