Meet Dash’s feathered (school) friend
I picked Dash up from school one day this week… unusual as he normally catches the little bus to our mailbox (a shed!) about 1km from Granite Glen. I had had to scurry to one of the small towns nearby (translation: about 45km from our house) so decided to call in on the way home to collect him.
…
And while I was waiting in the car park of this tiny one-teacher school, I noticed something. A movement in the tree beside the car…
Can you see? OK I’ll zoom a little…
Hello little rainbow lorikeet!
These pretty things are native to Australia and provide flashes of colour around the water troughs and bottlebrush trees on Granite Glen.
But something is not quite… right with this little fella.
See how his wing sits strangely. And he has no tail to speak of…
He must have been attacked by something – perhaps a wild dog or cat.
And as a result he cannot fly.
Which is fine in captivity.
But not in the bush…
He’s very uncomfortable with me taking photos of him – a wild thing grounded and scared.
Goodness he’s pretty though…
And he seems to have recovered enough to eat a little.
That is agile! And yet, while Dash and I admired the grace and beauty and adaptability of this little feathered creature … this little example of Mother Nature’s handiwork …as it walked around the branches supping at the nectar of the blooms…
I silently wondered…
Is he adaptable and smart enough to outwit his natural predators?Without the gift of flight?
Or will the odds be too stacked against him?
Like the unfortunate Willy Wagtail chicks?
…
My nature-loving son will report back in, as he checks his new animal interest each day at school. I only hope this particular lesson proves an uplifting one…
I guess only Father Time (and that unpredictable old Mother Nature) will tell.
9 Comments
Debby
That’s the hardest thing about nature. We want to ‘save’ every creature. Mother Nature? Not so motherly. At least not by our standards.
Pencil Writer
Beautiful bird. Hope he is able to mend and fly soon enough!
the7msn
Just found you from over at Bossy’s. I’m gonna love this blog!
Kate
He’s so pretty! I wonder why we didn’t end up with colorful birds like that in the US? I mean we have some very pretty birds but not like that. I hope he’s okay 🙁 That tree is amazing as well. What is it?
Tami
Kate…we (USA) used to have birds like this…there extinct. Sad.
He is beautiful. Hopefully he will pull through, mend up, and fly high.
Kate
Oh that stinks. We have managed to kill most of the cool animals around here (USA) haven’t we? It is sad.
A Novel Woman
Oh, what a beautiful little bird. I’ve never seen one of those before.
Let’s hope the little guy is okay. Sometimes they adapt. I saw a one-legged seagull at the train station the other day. He was doing fine on his pirate nub.
I wonder if the wing could be set if the bird was captured? We have a bird rehabilitation place nearby. Actually two, as the second one is for birds of prey. Might be an idea.
Pam
Bush Babe
Hey guys… will post about this lil guy again shortly. There seem to be many colourful aniimal characters both in the air and on the ground round these parts. And some of them are human! Perhaps its the remoteness of the continent or something?
To be honest, I don’t know how this little guy will fare. Mother Nature is definitely not all the motherly sometimes (good point Deb!)…
Keep you posted!
BB
Kate
On the subject of amazing aussie birds…i just watched a BBC special about the Lyrebird. It is so cool. It imitates everything it hears. It sounds just like a kookaburra and a camera shutter and a chainsaw. And it creates some beautiful songs of it’s own. I really need to visit your amazing continent.
And the veri word is Oxition. that sounds like a real word right?