The Rainbow Lorikeets have been calling for days, but I couldn’t track them down.
Today, determined to get a photo for birdlovers Joanna and Brian, I went walking the street with my camera – and found them happily settled into the neighbour’s persimmon tree, jealously guarding it against all intruders. Rainbow Lorikeets always travel in pairs, but this handsome couple refused to pose together in the one photo for me. Here’s a shot of the all green back…
There’s more information about these gorgeous Australasian natives in this Wiki article. They’re a noisy bird, and if you listen to their calls here, you’ll understand why I knew they were in the neighbourhood!
you are in paradise my dear! :)
i always love and enjoy to get informed by means of your posts! lovely!
I saw parakeets at close range this morning. There is quite a large population of ‘expats’ here in Dubai. Unlike you I didn’t have my camera. Lovely pics.
Hi Celia,
Just wanted to say thanks for demystifiying Sourdough for us all, and to share my excitement as I am nearing the end of growing my own starter! Thursday is “D” day when I should be able to bake my first Sourdough Loaf, I am really looking forward to it. Then I will start having a go at some of your other wonderful Soudough recipes.
Gina, thank you! Often it does indeed feel like paradise! :)
Sally, that’s amazing, I didn’t think they went that far abroad! They’re very beautiful, aren’t they?
Erica, that IS very exciting! Have fun with your starter – and if you’re throwing away any during the feed and discard process, you might like this sourdough pancakes recipe…link is here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/09/13/sourdough-pancakes/
I didn’t realise they travelled in pairs, because they always seem to be in flocks.
Unfortunately, it’s only noisy miners that sit and squawk outside my window at the moment.
We have common mynas, but I don’t think we’ve seen the noisy miners here!
Oh ho! Thank you! If one of those turned up in a British garden, the entire bird twitching population of the Isles would be here queuing down the road for miles! As it is, if one turned up, it would probably be an escape from a collection, which happens more often than one might think. Aren’t they stunning lookers!
This post reminds me of years ago when I was in Edmonton, Canada and went to an exhibition of paintings, all painted in the old world style, but full of new world animals and creatures. It must have been an extraordinary experience to arrive in Australia and be greeted by these colourful birds!
I’m glad you liked them! I’m not much of a bird watcher, so it’s really only the very brightly coloured ones that catch my eye! I’ll keep an eye out for more Aus natives for you though! :)
I love them! And that beautiful big persimmon tree…
Mrs Bok, they certainly love the persimmons more than I do, I can’t stand them..ugh…(my Chinese mother is appalled with me for turning them down whenever the neighbour offers them to us!) :)
They are beautiful birds, loud, but beautiful. Your neck of the woods looks great. Hope you had a wonderful weekend Miss Celia. Xxx
SO loud! Especially when they’re bickering with others of their own kind! Weekend was great, hope yours was too, Anna! :)
They’re so vibrant aren’t they. We get the odd King Parrot from time to time and that feels really special. Rainbow lorikeets are a regular in our neck of the woods. Surprisingly I haven’t spotted any in our persimmon tree. Maybe when they are done in Sydney, they’ll drop in up here. Lovely pics.
I’ve never seen a King Parrot and had to look it up, Mariana! I’ll keep an eye out for them next time, thank you! :)
Hehe we had a pair of rainbow lorikeets visit us. We called them Bert and Ernie. They got very demanding when we didn’t feed them too even pecking on the bedroom window to wake us up! :P
Bert and Ernie? :)
How nice that they were so tame!
How beautiful they are you are so lucky. I live in Manhattan and I have two falcons living in my neighborhood. The female is the daughter of the famous Pale Ale who lives in the Upper West Side. To be sitting at my desk and looking out to see the beautilful wing span of these birds.
Norma, that must be amazing – birds of prey are just so stunning!!
They are very good looking aren’t they! Isn’t it odd how different areas of the world have different bird species. Most of ours in the UK have brown based colouring (correct me if I’m wrong Joanna, I’m not much of a bird watcher!) with flashes of pink/red/blue rather than being predominantly those colours. I suppose it must be to do with climate and foliage. Well, whether or not they’re as bright as yours, seeing the small birds around my garden always cheers me up :-)
C, I don’t know much about birds either, but apart from the Lorikeets, all the other birds I’ve seen in the neighbourhood have been fairly drab. There are quite a few Aus natives that are very brightly plumed though!
Great pictures! You did an amazing job getting those gorgeous birds on film. It looks as though they posed for you.
Thanks Deb! The lighting was terrible – it was very overcast and I had to shoot up towards the sky – but hey, if you take enough photos, some of them usually work.. :)
We have a callistemon right off our side verandah, and the lorikeets often visit. Unfortunately they also like guavas, and lychees, and nashi, and grapes, and….but they do pay for their dinner.
They’re really amazing to watch, aren’t they? :)
Hi Celia!
Those lorikeets are so pretty! Lovely pictures. I can imagine they can be pretty noisy sometimes!
Their beauty makes up for the noisiness. Well done on getting such great shots.
:-) Mandy
I have pictures of me as a kid covered in rainbow lorikeets on our back verandah. They have sharp claws.
All those lovely persimmons!! How sad! I think lorikeets are more likely to feast on a whole fruit rather than have a bit of a nibble on dozens like the Rosellas do. They seem less flighty and ready to defend.
Lovely photos as ever.
Colorful birds – they will give HoneyB some inspiration for her garden pictures. All we have at the moment is black, and black and white!
Manuela, sooo noisy sometimes! Lucky for them they’re so beautiful – as Mandy says, it makes up for their screeching.. :)
Vix, thank you – I think there’s a very old photo of me on a visit to the Gold Coast covered in birds as well. I haven’t seen many Rosellas in the area, but I’m looking out for them…
Gill, that’s nice, I hope HoneyB has fun colouring them in! :)
Hi, lovely photos again! What about a nice persimmon cake recipe? or do you not like that either? I made it a few months ago, it was yummy!
Chocveg, there’s something about the texture and smell of persimmons that just doesn’t work for me! I’m sure it would make a great cake though, and my mother would probably love it! :) Glad you liked the pics, thank you!
How cute! We don’t get them here, but get Crimson and Eastern Rosellas, little green Grass Parrots, Cockatoos, and heaps of Galahs. We also have some blue wrens nesting in our yard despite the cat and dog.
Persimmons don’t do much for me either, I keep trying, but not for me.
I’d love to see your backyard, Becca! So many colours! We get Galahs here when the trees are fruiting…
I was kind of hoping for a recipe…
You’re a worry, Mr Newbery.. :)
Surely you have heard about what they did with a couple of dozen blackbirds and some hot-water pastry?