Birds of a Feather

Over the past 15 months I have been offline mostly busy with other things. Many days were spent at Etty Bay where quite often a daddy cassowary would come along with chick in tow. These birds are on the endangered list here in North Queensland and you are very lucky to see them. There is reportedly only about 1400 of these birds left. National Parks tell us not to feed them as it makes them dependant on humans for food supplies.

These two birds were very cheeky and showed no fear in approaching us to seek out tidbits to eat. They came right up close to the table and one was seen taking a loaf of bread from the table next to us. One day it was rather hot and humid, the chick came by himself and he was panting like a dog. With no bucket in the car , the only thing I could think of to supply him with water was a school lunch box. Once filled with water the chick started lapping it up like a little puppy. We still see the big old daddy cassowary but the little chick has not been sighted by us for months.

After a walk in the local park we were accosted by the geese who inhabit the park looking for a feed of bread. They will chase you if they see that one has bread in the hands and are extremely noisy. It was exciting to arrive there one day and see some ducklings that had been hatched within the park grounds.

Here is Herbert the peacock who was a daily visitor to my back yard for many months. He disappeared for a while and recently he came back. I have only managed to see him with his tail feathers up a few times and it is an impressive sight. At the moment he has lost his tail feathers and new ones are now growing back. Herbert looks forward to a daily feed of bread and he loves cat biscuits, a rattle of the box and calling his name, he comes running. The other day he came inside the house which was a surprise in itself but the calling card he left wasn't so nice to clean up.

All in a day..

Christmas has come and gone with little fanfare here but I hope all readers have had a safe and happy time.

With new car and feeling a little down I decided fishing would be the thing to do. Not much happening on tv except the cricket and quite frankly that is as boring as watching paint dry at the moment. Not having wet a line in ages, I was quite adamant I would catch the first fish....and YES, I did but wait for it.... none worth keeping, they were all too small.
Here you see the 2nd biggest silver bream which was about the size of a cigarette packet. Oh well, better luck next time.

Time to move camp and head to a different spot when driving a mother cassowary and her twin chicks were walking across the road. Cassowaries are an endangered species with approx only 1500 left. Cassowaries are the third largest bird on the planet. They feed mainly on fruits and people are discouraged from feeding them as they become too familiar with humans and can rely on them for food. Cassowaries have been known to attack and have powerful legs with which they use to attack and possibly disembowel their victim. I stopped the car as the chicks kept running in front and then when attempting to pass he would run back and forth, eventually we got past, all the while momma was happily eating roadside keeping a watchful eye on the enthusiastic chicks.


Here in my own backyard every afternoon there is a visitor of a male peafowl or peacock. He wanders through my yard, minding his own business eating any insects that he finds. Every night you can here the cries of the peacock which is said to occur during mating season, I have yet to see a female pea hen. Tikky and Felix, the masters of the house were delighted when they first seen the giant bird and crouched in the grass. The peacock was non-plussed and walked straight past them, and now I think they have given up on a feast that only pussy cats dream of. I have been trying for a few weeks to get a decent photo to share with you all and so far this is as good as I can get.