Forgiveness and a Love of birds

Living with wildlife is not always a glorious, wonder struck affair. I had some seriously negative emotions about Sulphur Crested Cockatoos earlier this year - read I Hate Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, The Autumn Harvest, and Avian Invasians The last of our sunflowers are flowering this week, and I just picked the last of our delicious corn. Somehow, we managed to find a way of living with the cockies, and still had something to eat.   

They did swoop in and devour the Giant Russian sunflowers, clearly a delicacy.  Fortuitously the sunflowers provided a perfect lure to bring the birds right in front of my lounge-room window. It was a joy to watch them balancing precariously on swaying stems, gaily snipping off leaves and showing off their Leunig cartoon like crest. The cockatoo display went on for weeks, the littlest would say "oh, oh, naughty cockies mum", I gave up on shooing them away. These birds have personality, they were screeching at me as I attempted to take their photo, almost indignant at the interruption to their feast. I think they knew there was no bite in my bark, cocking their head to the side to eyeball me.

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Another upside to their destruction was that we have been harvesting corn right up to May, thanks to their early pruning of my seedlings I have had several late plantings of vegetables to enjoy. 

I almost like the birdy battle of wits, even if they win most of the time. Thankfully they left the corn alone, if only they knew of the golden treats hiding in those plain green husks. I don't think there's much corn growing around here so their inexperience was on my side. So, even if I curse them, and their destructive ways, I am glad to have them around.  

The cockatoos are departing now that the summer crops are finished.  Replacing them is the most delightful pair of Scarlet Robins.  During Autumn and winter these beautiful birds migrate into more open areas and have visited our place in winters gone by.  The female, whose breast is a blushing pink, was perched on the letters poking out of the letter box when I returned home last week.  The sight of these little birds sends my heart soaring. The pairs mate for life and are territorial, so it probably the same birds returning to our backyard each year.

John Gould, The Birds Of Australia 1840-1848

I'm like the girl in Pamela Allen's book Black Dog, staring longingly out the window for a flash of her favourite bird. I'm constantly searching for the vibrant splash of red against grey skies. We even have the black dog who is craving some love.

I'm a little worried  about what our neighbour's black cat is up to. I caught it hunting one of our ring tail possums recently and have found a couple of piles of feathers.  There will be no love for black cats with red birds in their mouths.  Scarlet Robins forage for insects on the ground making them vulnerable to cats. Such a shame cats are such keen hunters as he is very friendly and loves a scratch and play, the children love greeting him on his frequent visits.

Avian Invasions

I left the house on Saturday to garden at a friends, all the kids were home with dad.  Whilst I was gone there was the most unbelievable carnage, all in just 24 hours. Unbelievably the Bowerbirds mentioned this quite casually, as if it was no big event. 

  The entire apple harvest - not too many tears hear as some had coddling moth and scab but some were looking good and it would have been nice to get to try at least one.

 Pears and cherry plums, not my favourites but still.                       

 More apples, they rip off whole branches and are so wasteful,

The most missed will be the Purple Plums and especially the

 Green Gage Plums, soooooooo many Green Gage plums - they seem to love the kernels. This was to be their best ever year, I love their fragrant honey flesh - such a special treat.

  

 Crab Apples

 This seems to be the work of just 4 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos that are hanging about - my poor neighbour lost her plums and currants too. It could be more though, they fly over in huge flocks, their witchy screeches sending shivers down my spine. I'm like a backyard banshee if I spy one on the trees - they keep returning now they've found the bounty.

 For more on my cockatoo issues visit this earlier post.

The fiendish birds are even penetrating my best laid defences, I hate nets - such a pain to put on and off.

 I know what they are eyeing off next.

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We have nashis, nectarines, pears, sunflowers, corn, crab apples and the last of the netted plums calling their name.

Fortunately this creation by Mr Bowerbird is helping me grown some melons and corn.  the hoops were made from green branches off our cherry plum that wants to grow ever skywards.  I took the idea from Suburban Tomato who spied it at the Sydney Botanical Gardens using bamboo for the arches. 

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How cool is that scarecrow? Looks a bit more like a Kindcrow, not sure if it would do the job of keeping the cockatoos away, my dragon kites are proving useless.

Fortunately not all was lost.....

Not as ripe as I'd like but still usable, I'm thinking more chutney and jam.  Like Christine of Slow Living Essentials I've caught the preserving bug.

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Just not as much home grown produce to preserve as I'd anticipated.

Our home made selection to have with croissants, buttery, jammy bliss.

 What I want to know is, how did they miss the entire avian invasion while I was gone?

I hate Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

Hate is a strong word I know, and those Cocky crests are very cool.
But......

I awoke to this sight last week and must confess that tears welled in my eyes.  I am getting just a little too attached to  my vegie patch.

Tags lay scattered on the ground marking the graves of melons that might have been. Each little melon snipped at the base for no apparent reason. Pure evil cockatoo behaviour, it's not food, it's fun. I would love to have seen them pulling out the tags, why I ask, why?????

 
This patch was once filled with beautifully spaced heritage corn grown from seed. Only a few of the 30 odd plants remain. The cucumbers I placed in between them using the three sisters approach are also snipped and kaput.The second lot of corn has also emerged and been trimmed.

 
What was verdant and lovingly tended is now brown and lifeless.  They even snipped all the flower heads off my marigolds just to add insult to injury.

Now every time I hear their wicked screech I wonder what they're up to. They're into the apples as well, but at least they're eating them, which is entirely justifiable bird behaviour. They're welcome to the pines that surround our house too.

   

Such strong beaks are capable of so much damage so quickly, especially when they turn up in big numbers.

They have found these pumpkins since I photographed them and have done a thorough job of thinning them. ughhh.  Now I have ugly plastic guards on everything in the hope the little seedlings can get big enough to face the Cockies wrath.

Now the autumn maize is growing,
Now the corn-cob fills,
Where the Little River flowing
Winds among the hills.
Over mountain peaks outlying
Clear against the blue
Comes a scout in silence flying,
One white cockatoo.
Back he goes to where the meeting
Waits among the trees.
Says, “The corn is fit for eating;
Hurry, if you please.”
Skirmishers, their line extendiing,
Shout the joyful news;
Down they drop like snow descending,
Clouds of cockatoos.

At their husking competition
Hear them screech and yell.
On a gum tree’s high position
Sits a sentinel.
Soon the boss goes boundary riding;
But the wise old bird,
Mute among the branches hiding,
Never says a word.

— excerpt from poem by  A B Banjo Paterson 1930s

Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848

Don't be fooled by their good looks. Last year they were snipping off my Giant Russian Sunflowers before they had even flowered. Any suggestions welcome.