A LITTLE WATER GOES A LONG WAY
I am still a great fan of the late Graham Pizzey - an ornithologist, natural history author, publisher of bird field guides and extremely talented bird photographer.
When l lived on Mt Abrupt in the Grampians, Victoria, Graham and his wife Sue became our closest neighbours and a source of knowledge for me in particular.
Graham had a great gift of understanding the interaction of animals, plants, insects in the environment around him. His books make intriguing reading and transport the reader to places of wonder. He was so much in touch with the natural world that a walk down a bush track with him was filled with new experiences and insights into the lives of the creatures around us. I hope this simple story tempts you to find a water bowl then watch the birds and animals coming in for a drink and a bath.`
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A LITTLE WATER GOES A LONG WAY
Many
people spend a fortune on fancy bird seed to attract native birds.
At
our place a bowl of water does the trick.
When
I lived in the Grampians decades ago my neighbor, ornithologist, photographer
and journalist Graham Pizzey swore by his fancy bird-pudding recipe for
attracting birds. He proudly listed all the species he had lined up for a feed
at his door.
In
honour of his memory I recently mixed some up – a good dollop of lard, grated tasty
cheese, bird seed, grated apple and honey – melted it together – set it in the
fridge – and served it up to our Wonboyn birds.
I
was amazed to see them reject it. Couldn’t even get a bower-bird interested –
and we all know they eat pretty well anything!
Later
on a massive, elderly, eastern grey kangaroo ambled over drooling in
anticipation and happily polished most of it off. He must have been pretty
impressed as later that evening he invited one of his girl-friends to dine at
our place and became quite huffy when I told him it was off the menu.
That
basic ceramic bowl of water I mentioned earlier is still by far the best
attractor bringing in birds, animals and reptiles too.
Old-man
goanna – all eight feet of him – tried to come inside recently. Perhaps he’d
had too much to drink!
Most
of the birds like a bath – especially on hot days. With our lack of rain I
notice there is quite a queue and pecking order around the bowl. I monitor the
water levels and top it up when needed.
Thuggish
rainbow lorikeets, as usual, rule the roost. They happily bathe together – and
it’s quite a squeeze at times. Magpies barely fit in the bowl and empty it out
pretty quickly. Little red-browed fire-tailed finches line up around the rim
taking turns, having a drink while they wait and Mr. Whippy our flamboyant
whip-bird jumps in feet first. Inside the bus I hear him land with a clunk – and
was just fortunate enough to snap a revealing bath-room shot.
The
grey shrike thrush drinks first then bathes later, leaving a trail of silvery
song behind. Bowerbirds are sneaky – they pop in for a quick dip when no-one is
looking – then fly inside the bus for forage around if the door is open. Scrub
wrens introduce their peeping babies, teaching them that cleanliness is a good
trait – they also come inside to do a little house cleaning. Mr. Superb, the
blue wren, brings along his bevy of females then stares at his beautiful reflection
in the clear, still water. He once bought along a shiny yellow petal from a ground-creeping
bush-flower to display to his harem – show-off!
The
lyre-birds don’t have time to drink at the bowl – they prefer to play chasey
around the pittosporum trees behind the bus then a paddle in the creek and have
a karaoke contest at the bottom of the hill, where the acoustics are the best.
And
just after dark the night-shift clocks on!
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