Australian King Parrots

 

Photos from August 2019, not long after the move.

We see king parrots often, although it is less common for them to so close to the house -- all of these photos were taken standing on the verandah. Usually they're a bit further from the house and stay in or under the hedge which separates us from our neighbours.

There was also that one time in early September when I looked out the window and saw a small flock of king parrots perched on the jazz...

Armidale Cup Day

A day at the Armidale Races

Today was the Armidale Race Day and I went for the first time with some coworkers. This year was a half-day Public Holiday due to a successful campaign by the Armidale Jockey Club, but because we had a half day off due to the races I felt a bit obligated to go. It was a neat experience, and I'm glad I went. It felt like a very Aussie thing to do.. the most Australian experience of recent memory.

The first race: Mr Grumpy coming in first place.
Mr Grumpy came in my personal 1st place of best horse names.

Sponsored by Macca's

 Having never been to a race day before, everything about it was new to me. The horses for the next race were first brought out and walked around for quite a long time to allow the spectators to observe and make their bets. After a certain amount of time the jockeys would come out and ride the horses in the walking circle. Eventually the horses would make their way to the field for the race. It was neat to see the horses up close: some were very agitated, one kept trying to bite the horse that was leading it.

Heading out to the track.

I enjoyed taking photos of the horses and the races, because it was so green. If we were in the middle of a typical hot and dry spell the atmosphere of the day would have been quite different!

I didn't stay for the main event of the day, Armidale Cup, as it was the last race of the day, but I'm sure I will hear all about it tomorrow. Surely a good time was had by all! (Or at least, those whose bets paid off.)

Colorful dahlias along the track added to the festive atmosphere

Crossing the finish line.

Bonito

There's a new resident at Elizabeth Avenue, a little (ok not so little) ginger furball named Bonito. (Also sometimes called Chiquito.) (Once known as Fergus.)

He is four years old and we adopted him through the local RSPCA. He's a pretty mild mannered, mellow cat, whose favorite activities are eating and sitting in the sunroom looking outside. He would like to go out but we've decided he's going to be an indoor cat as there's already one killer on the loose in the neighborhood. (Especially not when we're trying to turn our yard into a haven for birds!)

Sleeping in the sun room.

It's nice having him around but he's not a lap cat. While he'll follow you around begging for food during the day he's generally pretty chill at night and content to sit under your chair on or the sofa nearby. He likes attention (but not too much attention.) He's very different from Ramses and Garbanzo with a temperament somewhere in-between the two of them. I do certainly appreciate that—no matter how persistent he may be for morning tea and elevenses and brunch—he's very patient for his breakfast in the morning.

Furball.

Armidale Neighborhoods

Armidale is not a very large town and yet it has numerous neighborhoods, although I am not sure where one begins and another ends. It seems a bit arbitrary to me, but I do find it amusing my smartphone can't make up its mind to which neighborhood we live in: changing between South Hill, Newling, Armidale, and sometimes all three in a day!  And all within the confines of our living room. Today for instance...

Very occasionally our house wanders into Soudan Heights, but I have only noticed this just once.  I am pretty sure this is a mistake, because Soudan Heights is pretty far away.

Of course when we move to Uralla in three weeks, we won't have this problem! Uralla doesn't have any designated neighborhoods.  We shall always be in Uralla and in Uralla we shall be.

Cottonwood and Magpies

I had an interesting experience with some magpies the other day.  A lot of cotton/fluff had fallen from the poplars near the Cultural Centre, blanketing the ground beneath the trees, so I went out to snap a few photos.  As to be expected, there were magpies stalking the grass.  We all minded our own business until I approached the area covered in fluff.

A curious juvenile magpie

The interesting thing was that as I went into the fluff-covered area, two of the young magpies followed me.  And as I crouched to take photos of the fallen leaves, they approached me very closely.  Before, all of the magpies had been sticking to the open grass.  As the young magpies followed, an adult followed them in turn.  Which made me nervous... I wasn't the one getting close to the juveniles, but I didn't want to get swooped if the adults felt threatened!

Juvenile magpie on the left, adult on the right. 

One of the young magpies lost interest but the other continued to follow me into the deep fluff.  It was quite peculiar.  I had the feeling I was less of a curiosity than the fact that I was wading into the fluff for no apparent reason, or that the fluff was just as peculiar to the magpie as the magpies following were to me.  But, of course.. it is easy to anthropomorphize and extrapolate upon these things.

Knee-deep in fluff

The leaves nearly glowed in the bright afternoon sunlight.

Caught in the tall grass.

Grey Butcherbird

I really enjoy seeing the grey butcherbird(s) in our neighborhood. (I only ever see one at at time.)  It has a very lovely, flute-like warbling call.  Just the other day I spotted this guy, perched on the branch of the flowering quince.  He posed for me for a little while before flying away.

Snapping insects out of the air.

Good Morning Australia

Backyard Sightings

Large flock of Australian ibises fly high overhead

Laundry is always a good time to run into critters!  Yesterday was a particularly notable day with a flock of Australian ibises overhead and then a blue-tongued skink made an appearance behind the water heater (and skulked off afterwards through a hole in the fence to the neighbor's backyard.)

Showing off his blue tongue

Pigeon, just regular-type

There was a lone pigeon on our street the other day, which seems a bit unusual for around here.  I think the last time I saw a pigeon like this was when we were in Sydney in February.  Reid thought perhaps it was a commuter.

While I'm sure it's not that peculiar of an occurrence, most of the pigeons we see around here are crested pigeons, as below.