ROSELLAS 2015

30 May 2015

Looking promising for 2015! Eastern rosellas, with galahs sitting only about 2 m away near their box

29 October 2015

The rosellas are still around their box. I heard their babies yesterday, but still haven’t seen any.

Friday 13 November 2015

Eastern rosellas have moved into their box! Here’s Mrs Rosella

and here’s Mr Rosella

 

Sunday 15 November 2015

I saw one of the baby eastern rosellas!

Sunday 15 November 2015

Here is my baby eastern rosella with mum on the roof. This photo shows the yellow bill of the baby.

Sunday 15 November 2015

Here is my baby eastern rosella with mum on the roof and dad on a branch nearby.

 

 

 

Galahs 2015

27 March, 2015

It’s that time of year! Mr and Mrs Galah were sitting with their new box at first light

5 April 2015

Our galahs have a wonderful new nest box for 2015. It has two baffles, on the west and north walls, to stop the box heating up so quickly. They took to it straight away.

3 June 2015

Mr and Mrs Galah are loving their new box. They have been housekeeping for several days.

27 September 2015

First time in 13 years that rainbow lorikeets have looked at our nesting boxes. Yet they’re in the yard every day. I saw eastern rosellas inside 6 1/2 weeks ago so they may finish nesting in the next couple of weeks. I’d love to have rainbow lorikeets nesting too.

25 October 2015

A little while ago I got my first glimpse of our galah baby 1/2015 aka Kevin. I wonder what they think the first time they drag themselves up to the entrance hole and suddenly see all the colour and movement outside.

29 October 2015

I saw Mrs Galah munching on wattle seeds from the Queensland Silver Wattle I grew from seed.

29 October 2015

Here is my newest precious baby, Kevin.

31 October 2015

Kevin is looking good!

31 October 2015

We know there are at least 2 babies because Mrs Galah just fed at least one baby in the box while we could see Kevin looking out. Here she is pushing past him to get out.

31 October 2015

Beautiful Kevin

12 November 2015

Presenting Baby 2/2015, Sheila.

Friday 13 November 2015

Here is our first baby for 2015, Kevin, asking Mr Galah for a feed. Something amazing happened this year – there was such a big gap between Kevin leaving and Sheila leaving that Kevin returned to the nest tree with Mr and Mrs Galah! We saw the parents feed Kevin on a branch, then Sheila in the box and Kevin did some demo flights to show Sheila how to fly. And when Sheila left the box this morning, it was a group of 4, not three (Mr Galah, Mrs Galah, Kevin and Sheila) that flew away together.

Friday 13 November 2015

Here is our second baby for 2015, Sheila, who flew away at 6:32 am today. I haven’t seen Mr and Mrs Galah since or heard them feeding. They’re not sleeping at the box tonight, so it looks as if we only have two babies this year.

Friday 13 November 2015

This is a first – Mr Galah, Mrs Galah and sibling Kevin all waiting for Sheila to take her first flight (which she did 2 mins after this was taken)

They’ve all left!

I haven’t written for a while, but Ice and Viper have left to start their new lives outside the box. After three days of being called out by Mr and Mrs Galah, darling Ice found the courage to leave the box at 6:35 am on Monday 3 November, 2014. He looked so cute as he left, with his round tummy and legs one down and one up with spread claws. Good luck beautiful bird, I hope you have a long and happy life.

Little Viper left the box at 7:15 am Friday 7 November 2014 but couldn’t fly more than a few metres.

He lived in our garden for three days and I guarded him from cats and other dangers from 5:50 am until about 7:30 pm each day! He seemed healthy and Mr and Mrs Galah kept visiting him and feeding him.

Finally he did it!!!! Viper left the yard successfully! In the late afternoon on Sunday 9 November 2014 his parents came back and he did 3 low flights that all ended with a crash into a fence. We thought he’d finished and the parents weren’t calling him to fly any more, so we put him in the box and left the lid off so the parents could check where he was and give a last feed if they wanted to. But Viper wasn’t having any of that! Oh no! He climbed out of the box, leapt off and flew towards the shed, along a narrow gap between the shed and fence and up, up, up into the darkening sky. From the yard we had the thrill of seeing him flying higher and higher, with both parents. They tried to steer him south towards the creche but he went east. They landed in a bare tree about 4 houses down and then he tried to land but tumbled downwards and we lost sight of him. Then he must have recovered and they all flew to a tree a bit further down, and we heard his voice as well as theirs so we know he wasn’t on the ground. So right now he is sleeping in a tree only about 150 m away. Good bye and good luck Viper, we’re so proud of you.

ICEMAN AND VIPER ARE STILL IN THE BOX!

Iceman isn’t in any hurry to leave. It’s been 9 days since Maverick left!

We saw Iceman and Viper together briefly yesterday

We thought Iceman would fly this morning, but no …

Viper is begging for food. He might grow bigger and leave first!

Iceman and Viper are looking good

We’re having very hot days at the moment – 32oC to 37oC – so are hosing the box at least every hour to try and keep it cool enough. Iceman looked a lot bigger this morning…

… and Viper is also strong enough to climb up to the hole.

Mr and Mrs Galah were just about to feed when a kookaburra arrived and they headed off to wait in a nearby tree.

It’s hard to believe Maverick has been out in the world for 4 days. He must be really good at flying by now.

Maverick has flown!

This morning, just before 7 am, Maverick successfully flew away from the nesting box and away with his parents. I wish him a long, happy, healthy life. 7 weeks 5 days

It’s so important to make time for the things that matter. Stupidly, although I heard the galahs calling, I didn’t go straight outside. I can’t think why I decided to feed the cat, go to the toilet and pick up my camera before going outside. I missed seeing Maverick leave by only a few seconds, by so little that I saw him in the distance flying with his parents.

Remember to drop everything for the things that are important in your life.I felt the most staggering disappointment when I realised I’d missed Maverick’s first flight. It may not seem like a big deal, but seeing my baby birds fly away into the world is one of the highlights of my year. Give top priority to the things that really matter.

Meet Iceman!

Yesterday I got my first good look at baby number 2, Iceman! 7 weeks 4 days. With Mrs Galah

Maverick is growing!

Little maverick is getting bigger and stronger – 6 weeks 6 days old

Here he is with Mr Galah

Here he is getting beautifully groomed by Mr Galah. 7 weeks 3 days old

What a beautiful baby

Getting ready to fly. 7 weeks 4 days old. With Mrs Galah

Maverick is getting stronger

Here’s little Maverick at 6 weeks, 3 days, with his dad

Here’s Maverick testing with his mouth, like a baby does – 6 weeks, 5 days –

and looking out …

Hello baby Maverick!

Wonderful news! I saw the first galah baby, Maverick this afternoon.

Mr Galah has to swing off the roof to get into the box. We removed the perch to stop predators landing on it.

Mr Galah pauses and looks out while feeding the babies.

When he finishes feeding, he flies away.

Mrs Galah takes a turn at feeding. She bows down as she brings food up.

Mrs Galah surveys our back yard when she finishes feeding.