Owls and Orchids

Love is in the air

The love bug bit early this year (I think) and we have had the Eastern Rosellas back in the nesting box in the front garden.   Above is a photograph of one of last years parents feeding the almost full grown offspring.  Now we have the parents, their offspring from last year, (two birds) and a clutch of new babies.

We have been trying to guess how many were in the box since we didn’t want to disturb them. Mum and Dad have been flying madly to and fro and there was lots of cheeping from inside. Excitement has been rising as the weeks passed.

It was really tempting to get closer as the bird box is right above the King Orchid which was flowering spectacularly a short time ago.  In fact it was whilst photographing the orchid that we learned it was inhabited. There was an explosion of feathers from the bird box as one of the parents left in a hurry at being disturbed.

Have you ever had a surprise sitting there, waiting for the right time to be opened and you are so excited waiting to find out what is inside? That’s how I’ve felt for the past few weeks.  When the chirping became louder we started seeing the parents and offspring almost stripping my Sandra Gordon Grevillea of the nectar. I thought it was beautiful that the young from last year returned and helped raise the next generation.

The only time there was any concern was the arrival of the local Currawongs. They are predatory birds and love getting the eggs from nests if they can. One particular day there were six hopping all over the tree during the day. I spent more time shooing them away than doing anything else.

So, we finally saw our little family, the fledgling, peeping out of the box. One quick shot and the head popped back inside again. We still had no idea if there were more babies inside and didn’t want to scare them  away. Peering through the bedroom window each time the chirping became load was an occupational hazard.

You can imagine our surprise when we found out we had more than one baby inside the box. We caught several beautiful shots of two heads popping up and down at the ‘mouth’ of the box.

Success – we finally got a great photo of the babies!

We have two!

It was really difficult to get an idea of whether we were seeing the same two heads or perhaps more. Parents and young from last year seemed to be dashing to and fro so often we thought there may be more. The Currawongs were now no longer a problem and we had to be patient to find out exactly how big a brood was hiding in there.

Yet as always, the path of love, and life never runs smoothly. I was loathe to leave them because we thought they might be venturing outside at any time, but my doctors appointment was scheduled and I had to go away.  Peering through cross eyes at a bird box through a camera is a challenging task so I had to content myself with making sure they were there and waiting. But there was a mishap to come.

To remind you of the orchid in the tree…. and for Laurie, our Green tree frog who serenades us at the laundry door every night.

I couldn’t resist showing our Butcher birds who come caroling every morning.  We are Blessed to have such an abundance of beautiful wildlife at our doorstep.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy taking them. I love sharing the amazing life we have around us, especially when there may be a struggle going on inside. At least I can see straight, talk sensibly and have my fingers do the walking.  🙂

Next – An unexpected development.

Ciao, Susan x

© Susan Jamieson 2013.