Baby boom for birds amongst their favourite trees, scones and cream and a tree kangaroo

Crimson Rosellas in the shade of a Eucalyptus tree.

International Tree Day is coming up on Sunday 1st August. Time to celebrate all our beautiful trees in Australia. and the wonderful array of birds that rely on these trees.

The states surrounding Canberra (ACT), are either in Lockdown or just coming out of Lockdown, and everything is very wintery and quiet..

Despite a few blue skies you may see in some of today’s photos, don’t believe it…. Canberra is having a cold, rainy, windy winter.

The brightest colour in the garden this week was the cockatoo’s yellow crest.

Fortunately birds are still visiting the garden and we are also going for bush walks around Canberra, when the rain stopped. While we were walking along Coolamen Ridge, on a rare sunny day, we noticed the juvenile Kookaburra below calling for his family..

Why are we seeing juvenile birds in the middle of winter? Perhaps, as a result of the rain, there is an abundance of food… Paul suggested a bird baby boom. Well that would be something positive in these Covid times.

Two juvenile Rainbow Lorikeets exploring near the hollow in the tree…there’s always a daredevil isn’t there?

These magnificent Eucalyptus trees are providing a haven for the birds to feed on and nest in hollows. Imagine how safe and warm they would be on windy rainy days.

One of the adult Rainbow Lorikeets is the ”scout” and she has a good vantage point.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens is a wonderful place for wildlife because there are so many Eucalyptus trees.

This Crimson Rosella has returned to a hollow in a Eucalyptus tree at the gardens
Gang Gang Cockatoos are quiet and elusive and never far from the protection of Eucalyptus trees

Australia has a wide variety of bird and animal life, and while we are on the topic of trees, there is a unique marsupial very much connected to trees, called the Tree Kangaroo.

While visiting my cousin in the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland in 2017 we stopped off at the Nerada Tea farm. This is the largest supplier of Australian grown tea, and not only do they have a lovely shop with lots of interesting teas and specially selected imported teas,

they also have a tea room with very inviting scones and cream.

As this is dairy farming country the lashings of cream on warm scones was delicious but messy!

After visiting the shop, we noticed a furry animal in one of the trees….a tree kangaroo! Very difficult to take photos of these shy animals, as it is very hard to see them. They look a bit like furry teddy bears with long tails. This was the first time for all three of us to see one in the wild.

Tree Kangaroos are kangaroos that live in trees. They have small ears and shorter legs and arms, their feet have curved claws for gripping and climbing. They are marsupials and are the largest tree-dwelling mammals in Australia. The Lumholtz Tree Kangaroos is the smallest of the species, and are found in the rainforest patches on the Atherton Tablelands.

Tree kangaroos feed on leaves and foliage and fruit and flowers of native trees in the rainforest.

This Tree kangaroo had a baby in its pouch.
A Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo: Photo National Zoo and Aquarium

Fortunately I was able to get a photo of a Tree Kangaroo from our own National Zoo. I must say this tree kangaroo is looking very well groomed and smart.

On this wild and wet day we stopped off at small cafes and shops selling delicious foods, specialist food products and coffee. A very satisfying day indeed.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog post today. With so many people in Lockdown or quarantine, or just being careful during these Covid times, I noticed a Zulu saying (undoubtedly meant for hunting) but true for us today ..

”To be clever is to be still”

Go well.

Geraldine Mackey: Copyright All Rights Reserved.

22 Replies to “Baby boom for birds amongst their favourite trees, scones and cream and a tree kangaroo”

  1. Great quote! I am always in awe of your beautiful birds, but you took the post over the top with the tree kangaroo. I’d never heard of one so I was able to research and read about it so thank you for the learning moment. That scone and cream sure looks delicious, and I must admit I’ve had scones lately but no cream. I need to rectify that. 🙂

    1. Thanks Judy. So glad you could see a tree kangaroo for the first time…you wonder how such an animal could survive high up in the trees! I should not be eating any cream but sometimes on holidays….. it is hard to resist.

  2. Wonderful quotation! How frantic we usually are. And, lovely, lovely post. I am agog at all the birds. Like Judy, I had never heard of a tree kangaroo and was tickled to see this beautiful creature.

    1. Thanks Laurie.. yes I think the sweet little tree kangaroo is not well known at all.
      Have a lovely weekend with your daughter.

  3. Gorgeous photos, Gerrie. It’s a toss up between the tree kangaroo and the decadent scones with cream. 🙂 The beautiful birds come in a very close third place. 😀

  4. Here I am on August 1 perusing some blogs and discovering that it is International Tree Day and Lammas Day (here in the northern hemisphere). How to celebrate …. hmmm …. I guess I’ll take some of the bread I baked yesterday and scatter crumbs for the birds under some of my favorite trees!

    Love your bird photos, as always.

    1. Thanks Brenda, yes I noticed the 1st August is a special day for just about everything. Glad you liked the birds, the young ones are very cute.

  5. Great quote. Sorry to hear your numbers are rising, these waves feel endless. Oh wow, loving the kookaburra chicks, beyond cute. It’s always a treat seeing your delightful birds. I’ve never seen a tree kangaroo, how wonderful that you got to see such a shy creature in the wild and get a photo.xxx

  6. You just can’t beat those blue sky days that we have. They make everything look so much sharper.
    And as for that cream – thick enough to stand a spoon upright.

  7. As always, I love your bird photos. And I learned something new from your post – tree kangaroos! For some reason I have never liked scones, but maybe we don’t make them right in this country.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.