Spring is on the Way!

Even though it's still winter, and cold, I can sense that spring is on its way. Winter used to be my most hated season, but I'm liking it more that I used to, now, for health reasons. I'm enjoying the way winter keeps me from overheating!


I'm glad that spring is on the way though, the birds are chirping more, and they all seem more chipper with it! I love those chipper chirpers! And I know the bulbs are getting ready to show off what they've been working on underground. We have freesias and dutch iris, and I hope we get a big display when the time is right.


We didn't prune our rose bushes over winter, and I wish we had. One of the roses has a lovely rich purple/red bloom on it now, and I guess it would be a shame to prune it all away. Our family are certainly not knowledgeable rose gardeners. I just know roses are meant to be pruned in winter, for the best results. I'm a bit shaky about the ins and outs of it all though.


If anyone out there can fill me in on the rose pruning details, I'd love to read what you have to tell me!

My List of Birds

I have a book, inside this book is a handwritten list. The list is a record of the common and scientific names of every different kind of bird that I have been able to identify on our property in Redbanks South Australia. I began this list some time after we moved to Redbanks, but I’m not sure how long after we moved I began the list.

We moved out of the suburbs and into the country in November 1988, so the list may have been going for as many as twenty three years. I’ve always liked watching birds, but since we moved out to the country, I get the chance to see many more birds than I ever saw in the ‘burbs.

I don’t write down a new bird until I’m positive I’ve made a true identification – to write down a bird if I wasn’t certain I had the correct name for it would be cheating, and I’m certainly not going to cheat myself on this. The list is inside ‘A Field Guide to Birds of Australia’ by Graham Pizzey. This excellent book is a tool known to many serious birdwatchers, I’m sure.

I have forty-one different kinds of birds on my list. One re-reading my list just now, I saw that I have in fact included one bird I’m not absolutely certain about. This bird is the brown falcon, or Falco berigora. Thinking back about twenty years, I remember I was almost certain, and I couldn’t find anything else it might have been, so I wrote the bird down. To be honest about it, I wrote ‘probably’ so that I could show the truer situation.

Anyway, my list ranges from boring non-natives like sparrows and starlings, to rarer native birds such as the purple-crowned lorikeet and my favourite, the wedge-tailed eagle. Some of the birds on the list are ones who live here in our trees and shrubs. Others are visitors who live nearby and pop by every now and then. Then there are the ‘seasonal’ ones, who appear only at certain times, and for a brief period.

One of these visitors is the purple crowned lorikeet, that comes here only when one of our kinds of gum tree flowers. This brings this bird and minors, and another kind of lorikeet, the musk lorikeet. When these birds are here, the noise level rises! Most of the birds stay out of our backyard – our dogs are hunters of birds, and the birds tend to be wary of them. The dogs have been able to catch some birds though – the most common snack the dogs catch on the fly is the spotted turtle dove, in spring, when the birds are somewhat distracted by more important things! One day when I was standing by our back door, with Ananka, our oldest Pharaoh Hound next to me, a sparrow flew by, and Ananka suddenly jumped up and caught the bird, then ran off to eat her prize!

One of my favourite ways to relax is to sit outside looking at the birds that are within sight. Every time I sit down out of the front or back of my house, I know I will see at least those common imports, sparrow and starling. If I’m sitting by our pool, I’ll often see swallows, circling around and diving down to skim up some water from the pool.

Somebody told me that the swallows are probably getting some water to take back to make mud to build their nest. I’m not sure whether or not that is true. I know that swallows do incorporate mud into their nests, so it might be. Perhaps someone out there might know for sure?

Anyway, that’s an insight into my birdwatching activities, I’d love to hear about some of the birds you have where you live!

I love Autumn

I have to say, this Autumn day I'm having right now would have to be the most perfect weather possible. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and there's a lovely cool breeze outside.

I'm not out there in the lovely weather though. I haven't been outside at all today, I only know it's lovely because of what I can see, looking out of the windows, and what I can feel - the breeze blowing in through the screen door. The dogs are all flaked out inside too, two on their sofa, one on our bed and the other one lying down in the open crate near me.

At least the dogs have been outside though, they have sufficient breaks outside for drinking and toileting, and chasing birds. They actually caught a bird yesterday, in the morning. The Pharaoh Hounds were all outside, Jake had put them out while he got ready for the new day. Hubby and I were still in bed - the joys of no longer working!

Then the dogs began barking, like they really meant it. I thought they were just barking at birds, so I didn't worry, until hubby told me Nena, the Schnauzer was outside too. That got me out of bed quick. The four dogs have been getting on really well lately, but I know it won't take much for it to go bad again. Our two oldest bitches are still not settled on who's the top bitch.

Anyway, I went to the door and called Nena. She came to me and I went outside, leaving Nena in the house. I did it that way because Nena is the only one of our dogs who's reliable with coming when she's called. The Pharaoh Hounds come when they're good and ready, which is rarely exactly when they're wanted.

The Hounds were all barking and trying to get something in a large bush - leaping at it and bark, bark, barking! Then suddenly one of them broke away from the others - it was our male PH, with something black in his mouth. The others took off after him, but he glared at them and they backed away. Then he crouched down and proceeded to get stuck into eating the creature.

I'm not sure what it was, other than it being a bird. It may have been a spotted turtle dove, judging by the size, and the fact that there are often those doves up in that bush. The dark colour though, that makes me think it may have been a starling. We have lots and lots of starlings living around our place.

Anyway, that was yesterday. This morning, nothing like that happened. It's just been lovely, and you know what? I reckon I'm going to leave the house and sit outside for a while. I'll catch some sunshine, and watch the birds out there. I love bird watching!

If you love bird watching too, which are your favourite birds? I love birds of prey - I saw a fork tailed kite yesterday, circling overhead. Beautiful!