Look Out! No Brakes!
We're lucky enough to get a lot of bird life on our 4 acre bush block and I enjoy trying to capture some of the action.
There is an abundance of natural food available here - ranging from gum nuts, tasty native flowering bushes, and various seeds, numerous insects, various roots that the parrots like to dig up and eat, etc. But I do confess to the occasional bit of bribery (yes, wicked I know...). The simplest lure is water - for drinking and bathing in, but I do sometimes sprinkle a bit of mixed seed. Not enough to effect their diet or make them reliant in any way (there's a large number of local birds and I couldn't possibly feed them all even if I wanted to) But just enough to coax a few takers into a convenient spot for an occasional quick snap.
The resident galahs, bronze wings and magpies usually tolerate each other's presence with just the occasional wing display if anybody gets too close. But in this picture it looked like a full on collision was about to take place!
In fact it was the reverse of what it seems. The galah was actually going up and backwards not coming into land. The magpie had snapped its beak at the galah and spooked it. It flew upwards for a few metres and then landed again and they all resumed foraging as if nothing had happened.
All bluff and bluster really. Just birdy politics!
. Just parrots, Minas and crested Doves. Maybe I should plant a sign... "Bird bath here, no charge" 
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