In his book, “What the Robin Knows”, author Jon Young writes about how birds reveal the secrets of the natural world.
He tells a story of the time he was in a meeting in a full glassed office, and looked out to see a bird looking and acting very agitated. He exclaimed, “Oh, there is a cat coming along the footpath.” The others looked out and of course there was no cat. They were in a completely different frame of mind at that moment.
A minute or so later, a cat strolled down the path past the window. And everybody’s jaws dropped. Perhaps they were in the presence of a man with physic powers? Jon then explained the actions of the bird had led him to follow the story outside and that’s how he knew the conclusion.
EE and I usually work with only a small number of birds, we don’t chase birds for accounting purposes, nor do we rush to see the latest ‘new thing’. I don’t have a problem with those that do, just. We don’t.
Just for the record, we don’t camo, sit in hides or ‘sneak’ up on birds either. We let birds establish boundaries, and try very hard not to cross those lines. If I put a bird to flight, the loss is mine and I try not do do it again.
Some birds seem to have more tolerance of the human condition than others and some that have chosen to work in high human density areas are tolerant almost to the point of disdain. Ibis, Ravens, Gulls, Sparrows, Wattlebirds, and Magpie-larks and more, consider our wasteful practices to their advantage and readily move around us without fear.
Many a sausage on a BBQ has been lost to a marauding Kookaburra as it swoops down unannounced from the tree above. 🙂
Other birds just simply grace us with their presence.
My friend Martyn, has a Sparrowhawk that is using his fence as a perching spot, and has become quite predictable. I featured a wonderful video sequence of his a few posts back. However, see Martyn’s Flickr page here for the latest in the ongoing saga. Here is a bird that has become a regular.
Being able to take the time to observe such a bird, one can begin to learn about its character, and begin to see things from the bird’s perspective or at least to appreciate their perspective. It may only be a Sparrow, or Blackbird, or New Holland Honeyeater that regularly turns up in the garden, but there are things to know about the bird that are special only to each of us.
As Jon says, in a story of the San Bushman, “We develop connections with all aspects of the creation.”
As awareness grows, appreciation grows, as appreciation grows, so does empathy— Jon Young
This is one of two young Black-shouldered Kites that are just coming out of juvenile colours. This one is now quite grey of head and only a few chest colours have yet to fade. For us it’s an interesting story, as we are either looking at two siblings, and there were two fledged in the area a couple of months back. Or, two young birds that have formed a pair-bond. At present the jury is out, but if they stay around together, it’s certainly going to be a pair-bond.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 
It is indeed wonderful to be able to observe a bird over time and get to know it and the way it thinks/work!
A most rewarding experience!
It will be interesting to see if the two teenage Kites are indeed ‘high school sweethearts’!
A splendid image, David!
Dave N
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Hello Dave,
This is a strange pair of birds. Most likely they are siblings. Just strange to see them still sitting together and hunting together so long after fledging. Mostly they’d be well gone by now. Then on other occassions they seem to do so many things that are part of a pair bond, so at best, its confusing. Time I guess will tell.
They do seem pretty settled in the area, so something is keeping them there.
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Such a beautiful moment that you have caught here. And so special to be able to observe the same bird or birds over time, and be allowed into their world, to some degree at least.
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Hello Eleanor, They are in the main carpark, so see lots of people, bikes and vehicles going by, so they are a bit more ‘sedate’ than some.
What their intentions are is a bit to early to speculate, but they do seem to have set up home in the treeline.
Which ever it will have been good to see them develop.
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It’s beautiful!
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Hi CR, thanks for dropping by and glad you enjoyed the view
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David you and your wife have had such special moments wth the birds, as they allow you to become part of their territory for the moment your are there, it is a blessing to be able to capture such beautiful moments in your amazing images. I resonate with the lovely quote from Jon Young, so true. It is interesting how as we mature in our birding pursuits we tend to specialise, some into raptors, others study families, us study behaviour and others develop into twitchers and chase the extraordinary at great cost to themselves and their relationships. Thanks again for an interesting post my friend.
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Hello Ashley, I think part of the maturing process is also that we are a bit more limited in the places we visit and we don’t seem to be ready to drop everything and rush across the other side of the country to find birds.
We, as you know, are surrounded by the wide grass plains of the western lava flow. This is ideal territory for many of the raptors, and not so good for small forest birds. Looking back, we used to enjoy a wonderful Grey Box forest, and again had many of the birds and their territories identified.
TIme change and so do our interests. But in the end, a day in the bush, with or without birds is a great day out to enjoy the beauty around us.
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