Noisy Miners.....

I've shared photos of the Noisy Miners from our garden before

But I have been enjoying watching them

using our birdbath over the past couple of weeks.

So thought I'd share some photos with you,

Like the Pacific Koel they also have been eating

the fruit from our palm trees - when the Koel's are not looking that is!

I often wonder if they are the chicks I

photographed and shared in this post :)

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I've also been working on a belt for my little miss

the crochet part of the belt is complete, but

I have a couple of other things to do with it before it's finished.

of course it is in some of her favourite colours ;)

Thank you so much for visiting

~ Gillian ♥

Pacific Koel

One of the things I love about our garden at this time of the year

is the arrival of the

Pacific or Indian Koel

When the fruit ripens on our Palm trees we are always

visited by these fabulous looking birds.

The four photos above are of two different females,

I haven't managed to photograph the male as yet,

although we do see him everyday is very flighty

and as soon as I walk through the back door he flies away.

He is a spectacular glossy black bird with vibrant red eyes.

If you click on the link above the wiki page has images of the male

and you can also hear his fabulous call,

which wakes us up most mornings at the moment.

I managed to take these photos from our back deck,

which is two storey making me level with the height

of our palm trees where they were busy enjoy their meal.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend

~ Gillian ♥

Tawny Frogmouth

This little feathered friend landed in one of our Grevillea Trees

this afternoon and I just had to share him with you,

we are often visited by Tawny Frogmouths usually in a family of three.

But this afternoon this chap was on his own.

Perched about shoulder high in the tree, he sat so still.

He wasn't as well Camouflaged as they usually

are when they come into our backyard.

I was able to get within 30cm of him with my camera

and he obliged by opening his eyes a little wider and

even turned his head to watch me as

I walked around to the other side of him.

I wonder if the other two who usually accompany him were sitting

close by watching me take photos of this one - probably!

As a matter of interest it is now after 9:40pm

and he is still perched in the same spot.

~ Gillian ♥

Block no.3.....

Block no.3 in my

Block of the Week Project

I made block #145 Chocolate Box

from the book

200 Crochet Blocks

by Jan Eaton

I really love this block.....

it's a very clever twist on the traditional Granny Square

and works up really quickly and is very easy.

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I am trying to finish off the striped cushion this week,

it seems to be taking a lot longer than I thought it would to complete

and because of this I am easily distracted from it!

But I must get it finished as Jacob is keen to claim it for his room :)

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I also wanted to show you these lovely little

Noisy Miner Chicks

Manorian melanocephala

This nest is very close to our front verandah, it has been a joy to watch the adult birds build the nest and then to watch these sweet little chicks grow, I've been trying for a bit over a week to get a good photo of them to share with you all and finally today I managed to get one, it helps that they have grown a bit and are now easier to see :)

And here is one of the adult birds back with a little food for them.

I wish I had a big zoom lens so I could really photograph them properly and study them a little more, they have nested in one of our melaleuca trees.

I found this interesting info in -

The Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds

Only female builds a nest, but males occasionally carry materials - although not necessarily to the nest site. As many as 10 or more males visit a single nest while it contains eggs and most of these participate in the feeding of the nestlings. In a single nesting season, one female may been helped by as many as 24 males.

Thank you so much for visiting today

I hope you are having a great week.

~ Gillian ♥