Some of my Australian style Christmas decorations that I have bought over many years and other animal ones (we sure love our animals) to go in between regular ornaments on our tree. I am looking out for May Gibbs " Gum nut babies" inspired decorations. The closest I have found so far is one next to the cat in the Santa hat, it is two little Koala joeys with Santa hats on sitting in gum nuts with eucalyptus leaves behind them.
Now that’s getting into the Christmas spirit 🐨🎅 Normally it’s cats in Christmas trees 😻🎄 but gee how much can a Koala bear 🐨🐨
I am now worried that those pesky possums in our possum hotel will move into the young Christmas tree that I am growing in a tub. It is still small but growing fast and very prickly.😂
I love being surrounded in nature, and living in Canberra is the best of both worlds. We are a country town and a capital city, with a difference. We have a wonderful abundance of nature all around us. Even in the average suburban garden if one has sufficient plants and trees to attract birds and wildlife there is a joy in seeing our nature up close. Canberrans are very proud of their bush capital, and rightly so.
I love waking up each morning with the sound of birds singing. I am not able to name very many bird types, but that doesn’t matter to me. I just love them coming into my garden every day. Today was a warm and humid day, so I had the front door open all day. I heard an amazing bird song near the front door and went to investigate. The bird was hard to see at first, but as I scanned the garden from my front fly-screen door I noticed a tiny yellow bird up in the ornamental plumb tree. I stood listening to him for a while enchanted by the sound.
I scurried off to find my pocket book of Canberra birds to see what it was. This little book is like gold (Field guide to the birds of the ACT by McComas Taylor and Nicholas Day) to bird lovers and very popular. I found out this lovely little bird was a White Throated Gerygone. I shall be on the lookout for him again. All day long there are so many different birds visiting either the back garden or my front garden. I have a lot of small trees in my front yard, and a huge box elder tree, a Crab apple tree and an ornamental flowering apricot tree in my back yard, so the birds just flock to my garden.
My favourite bird is the crimson rosella and I never tire of them, I only saw them on the rare occasion where I lived in Sydney even though it is a very common bird. We have an abundance of parrots in Canberra all year round, including Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Galahs and Gangangs. Cockatoos are very destructive though as well as very intelligent. God knows how often I have to pick up tree branches they the Cockatoos rip off from my Box Elder. The Cockatoos make a terrible mess. Magpies, Peewees, Wattle birds are quite common in Canberra gardens, we have a wonderful variety just in our area alone. The best public places to see a variety would be visiting both the national parks, Namadgi and Tidbinbilla or the Australian Botanical Gardens, all of which are not far from my house.
The Magpie has a nice song, but many people don’t like them because they can attack humans in spring time, as they try to protect their babies. Thankfully I have never had a problem with them. I have one that visits every day and I talk to him when watering the garden. One of my cats had a Magpie friend in the weeks before my cat dies. The Magpie was very old too and each morning he came up to the back door and tapped on it, asking if Tolstoy was coming out. So I opened the door and Tolstoy would sit on the step with his friend each day until Tolstoy was too sick and had to be put to sleep.
I guess having only three legs and being old , he was no threat to the Magpie. For a week or more after Tolstoy died this Magpie came to the door to see his friend. Then sadly one day younger birds attacked him as he flew over the fence into the neighbours yard. It was very distressing and sadly I never saw the Magpie ever again. But I feel there was a special bond between him and our Tolly.
One night last summer I thought I was imagining things, lying in bed reading late at night, and suddenly hearing a Cuckoo call. I had no idea Canberra actually has Cuckoos. I got on to google and discovered that there are actually five different types of Cuckoos in Canberra.
The area where I live in Canberra is built is old farming land so we are lucky to have birds that have remained in the region as housing has expanded over the decades. I am living in the Tuggeranong valley which is not far from two big national parks. So there is a lot of wildlife all around us such as Kangaroos, Wallabies, Wombats, Echidna, Possums and foxes. I have Possums living in my garden and the surrounding area. We often have foxes in the neighbourhood too. So there is a lot right on our doorstep so to speak.
But getting back to birds, I often sit in a reading chair at the window in my Family Room and watch birds as they weave in and out the bushes outside the window. If I am lucky I get to see Willie Wagtails or a Superb Fairy Wren, they are a real treat to see as are the Double Barred Finch and I think I have only been lucky enough once to see that finch then honey eaters on some occasion oh, and the Falcon that attacked my Canary on the back veranda, that I will never forget. Tiny little Silvereyes or nectar eaters are always lurking in the bushes, as I have Chinese Lantern or Abutilon and Choisya bush at my back window. I could sit all day and watch them if I could, lol. But as usual I have things to do every day. I just feel so content with nature and could quite easily live the rest of my life away from humans as long as I have animals and birds around me. A garden or a nature reserve is a must for me to touch base with nature.
As I write this post the birds are still singing, it is just so nice and much better than the sound of the TV. We have a couple of resident Blackbirds that visit every day and tonight Mr Blackbird was perched on the rooftop next door singing his little heart out. It was Mrs Blackbird that had her babies on our back veranda two years ago. The family are still visiting our garden, but I have no idea who is who with them. I just enjoy seeing them in the garden. Nature is just an absolute joy to behold.
I took this photo yesterday on my phone at a garden centre. This particular garden centre has a few peacocks wandering around. They are a much loved attraction and people come from far and wide to see them. The Canberra suburb of a Narrabundah, which is not far from here has some peacocks living there wild. They originally escaped from a private owner, but no one is exactly sure who that was. The reason being, both the National Zoo and Aquarium have some and so does the garden centre in the suburb of Pialligo near the airport.
So they set up home in Narrabundah many years ago and have become a popular attraction in the area. It is fantastic to get up close to this particular peacock at Willow Tree nursery in Pialligo. The cute little chap was turning on the charm as I took a few photos. Then he started to strut off along the car park and turned around to look at me, as if to say follow me. Naturally I followed and got a short video and some photos. He was a very obliging little chap.
A Koala called Tiny Arse lol, only in Australia of course. He is cute though. Most Australians love the native wildlife as much as their own fur babies. They are our Fury ambassador for tourists.
We have had the wonderful pleasure of having a mummy Thrush and her 4 little chicks on our back veranda. I only noticed a nest up on one of the rafters a few weeks ago; and I kept an eye on it.
Along came mummy Thrush and she would sit there for ages and then disappear (off shopping, lol) About a week ago I noticed little beaks poking out from the nest and I was so overjoyed at seeing them, so I got out my tablet to take a photo every now and then.
On Christmas eve morning I went out the back with Ruby our Jack Russell and noticed the nest was empty. Mixed with joy and sadness I knew they had gotten their pilots licence and flew off.
Well at least there are two goof things about that, 1) Ruby will stop her manic barking at them. and 2) the are away before this weeks heatwave starts. I was worried that the hot sun wold kill them. So it is wonderful that they are off to explore the world around them I just hope the stay safe. It was a pleasure to have them as little guests.
This photo was taken on December 23rd , 2018 There were 4 little ones in the nest. By the way in Scotland the Thrush is also known as a Mavis.
I think we need something cute to look at after the heavy stuff posted. 😊I like to put funny or cute things on the blog to break up the serious content. As I do not want to create an energy imbalance or dis harmony.
This is our 15 year old Persian cross Garfield in a laundry basket sleeping. He is such a sweetheart he really is a big kid at heart like mummy.
Ruby wrapped up like a spring roll in a mohair blanket. She knows she is cute.
Tolstoy looking so sweet, this is just shortly before he passed away.
May Gibbs official Facebook page had the link to a list of free colouring pages for children and big children that love to colour in and are fans of the Gum nut babies.
Something to keep the kids amused with for a few hours, even in the car or a road trip. The great thing is you can print off as often as you want. So save to your PC and even a thumb drive.
My Daisy with her "kittens Pip and Pop. She is a good mummy cat. Daisy carries the kittens around the house every day, meowing so loud, announcing she is carrying her babies.
The picture says it all. It makes me feel so emotional just looking at this picture. Having said goodbye to some of my beloved pets, I know how painful it is to let go of them.
I read the book about Dewey. I just found the website just now. I had no idea
that there was one for this wonderful fury angel. So, for all you cat lovers,
now you can keep up to date on all news about Dewey and company.
Koala and joey
Surfing Platypus
Possum
Koala joeys in gum nuts
