On the lighter side-Meet Norman! He is an Australian Magpie who lives in our neighborhood and we see him frequently in our yard so I named him. He is about the size of a crow, not afraid of people and has a loud musical warbling call especially in the early morning. (groan!) After a while we figured out he has a mate who looks just like him - I named her Vera and finally we were introduced to little Frank. Couldn't miss him, his loud high pitched begging call was so obnoxious - it about made me crazy! Thankfully Mom and Dad kept stuffing food in him and shut him up!
A small percentage of these birds become highly aggressive during breeding season from late August to early October, and will swoop and sometimes attack passersby; they especially hate bicyclists! With that sharp sturdy peak, it would really hurt! Norman has swooped Alex on his bike but not me.
We have also frequently heard and occassionally seen kookaburras too. These are Laughing Kookaburras - prounounced 'Cook-a-burr-as', like someone who cooks food, not a crazy person. We've heard they're sometimes called the Australian alarmclock and we believe it; we hear them really early in the morning. Their call is really wierd, I'm not so sure about laughing, more like something hysterical !
Last but not least, look what I found in our swimming pool one morning as the weather warmed up?
2 comments:
My dad and brother both served missions in Australia, and both have many "swooping" stories. I'm pretty sure that it was hearing these stories growing up that made me afraid of birds to this day. How neat to experience a completely different climate. With the threat of swooping, I suppose it is all the more reason to wear a helmet while biking, right?
You are having some great experiences...and I think I am just a tiny bit jealous but not of the scary swooping bird. That could freak you out.
Post a Comment