walaj

here I am on a cold wet morning, needless to say in the UK, watching the birds come to the bird table for a bit of breakfast.

Do many people have bird tables in Oz, or would it just attract nasties like cockroaches?

pommiesheila

Yep, loads have birdtables. They attract Rainbow Lorikeets, Galahs, Cockatoos, wagtails, and all sorts, including what my husband affectionately refers to as "the squeaky toilet-roll-holder-bird" (you`d understand if you heard it!). You can buy very cheap "wild bird seed" packets from Woolies - just the job!!!
(We`re in Brisbane, don`t know about elsewhere)

Carrianne

while we where in Noosa Poosoms and magpies came to eat off the bird table.

Carrianne

wizzywozza

Dunno if it's just my perception but I always think the birds here are not as frightened of people as the birds in the UK. I regularly feed wild magpies out of my hand by my front door. I love them. And I use Woolies wild bird seed too!

mashiraz

I remember waking up to the sound of the ozzie magpies. They are totally different to UK Magpies which are seen as vermin really, ozzie magpies just seem more exotic.

Mash...

wizzywozza

I just love the Aussie magpies, especially when they all get in a group and sing. They have such a lot of character. They can also be extremely viscious and are known to attack people in the mating season. I was weeding the front garden yesterday and had a famliy of 8 maggies following me eating all the grubs as I turned the earth over, they are so sweet. You can teach them to talk if you are lucky enough to have one as a pet. I saw one on the TV the other day that was whistling Waltzing Matilda!

walaj

Thanks for the various replies - so no sparrows, little wrens or robins? .

Then it looks like I can take the bird table my Dad made - assuming I get it all cleaned up enough for the custom guys.

A little bit forward thinking as we have not yet got the skills assessment back yet!!! It is bad enough waiting for that, but I can not moan too much given the ridiculous time some on this board have been waiting for PR

smiths2

If you go to QLD you will see loads of wild birds. Try to go into the mountains when you get to Brisbane and you will see what I mean.

See you Monday

Cheers

SjS

walaj

As long as you are talking about the feathered variety!! Planning to go to Mount Warning - if his leg can manage it, ohh and the fear of heights :scared:

So, Mr 'I have a PR visa', when are you off to Oz?

btw it is the missus here

Mandy Bale

We saw a Currawong (huge black crow type bird that has a very drawn out baby like cry) eat a Huntsman spider, was great entertainment for the kids, I'll welcome them in my garden anytime (the Currawong that is not the Huntsman). My 6 year old boy was feeding some ducks the other day and some lovely Cockatoos flew down and started to gently take peices of bread out of his hand, he was so pleased with that! There are sparrows here and pigeons and doves too. But you can't beat the morning song here, its fantastic, oh and in the evening when the cockatoos go to roost they make a hell of a row! The Kookaburras a lovely, a lot bigger than i expected, we have a pair that come into our garden. I'm definately going to get a bird table as there is a house that backs onto the park that has one and every morning they have loads of different birds hanging out around there.

Mandy (near Sydney)

Jaykay

I took this photo last year at my Girlfriends house in Melbourne while I was visiting (hope this image attachment works)

Sandra

Fantastic Birds - You have to get a bird table and yes agree with the Woolies bird seed advice though the Kookaburras are meat eaters, we have two we feed by hand. The magpies are scavengers and can chase off other birds - they seem to have a 'pecking' order and it is not size.

Possums and Bandicoots come at night to finish off the bird table, ants can be a bit of an issue if you leave scraps out that they like.

hope the attachment worked - Rainbow Lorikeets, we have had as many as 30 down on the verandah and have a team of 7 cockatoos wake us up for their breakfast.

denhim

when i first landed in oz last year and walked about to clear my head after along flight i saw one of those Rainbow Lorikeets and thought that someone`s pet budgie had escaped. Then the next morning whilst jogging i couldnt believe it when i saw these cockatoo`s singing away on the telegraph wires. Beats your boring black birds and pigeons anyday!

Herman

Try waking up to the noisy b*stards! Actually, I love the lorikeets and we regularly feed a couple of them on our balcony. They are so fussy - if you throw bread on the floor they look at you as to say "ARE YOU MAD?". They insist on being hand fed and unusually for wild birds they seem to love eye contact. Very bright little fellas. Cockatoos will do the same but I'm not such a fan of them as they do often wake me up at 5am with their screeching. We watched 5 of them pulling up newly laid rubber mounting from the paving stones at the opera house - really determined and destructive team work. Many aussies regard cockatoos as vermin and would gladly see the back of them - i think because they do have a tendency to get a strop on and break stuff!

BookBear

Whether you get a bird table or not I recommend planting lots of native trees and plants, or buying a place that already has them. Native trees attract native birds, and are much better for water use etc.

I love Aussie birds. Like denhim, when I first got off the plane I was struck by the unusual looks of the ibis, and was SO pleased to see my first cocky.

Nara