A Cockatoo or two

[Hezz]

My good friend Paddy. He is polite, arrives and sits quietly waiting to be noticed. There are actually two who do this, only difference is one is more bold than the other, so they’ve been nicknamed Paddy B and Paddy T.



The pair who come to visit. I’ve called them Mr Squeaky and Mrs Sneaky. He gives me a squeak like a gate that needs an oil and Sneaky just arrives, turns up out of the blue. They have been busy preening each other lately, looking very loved up and sweet.






Mrs Sneaky is actually a little bolder than her mate. She comes over to visit me on occasion, perhaps a nudge towards the seed bag?



Food duly delivered and being enjoyed.



Unfortunately someone let the cat out of the bag … free snacks at Hezz’s.





Waiting, waiting … seed please.



And this is what greeted me when I came back from picking grass for the inside birds :

[Loz]

Good news travels fast! 🤣

Lovely post if a little jwalousy-inducing 😉

[Marianne Marlow]

Give us Noms Aunty Hezz

[jellybean]

Wow, aren't you lucky Hezz.

Just like any animal, they know who's good to them.

[blueelephant]

I think you have the material there Hezz for a really wonderful children's picture book.

Laughing out loud at the last photo. They are fabulous.

[tweetiepiesmom]

It must be amazing to see those gorgeous birds in the wild! Hopefully they don't chew up your deck railing or leave too much of a mess. Do the budgies imitate their sound? Who is the black interloper in the third to the last picture?

[suesbird]

I would love them at my house. I don't feed the birds anymore as it encouraged mice and rats.

[tweetiepiesmom]

I have friend who had a bird feeder outside her living room window. She'd have her morning coffee and afternoon tea sitting at that window watching the birds come to feed. Then one morning she got up before the sun and looked out that window. There were a bunch of rats eating the seeds that had spilled on the ground. She was so grossed out that she removed the feeder that day.

[ariella]

They’re wonderful! Though having grown up with a lesser sulphur crested, I can imagine how noisy they could be en masse!

[criswell]

Wow. How lovely. They certainly know your house is good place to visit.

[Hezz]

Feb 19, 2022 9:06:24 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Give us Noms Aunty Hezz

When they mob me they don’t get fed. Occasionally I get it wrong, or they hide out of sight, and I end up with the whole gang, 15-20 or so. Too many and they fight, and that I don’t want to encourage, so most times I can just approach them noisily and the majority of them take off.

Feb 19, 2022 16:14:44 GMT tweetiepiesmom said:

It must be amazing to see those gorgeous birds in the wild! Hopefully they don't chew up your deck railing or leave too much of a mess. Do the budgies imitate their sound? Who is the black interloper in the third to the last picture?

People say they do chew bits of your house if you start to feed them but that has not happened to me. Maybe in the cities, I can understand that as there would be less natural food available, but these guys have plenty to feed on, they just like their little seed-feed-without-effort treat. . They do make a mess, and don’t park the car under the railing. . The black bird is a brush turkey, another native that has adjusted well to urban life. They are a whole ‘nother story. There are three males around the house area and umpteen girls. The boys are very territorial, the hens roam anywhere. Two of my boys are very cheeky and follow me around more than the dog does. . They have a peck like a normal chook and I have been pecked on the big toe, the foot, and back of the heel, in a get-a-move-on kind of a way. Nothing aggressive about it, but makes me jump every time.

The cockatoos don’t bother the budgies much, but by God, Loki freaks out every time. He sounds the alarm if he as much as sees one out the window, in the sky five miles away. He screeches continuously and flies back to sit on top of his cage.

[willowsmum]

To see them lined up like that waiting to be fed must be amazing Hezz. Keep the pics coming please. I am drip-feeding them to my OH and pretty soon I'll have him agreeing to an Australian holiday, he won't be able to resist scenes like that. Then we just need to start saving and wait for the world to return to normal

[lordpurchase]

Nice pictures of the birds. I enjoy watching and seeing pictures of these types of birds in there natural habitats. I often dream about having a very large aviary about 2 or 3 square miles to create my own paradise with birds, plants and trees where I can breed budgies and cockatoos, parakeets, lorikeets and others.

The aviary I'm currently planing to build will be around 10 square foot and I'm thinking of adding a cockatiel to my flock of three budgies. I am tempted to get a ring neck parakeet as well but I think ring necked parakeet might be too noisy.