My third week in Adelaide is coming to a close. I’ve been working on a new book in the Bush Birds and Beach Birds series this week. I think I’ve just about nutted out the text, then the illustration designing shall begin.
In between my writing days I’m managing adventure days still. Last weekend two birding friends who live in the hills took me out birding. It was wonderful and made everything feel a bit more familiar again after living these last few weeks in an urban environment! You can see more about my SA adventures in my socials!
I finally saw an Adelaide rosella this week! I was on my bike cycling back from a super market trip and I spotted it over a high stone wall in an overgrown vacant lot. I stood on my tippytoes, holding my phone over the wall and grinning like a weirdo to get a few photos and some video footage. I believe this is a young one because it was mottled colours rather than red and blue.
I saw so many wonderful birds on my birding trip last weekend, including a few firsts for me like the elegant parrot and a little grassbird.
But possibly the highlight was this little fellow. He’s apparently a bit of a celeb to the birding world round here. He is a leucistic striated pardalote.
Leucistic birds have missing pigments meaning they are white but still have their regular coloured eyes. This pardalote still had a smudge of yellow on his chin and that amazing orange flash on his wing and black wing markings. He was courting a female, singing away to her and she was spreading her wings back not minding in the least his unusual colourings!
We saw terns at Tolderol. I’m not sure what kind because terns are difficult to tell apart and they were moving so fast. But they were small and graceful and diving into the glistening water. It was poignant watching them. So healthy, so full of life, so unaware of their cousins all getting sick and dying not far away. Will it reach them? Is it only a matter of time? Sorry to end on this gutwrenching note.
I am filled with sadness and holding my breath.
but I’ll keep doing what I’m doing,
and hope for the best.
