Cockatoos | Owls and Orchids

Posts Tagged ‘Cockatoos’

Life in the Raw

Posted in Abundance, Life, Love, Photography, tagged #Life in the Raw, #Time Out, Cockatoos, domestic ducks, Eels, nature, recharge the battery, Rosellas, Swamp Hens, the Dead Stump, the Duck Pond, Turtles, Water Dragons, wild ducks on October 30, 2014| 3 Comments »

The Duck Pond

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

One of the more beautiful aspects of life is, that we are given the opportunity to take “Time Out” periods and recharge. Not that it’s always as easy as it sounds. Life intrudes. Sometimes; Family intrudes. Sometimes; well, sometimes things just don’t happen the way we plan them.

Yet, for all the possibilities of why “Time Out” cannot or does not happen, there are opportunities for it to take place, especially if we look out for them. It can be as simple as sitting in a comfortable chair, or on the grass, in your own garden and allowing the fresh air to blow the cobwebs away.

For all those people who simply find it impossible, to find the chance to take a “Time Out” or small “getaway”, I invite you to take a wander around, what my husband and I call, the “Duck Pond” with me.

Six months ago the pond was crowded with dozens of wild ducks.

The Cockatoos are always on the lookout, the Rosellas are a colourful feast for the eyes, and as their babies grow, they become more raucous by the day. Even the Wagtails are storing up on food for when their babies start to run them ragged,

The Cockatoo, always on the lookout

Not to be outdone, the cheeky Rosella.

Big bug for the little Wagtail.

I’ve counted three water dragons, which means there are probably more. Here they sit watching everything, waiting for the next snack to arrive.

Where is my dinner?

There are at least half a dozen turtles, very hard to identify the individuals, as they risk their pretty necks looking for a morsel.

Umm, I’m having a quick look.

and yet more turtles.

Turtles everywhere.

Even a fish or fifty….. hundreds of little fingerlings.

Yes and fish too.

The eels gave me a start when I saw them. We were feeding the ducks and turtles when they surfaced. One was over a metre long…. No wading here for me!

Eels – oh yes!

We have seen a pair of King Quail, but they are s shy and the domesticated ducks chase them off as soon as I spy them. I’m still hopeful of seeing them and getting one photo.

This, then is my little time out and some of the wildlife around the pond. Let’s not forget the exciting find one day when we walked near the “Dead Tree Stump” and found this Pretty Faced Wallaby.

Pretty Faced Wallaby – isn’t he beautiful.

It helps to remind me that life surrounds me, even when I’m feeling a little low. More than this, the time spent wandering around and feeding the locals, getting their photos, brings a feeling of calm and peace to what may be an otherwise rushed and frenetic time.

Dusk at the Dead Stump

“Time Out”, a breath of fresh air, life surrounding us – as the jingle goes for our health fund………………”I feel better now”. Enjoy your weekend.

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

Blessings, Susan ♥

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Life Cycles

Posted in Life, Life lessons, Photography, Spirituality, Uncategorized, tagged #Life Cycles, Cockatoos, environment, Jacaranda trees, lessons from nature, Life, nature, Rosellas on October 15, 2014| 4 Comments »

A tree of life

“We trust nature to know what it is doing, but we are not nearly so kind, understanding and trusting of our own rhythms and cycles. It’s ridiculous that we are so hard on ourselves. Can we not trust that the very same forces that created the rhythms and cycles of nature created our own? Of course we can. We often don’t, but we can, if we remember.”
― Jeffrey R. Anderson, The Nature of Things – Navigating Everyday Life with Grace

The Duck Pond

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in Redland Bay was the beautiful “Duck Pond”. We have since spent some beautiful afternoons walking around the boardwalk and finding the myriad of life forms the area was teeming with. One of the intriguing sites from the lookout was the trunk of a huge tree. I have since found out it was a giant Jacaranda tree which was covered by a carpet of purple blooms each spring.

However, that was far from the sight I saw from the lookout. It was a huge dead trunk. It seemed somehow sad to see such a magnificent tree slowly dying, branches pointing towards the heavens but still standing tall and proud.

The old dead tree

At the very top was an unusual ‘U’ shaped pair of branches, almost like a crown. I could see the tree in its glory days, flowers waving in the breeze like a bejewelled crown on its ‘head’. It didn’t seem to matter what the light was like, the dead tree had a majesty unique to itself.

Deciding to take a different walk one afternoon we walked towards the old tree. There were raucous screeches coming from the tree, more sqawks, strident and ear splitting and occasionally a soft cooing sound.

Walking along and looking into the heavens along a pitted footpath is a sure fire way to turn your ankle, which is what I did. However, perched on a fence post I had the opportunity to really take a good look at the dead tree trunk. Far from being dead the tree was actually brimming with life. Life of a far different kind.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

There were Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Major Mitchell Cockatoos and Eastern Rosellas. At the very top of the tree, to the right side were a strange looking pair of birds I was sure I’d seen before. Camera at the ready I saw an amazing sight – a pair of Coucal, nesting in the hollow in the top of the tree. Their long tail made it easy to recognise them from the first time we saw them on the Gold Coast.

Rosellas

Each cavity in the dead stump had been claimed by a pair of nesting birds. There was a cacophony of sound as we moved along the path to pass the dead tree stump. Entranced we spent an age simply watching the birds fly back and forth and after taking a careful look around, hopping into their own particular ‘hole’. As long as we were in sight of the tree the sentinel, the Cockatoo keeping watch, made a raucous call to warn everyone strangers were around. The local magpies and crows were chased away quickly by a horde of colourful denizens of the dead tree.

Rosella

Coucals

Cockatoo at home

We have been back several times now, and although we can hear the chirping of many babies, my camera isn’t strong enough to get a picture of the babies in their nest. What has been wonderful, for me, is realising that this dead tree stump has as much life in it now as it did in its heyday – just very different.

In so many ways that old dead tree is symbolic of life. Just as it began as a small seedling and took time, food and water to grow, until it reached its full potential, so do we. It went through so many stages in its growth before it reached its mature state, had to stand strong and tall before wind and weather, sun, rain, hail and cold. Yet it survived and produced a magnificent display of flowers year after year. Who knows how it ended its life as it now is? I was unable to find out, but it has obviously been severely cut back and hasn’t recovered.

From litle seedlings

Tall trees grow

A nest in every hole and nook and cranny

It hasn’t recovered to its former glory, but has become home to so many other creatures, many more than I could see. There would be bugs and beetles, spiders and ants, perhaps even a tree snake. It is still a wonderful example of life adapting to diversity. As we do during times of crisis or great change.

Like life’s ending when we move on to another sphere of existence as spirits, so too has the tree moved on to another phase of its life cycle. There is a calm symmetry to the rhythm of life as I watch the old tree and its denizens and think on the changes in my own life, in life in general. Nothing lasts in its current form eternally. Eventually everything leaves its current form and becomes something new and different, its next phase of life.

The circle of life

During the hard times, painful times, sad times and joyous times, there is a profound truth to the reality of the Cycle of Life. I’m more than happy with that.