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Birds in the rain
#53403
11/29/02 07:21 PM
11/29/02 07:21 PM
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Just a little background to this post. The state of New South Wales (along with the rest of eastern Australia, especially)are in the grip of the worst drought in 100 years. I won't even attempt in this post to describe the conditions in the west of the state. Out here on the coast we are dry and dusty too. Town water supplies are also extremely low and strictly rationed. We are lucky if we get even a trace of rain - and usually we get inches of it at a time. For several weeks we haven't even had a sprinkle! Then one day this week it started to sprinkle - just enough to make you want to get out in it and enjoy the moisture. The birds loved it too and all started 'talking' and calling at once. I heard a lot of parrot noises so went looking for the source of the noise. It was a small group of galahs on the overhead electricity wires. I have no idea if there was some complicated bird reason for their antics but what they looked like was a bunch of children frolicing under an outside shower. They danced on the wire! They held their wings open! They hung upside down on the wire and flapped their wings open in that position to let the rain sprinkle under their wings! All the time they were screaming at the top of their parrot voices! They kept this up for the 5 or 10 minutes it was raining. Such a funny sight. And we got about 2 mm from the rain. Not sure what that is in the old measurements - its 25mm to the old inch measurement. So barely a trace of rain but it caused so much enjoyment. btw Galahs are 360mm overall in length and a very pretty pink, white and grey colour. There are great flocks of them in the west of the state but out here on the coast just small groups of maybe 10 or 12 at most. I think this is a family group as I had a funny experience with a young one a few years back. It decided to practice its flying in my yard - and I have a very vigilant cat! I came to the rescue with a towel, grabbed it and covered it all up, and carried it about 500 meters away and put it up in a tree. However, the parents were watching and were quite sure the baby was still in my yard somewhere - they hadn't been able to see it covered up in the towel. It wasn't until I went out again and shook the towel open in their view that they went away - apparently thinking that the young one had somehow disappeared. I thought the young one may have been injured because it just satin the tree where I had put it for a long time. However, when I finally went back to look at it more closely it flew off back towards where the nest was - and you should have heard the noise the family made at its return!
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53404
11/30/02 08:00 AM
11/30/02 08:00 AM
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Mikk, that was a delightful post about the dancing parrots!
I am very sorry about the drought you are experiencing at present.
It was wonderful that you could enjoy with the birds their moments of pleasure.
My Cockatiels do the same in the avery when I put the sprinkler on. Wings outstretched trying to get some on their wings. They drop so low, one would think they would fall off!
Wonderful when we can have a helping hand in a rescue. This week I was staying 100 mile away with a friend. We were both out in her garden in the early evening, when I heard a terrible squarking. I looked around and there was my friends cat with a mouthful of feathers. I couldn't see a head, but it sure was screaming - let me out - let me out! I pounced on Tom who promptly dropped the bird. It was a fledging blackbird with not a injury on it. Tom sat there on the grass wondering whow his bird had escaped! While the bird sat in my hand screaming till Tom disappeard round the corner of the house. I held it in my hand, it's little feet screwed up in a ball with shock, it's head dropping so that I thought it would die of fright. After a few moments, it flew off towards the trees, but landed in the hedge where Tom could easily retrieve it. Picking it out, I placed it up in the tree which gave it enough height to fly off to safety.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53405
11/30/02 08:36 PM
11/30/02 08:36 PM
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I was just saying in church this morning that the day will come where the cats will lie down with the birds on the new earth. I did make it to church, in spite our own problem with our own eye infected cat. It was at the vet's office where I saw a picture on the wall of two cats lying down in a bird feeder with the birds.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53406
12/01/02 08:36 AM
12/01/02 08:36 AM
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Grinning, Daryl. Glad you made it to church ok, not the same when we miss out.
Watching out the kitchen window Sabbath afternoon, when I noticed a blackbird fly onto the back lawn with a red berry in it's beak. Ate what it could and then flew off. I went out and checked , and sure enough it was a strawberry off my plants. So this morning I watched for him, and when I saw him down there, I went out and told him off!
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53407
12/20/03 03:40 AM
12/20/03 03:40 AM
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Now that it is summertime here again - where did the year go to? - I have put a concrete shallow dish out in the front garden for the birds.
I also put my 'well' hose on in the daytime as if it is a very hot day the birds are able to drink and cool down. The hose creates puddles on the footpath that eventually drain into the grass verge, and the blackbirds and sparrows enjoy their midday bath.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53409
01/10/04 05:25 AM
01/10/04 05:25 AM
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Yes, Doug, the thing I long for most is to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus and 'drink' in words of truth.
Special moments call for special responses as with the unexpected raindrops, and it always reminds me of the painting of Jesus 2nd Coming and the saved standing there with their arms outstretched. It's a day to long for.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53410
04/17/04 08:57 AM
04/17/04 08:57 AM
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I am in the process of building an elaborate bird feeder - all so the birds can have dry seeds in the rain. The thing is 2 ft square and 5 ft tall. It will have a peaked roof of aluminum that extends about 6" around the sides. The actual feeder is on the middle layer about 2ft up and is raised up about 10" from that and is under the roof. I cant believe it got so complicated. But I usually do things like this. My old feeder was electric. It would dispense about one cup of seeds from a 50 lb hopper. Thats all they got in a day. Reason was to limit them, otherwise they would waste 5 lbs a day. I have to feed birds because they like me for it. I whistle and make tweeting sounds and they all come down and eat their seeds. I have two feeders now and they are enjoying both of em. The new big feeder will replace one now that is getting old. I've got mostly Junkos in the winter but now that spring has sprung the birds are mostly out somewhere else getting native bugs. The birds dont eat too much from my 10 Cherry trees - but they have taken a liking to my 9 Bloos Berry bushes. I may have to cover them this season. Course with bees all dying off because of the Varroa mite my trees are not as full of cherries as possible. I was going to get into beekeeping but after reading a book on this and asking questions on the bee forum I decided against beekeeping. At least this year I should have many more cherries than I can possibly eat. I plan on making fruit leather of a lot of them. --Ðøug 2004.4.17.1.56.53 PT
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53411
05/16/04 07:57 PM
05/16/04 07:57 PM
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LOVED THE STORY ABOUT THE PARROTS IN AUSTRALIA. I WOULD LOVE TO GO THERE SOMEDAY AND SEE ALL THE WONDERFUL CREATURES THAT YOU HAVE THERE. THE ELECTRIC BIRD FEEDER SOUNDED TERRIFIC! I WANT ONE OF THOSE!
I LIVE ON HOODS CANAL IN WA STATE,USA. IT IS NOT REALLY A CANAL BUT A BAY. SO WE GET A LOT OF OCEAN BIRDS AND DUCKS. THIS MORNING WE SAW 2 EAGLES SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER ON A LIMB THAT STRETCHES OUT OVER THE WATER. I WENT OUT THE BACK DOOR TO GET A BETTER LOOK AND MY LITTLE DOG WENT WITH ME. JUST THEN A BABY EAGLE FLEW OVER US SO I SCOOPED UP MY DOG FOR FEAR THAT HE MIGHT GET CARRIED AWAY. WE GET SOME VERY BEAUTIFUL DUCKS AROUND HERE. THE HARLEQUIN DUCK IS MY FAVORITE. I KEEP A BIRD BOOK AND WRITE DOWN THE DATES THAT I HAVE SEEN EACH SPECIES, THEN I KNOW WHEN TO START LOOKING FOR THEM TO COME AGAIN THE NEXT YEAR. I HOPE OTHERS WILL WRITE HERE AND TELL ABOUT THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BIRDS IN THEIR AREA.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53412
05/17/04 01:30 AM
05/17/04 01:30 AM
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Full Member
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 265
Japan
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Dru-san! I like your posts, but could you knock off the CAPS LOCK THING? It hurts my eyes.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53414
05/23/04 03:48 AM
05/23/04 03:48 AM
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Thanks Doug and Daniel.
Doug: I loved the birds jumping over each other!
Daniel: I will try to behave myself from now on!
I now have a "Stellar Jay" in my yard. He is unlike the "Eastern Jay", in that he is a very dark blue. Some people think he is onry, but I enjoy his antics.
We had a beautiful Sabbath here on Hood Canal!
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53415
05/28/04 06:52 AM
05/28/04 06:52 AM
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I loved reading about the complicated bird-feeder. It must have been such fun to make.
I was taken with the statement "I have to feed the birds because they like me"
There is a lot of satisfaction watching birds feed.
I enjoy growing fushias, and love to watch the blackbirds and thrushes leaping up to get at the ripe fruit. Our frosts are very late this year, so there is still plenty of fruit on the bushes for them.
My favourite bird in the garden is the wax-eye. It is a tiny green bird with a white ring around it's eye. They go for the aphids on the roses, and love liquid honey in a dish.
Wild birds love containers of margerine in the winter, and I also melt lard ( I hate the smell) and then set it with wild bird seed and hang it up in plastic mesh bags for the birds to pick at.
Many different ways of feeding Gods wonderful creatures. I watched a programn on the discovery channel this afternoon of a man in America who rescues unwanted/neglected Parrots. He has over 200 of them now! and become a full time job looking after them. I really admired him for what he was doing and asked God to bless him.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53416
05/29/04 07:38 PM
05/29/04 07:38 PM
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I've never been a bird person, but when we had a long drought here in Florida, I started leaving some Friskies cat food on top of my garden fence. The birds gobbled it up. The Red Bellied Woodpeckers got so they would drum on the soffit of my house until I went out with some more Friskies. The Cardinals would be little pests trying to slap wing feathers on my windows to get my attention. I've been drafted. Now I'm more conscious of birds and see that I can have a part to help them in some way. During the times I'm allowed to water the lawn, they get into the bushes and enjoy their baths with the sprinkler...really cute to watch them wait for the spray to come around so they can ruffle their feathers in it. I didn't know they have so much going on in their little heads.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53417
05/29/04 07:42 PM
05/29/04 07:42 PM
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BTW, I wish Doug would tell me how to get a custom atavar for here. I can't just "browse" my own pictures and upload one, I have to type in the Url to my own picture, and I don't know exactly how.
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Re: Birds in the rain
#53418
06/04/04 07:39 AM
06/04/04 07:39 AM
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Restin, that was a delightful picture you painted of birds in the cat food! I have never thought of giving birds cat food before. I know they love rice and mashed potato. It hasn't got cold enough here yet to start feeding the birds, but I will remember that when we start getting frosts. I have 2 averies, and can put the food up on the roof so that my own animals can't help themselves!
Yes, birds do have wonderful brains to think with, and I too enjoy watching them bath on the footpath on a hot summers day, taking advantage of a puddle created by the sprinkler. I also enjoy watching the birds in the birdbath in my back yard, taking a dip and then feeding from the fushia bushes. We had too many grapes to cope with this year, so the birds have enjoyed daily feeds with eash access! Normally, I have the vines covered.
Thanks for sharing here.
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Here is the link to this week's Sabbath School Lesson Study and Discussion Material: Click Here
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