August 2026 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST

It is often said that a weed is a plant out of place.
If ever there was such plant that was the epitome of that statement then surely in the Australian landscape the African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) is a master class.

Originally introduced into Australia some time in the mid-1800s, it was planted by early settlers as a house and garden plant.
And.
Like so many other introduced species, it not only flourished but quickly spread across the country.

Hard to eradicate, evasive as it grows into huge impenetrable copses that make the ground unusable, poisonous to people, and rapid growing it is a bane to agricultural areas.
But.
For many small Australian birds, it provides, shelter and in some cases food. Many parrots find the berries attractive, and somehow their constitution is not affected by the toxins. And they reward the plant by carrying the seeds to a new location and expel them to begin a new colony. Each fruit can, so I’m reliably informed have up to 70 or more seeds.

Having worked, when I much younger, at digging and burning the pest, I have fair share of disdain for the plant.

I was walking down a dry creek line, lamenting as I went about the numbers of bushes I had to walk around to avoid, when I approached two bushes, each about 1.5 metres in diameter.
Suddenly out of the bushes jumped several families of Superb Fairywrens.

All of a chatter because their quiet kingdom had been disturbed by my presence.
The boxthorn was alive with the little chattering defenders.
I counted at least four males in breeding plumage, three females who were ready to tell everyone of their displeasure, and perhaps five, or six young, first year, males who had not attained breeding status.

For a long time it was thought that one male had a ‘harem’ of females because of the presence of so many brown birds in a colony, I think it was John Gould himself who named them “Mormon birds”. As it turns out the sex life of the wren is quite another story. The females generally play the field and visit neighbouring males. The chances of a male looking after a growing family from his gene pool is highly unlikely. Don’t feel bad for him, his contributions are in the bushes of the other clans.
It seems to be the wren way of keeping the gene pool healthy

So here are four from the morning’s encounter.

It has been a fairly lean time for bird photography of late.

The cold weather might have something to do with it. But there does seem to be a shift in populations for many of the ‘usual’ suspects.

There is however a notable shift in the conditions that seems to occur just after the winter (southern) equinox. Now it might just be my observation powers of course, but for example.

For it seems to me as soon as the days begin to get just a little bit longer, the ravens begin their building projects. I’ve never seen one at work carrying sticks before the equinox. The local Magpie clans begin to seperate. Their autumn and winter truce is over and now there are territories to expand, time to send unwanted young packing, and the hunt for a suitable nesting location is selected.

Early trees, like almonds begin to push out buds soon they will become covered in the ‘snow’ of blossoms.

And across the paddocks the Brown Falcons are rebuilding their pair bonds or perhaps begin to ‘blossom’ new pair bonds.
Pair bonding among Browns is quite awesome to watch. It involves flying about the territory, at great speed and with many different ‘dances’ across the sky.
It is like Spring has indeed given them a spring in their wings.

It is also accompanied by loud rolling cackling calls, which must be song, if only I knew the words.

I heard them coming. Very high up and at great speed. When suddenly the male dropped down wings tucked in tight in a stoop to pull out and then zig-zagged toward where the female had disappeared behind a tree line.

Sadly I only managed a couple of his rolling flicks, but its enough to show his amazing airborne agility.

We sort of think of Browns as slow moving, direct flight birds. But when Spring is in the air and his best behaviour is on show the action turns thick and fast.

Enjoy.