Cockies, and Parrots and Lories Galore.

Now I promised absolutely ages ago that I would post my Cocky piccies (I told you Aussies like to finish every second word with a “ie” or “y” didn’t I?).

Well first I had the great internet rationing debacle. Then I had a couple of late meetings at work. Then when I got home last night my computer just wouldn’t boot up properly.
Four hours later I got it working but by then it was my bed time so no post.

So I am very sorry but the cockies went on the back burner (poor things, it must have been uncomfortably hot).
Now finally I will post as I promised except I have just one more thing to say.

Several bloggers have passed awards to me in recent weeks. I have to hang my head in shame and say I just haven’t had time to pass them on, but will try to do the right thing in the next couple of weeks.

Now for the birds.

On that lovely day when we visited the Maroondah Reservoir I caught some birds with my camera.

I’ll just slip this Kookaburra in. No he/she is not a parrot (Kookaburras are kingfishers) and I have promised parrots. But what the heck?The kookaburra looks a bit shorter than in real life but I was standing almost directly below a high lamp post to get this shot, but his shot gives a reasonable idea of their look.

Now finally we come to the parrots.

There were a flock of gloriously sweet sulphur crested cockatoos picking up seeds from the grass.These guys are a popular pet/cage bird right around the world but they are native to Oz.

In the Maroondah Reservoir park they are very used to people so I was able to get close enough to get some lovely shots.

This cocky sat and watched me for a bit before having a casual scratch.These two were very snugglish, I guess they may be a mated pair.As a by the way I should say that a “Cocky” is not only a bird it is also an Aussie slang term for a farmer. So a “cow cocky” here is pretty much the same thing as a “rancher” in the USA.

This fellow fluffed up his feathers which gave me a fantastic opportunity to catch some wonderful definition of his feathers.The cockies’ amazingly powerful beaks can tear chunks out of dry timber boards.Yet with their beak and thumb-like tongue they can delicately pick up or manipulate small objects such as seeds.Hanging back from the cockies was this king parrotI love the contrast between the glossy green and scarlet on these guys.

Also in the background of the king parrot shot, and unusually shy, were some rainbow lorikeets.

I’ve included this shot to remind people of just why they are called “rainbow” lorikeets.