Birds

G’day!

Spring has started. To understand what this means in Australia, think of a perfect, near rainless summer and 75% of your neighbors’ lawns are turgid brown.

What this also means is that Magpies have just had their young. Previously I’ve just considered this a problem to cyclists (wait till you see their solution) but I’m becoming acutely aware that pedestrians are in danger too. Just on Friday, Ness (gf) was attacked outside her own home, jabbed right in the heid. 

It turns out that along the stretch of road where Ness stays, there are a little group of Magpies intent on terrorising anyone who wants to enter or exit their home. This means that any visit (during day time) involves a rapid ascent up the vertical driveway and a mad dash in to the house.

On arrival to Gladstone I was given a lend of a bike until I got my own form of transport. The guys told me about vicious streak of Magpies and presented me with a customised helmet (helmets are mandatory by law - not the daft look, just helmets in general). Being sure that this was some sort of roasting of the new guy, I tucked in the ties and went on my way.

After an half an hour of cycling, the ties were restored to their wiry glory. The buggers really don’t like people! They start by dive bombing you whilst shrieking in your ear; if you don’t magically disappear they then start going kamikaze. As I didn’t have a car for my first 6 months in Oz, these guys were a real pain.

Below is a quick grab from google of a Magpie going in for the kill.

Here is a whistle-stop tour of other birds local to Central Queensland/Australia.

Rainbow Lorikeet – the Gladstone equivalent of a pigeon. In my first few days here these really made me realise I was in a very different part of the world (easy to forget sometimes, due to the shared language and – to a degree – culture).

Kookaburra – another favourite. Something about their oversized heads. Took me far too long that the monkey-like sound I would awake to each day was actually the wake up call of the Laughing Kookaburra.

Galah - these guys are common around here too. Easy going birds, no monkey noises, no assaults.

Bush Turkeys – on my first morning in Australia I was chasing these guys down the street at 5am in Brisbane city centre (the capital of Queensland), much to the bemusement of the locals.

Ibis – plenty of them around Gladstone but I mainly think of them stealing from BBQs around Brisbane parks.

And that’s the most interesting of them. It gives Montrose Basin a run for its money!