Sunday, December 2, 2007

Australian King Parrot



The Most DH works a shift, so although its sunday morning, we were up as the sun rose. I give him his coffee, then pick up The Guardian of the Portal so he can go out on the front porch without kitty Priapus escaping.

On getting outside, he gestures with his coffee cup and quietly says "King is here." I drop the cat and run for the camera. Except its not much of a run, first thing in the morning and without adequate caffeine, its more like a hobble crossed with a shamble.

Once outside, I carefully stalk the pair between our lawn ornament (boat) and the thicket between us and the downhill neighbor. All the while I can hear them speaking to one another, small low grunt like noises mixed with the clicking of thier beaks as they munch the nuts from a conifer. But I cant see them, so I head out to the road.

From the top of the neighbors driveway I can see the male King Parrot. He is breathtaking. He is a fair way away, and its rather dark still, so Im not happy with the quality of these shots, but I am happy to have got them.

The male King Parrot finished his breakfast and flew away, but he chose to fly between me and the thicket and not off to the other side where there was much more room. The tip of his wing nearly brushed my leg as he flew by....one of those magic moments to savour.

Course then I had to hustle to get The Most DH's lunch ready. :)

Would you like to see clearer shots of the Australian King Parrot?
Try King at Bird Anonymous and
King factsheet at birdsinbackyards.net

6 comments:

Lavender said...

The female is much less colourful and I didnt see her at all.
They appeared here for the first time about two months ago, and have had a few sightings of this pair in recent weeks.
It appears that they stop here each morning. Just a bit too early for me to be at my best LOL

Anonymous said...

OH WOW WOW WOW! Aren't our Husbands being trained well at spotting Lavender :) I'm so pleased you had another visit! This is very funny, just after light this morning I was running around outside in pyjamas with camera filming butcher singing. I couldn't even see yet! You are very lucky your King Parrot is so brightly coloured! PLUS HE BRUSHED your leg!!! HAHAHHHAAAA

Now have a coffee and relax :) Too much excitment for a Sunday morning ;)

Lavender said...

Anon Tehehehe I was pretty sure youd be familiar with the before awake camera dash :) Must say it was a peak experience to have him fly THAT close (when to the other side of me was a wide open space!) Then from the heights - back to the kitchen and straight to work Hahahaaha!!
I look forward to your Butcher singing film - good onya getting out there and getting it!!! :)

Ian Pye said...

At our house we occasionally get King Parrots, but more frequently Eastern Rosellas, Crimson Rosellas, Galahs and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. They're all pretty but I like the cockies best, they show character in how the act.

Lavender said...

Hi Ian, Im quite fond of the cockies myself, they are all such characters! I think they must just have people figured out and know the limits, whereas the others are still too wary....well, it a theory anyway LOL Thanks for stopping by!

Lavender said...

Oneida LOL Id only ever seen turkeys from a great distance, so Id count myself lucky to have them parade thru my yard! Tehehehe