Australia Day 2009
Laughing Kookaburra, Lane Cove National Park, Sydney
Happy Australia Day to all of my readers.
I’ve included a photo today of that iconic Australian bird, the Laughing Kookaburra. It is one of our most recognisable and well loved birds, and its distinctive laughing call is familiar to almost everyone in this country as well as many people who have never been to Australia.
Even though it was a public holiday I didn’t go out birding. It was too hot, reaching 40C (104F) under our veranda this afternoon. Instead I spent some of the morning working on a project on the back veranda until the heat chased me inside to air conditioned comfort. I spent some of the day in front of the television watching South Africa beat Australia in the cricket game here in Adelaide.
The birding all day was rather slow in our garden. The heat does that to the bird life. I’d forgotten to fill the bird bath this morning and so there was little action there. A few Galahs flew over during the cooler part of the evening. Several Little Ravens were calling loudly nearby. The Australian Magpies seemed to be keeping a low profile today – we didn’t even see them. The regular patrol undertaken every day by our local White-winged Choughs never happened, and even the bossy New Holland Honeyeaters seemed subdued. At one stage a small group of Mallee Ringneck parrots flew past noisily, but they didn’t hang around for long.
It does not bode well for the birding over the next week. The forecast is for a heatwave – that is, temperatures over 35CÂ (95F) – for at least the next 5 days and perhaps even a week.
Time to attend to some indoor projects, methinks.
I saw a few of these guys on Australia day too, laughing away. One of them even came down less than 2 metres away from me and my friends to eat the remains of a sausage in bread. A true Australian!
Thanks Anthony – many Australians have experienced exactly the same as you. It’s when they take the food off your plate or BBQ that they display their true cunning ways.