Lunch snatching Kookaburras

Laughing Kookaburra Lane Cove National Park Sydney

 Earlier this week I wrote about one of our visits to Sydney earlier this year. During one of our breaks from looking after our grandchildren, ages 8 and 5, we drove across town to the Lane Cove National Park. This lovely park is only a quick ten-minute drive from my son's home. The main feature of this park is the Lane Cove River flowing through it. Houses and commercial areas crowd in on the park on all sides, but the remnant bushland still maintains a good variety of native Australian plants, birds and other wildlife such as reptiles, insects, and turtles. Delightful picnic areas have been provided by the park's staff.

Speaking of turtles, on this particular visit we set up our folding chairs, opened up our picnic lunch boxes and were about to eat lunch. My attention was drawn to several Long-necked Turtles sitting on a log near the water's edge. I handed my binoculars to my wife so that she could have a closer look at them sunning themselves on the log.

Long-necked Turtles on a log, Lane Cove River

As soon as she had taken the binoculars, a Laughing Kookaburra swooped out of a nearby gum tree. It flew down to her chair and snatched a part of her sandwich sitting on the table on the side of her chair. It flew off a few metres with its booty, settling on the grass nearby to eat my wife's lunch (see photos). It was immediately joined by another kookaburra who claimed its share of the food.

In an ironic twist to this tale, we saw plaques attached to all of the picnic tables in this park. The rangers had placed these notices for all visitors to read. "Please do not feed the birds and animals," they said - or words to that effect. perhaps they should add a notice for the wildlife: "Please do not snatch human food."

For more stories about and photos of Australian birds, visit my other site Trevor's Birding.

Laughing Kookaburra Lane Cove National Park Sydney

What a turkey

Australian Brush Turkey

Twice over the course of this year, my wife and I have travelled to Sydney. We go there to visit our son and to look after our wonderful, energetic grandchildren, ages 8 and 5. From our home in Murray Bridge, South Australia, it is a pleasant two-day journey. Along the way, we try to stop in places where I can observe a good range of birds.

Australian Brush Turkey

While we are in Sydney, there are a few places we like to visit, places we have enjoyed during past visits. One of these favourite places would have to be the Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens in the Sydney suburb of St. Ives. These gardens have a good range of native Australian plants which have been planted there. My wife always enjoys looking at these and taking photographs of anything flowering. I have included some of my photos of flowers below.

The gardens also include a large area of natural bushland. This area is a good representation of the natural habitat which existed before European occupation. While much of the surrounding area has been cleared for housing and industrial use, there are still many remnants of original bushland left. In these areas, the native birdlife can be very easy to see and photograph.

While we were having a cuppa one of the resident Australian Brush Turkeys came right up to where we were sitting on one of the garden seats in the picnic area. I am sure it was hoping to get a share of our biscuits. We disappointed it: we do not feed our native birds as human food is not suitable for them. So, in its frustration, it decided to get something for itself. It tried opening up my camera bag looking for some tasty morsel. Seeing that my camera bag was on the ground right next to where my son was sitting was no deterrent to this bird. Obviously, they are quite accustomed to people and are not at all frightened by our presence. Not having any luck with us, it wandered over to another spot where some other people were having a barbecue. They took pity on it and gave it something from their picnic food.

You can read more about Australian birds on my other site Trevor's Birding.

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney

Ku Ring Gai Wildflower Gardens Sydney