Another free loader!

I know, I often write about the birds that come visiting my place! Here I go again! Well, I get a lot of pleasure from these beautiful wild creatures getting to be so trustful of our proximity. I never try to turn them into pets, I do not encourage the birds to come and sit on the feed dish as I hold it or try to get them to perch on my hands. I feel it is necessary for them to have a natural fear of humans so they can survive long enough to have grey feathers. (They don't get grey feathers!) We do have one bird that has become VERY trustful, Twisty Beak, the lorikeet with the deformed lower bill will now fly over and sit on Colin's hand as soon as he comes outside with some treat for him/her (we don't know what sex Twisty is) and will even stay on his hand when Colin walks inside the house to show off his feathered friend to any visitor that might be in our home.
But I did not set out to write about Twisty. We had a new visitor to our lorikeet and finch feeding dishes this weekend. It was a surprise to see such a large bird on the inside of the cage.

 f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

My first picture was taken as I stepped through the door onto the veranda. I did not want to frighten our new visitor, he might not be able to make a quick get away and might hurt himself.
I stood still in the doorway for a few minutes to be sure the bird had settled down and was not going to panic. then moved  around the table to get a little closer.

  f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

Kookaburras do not eat seeds so there was nothing inside this cage that would interest him at all. I have no idea why it would have gone in there - unless it was after the little finches that were there earlier enjoying the budgie seed. Kookaburras are meat eaters, they love insects, lizards, grubs and worms but they also like small birds and mammals. Another explanation could be that I had the slow cooker making beautiful meaty smells out on the veranda (keeps that smell outside). Well, it's possible!
I edged a little closer and took another shot of our visitor.

 f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

There is something very special about this famous Aussie - his laughing call through the bush always makes me look up to see if I can catch sight of the bird. I was puzzled as to how this large fellow managed to get inside the cage that we had placed over the feeding platform (to keep the cockatoos from throwing the dishes to the ground).
We called our house guest to come and take a photo, she attempted to get as close as I had been and before she could raise the camera to her eye the kookaburra dipped his head and just dropped through the bars at the bottom of the cage - the bars the dishes sit on - and flew off. Under all those feathers must be one skinny bird!
To see the pictures larger, click on them and then click on the "back" arrow to return to this page.
It is wonderful to go to new places to see new things - but sometimes new thing come to you at home!
AJ