Fun With Birds II or Feed Me or Else

Well, he was just back.  I found him inside the house eating out of Karnak's bowl.  I chased him out and he stood there in the door with a defiant look on his beak.  So I let him back in so I could film him, which I did.  Unfortunately I have used up my quota for free video uploads this week so I will post that in a bit.  But he literally walked in, flew around the kitchen and then left.  Just to show that he could. Can't leave that back door open for the cats anymore!

Somewhere I have a video from last year of a Magpie that flew upstairs to the office.  I came home and found him sitting on the back of my chair staring at me.  If you could teach them to file...

Fun With Birds in Australia

I appear to have accumulated a critical mass of bird photos and it's time to share them. I have also adopted a Magpie in the back yard who now comes every day to be fed.  This is the "swooping" season where male birds are defending their nests and will attack without warning.  And it is illegal to hurt them intentionally - you can defend yourself but don't take any offensive action.  They like their wildlife here and that's good (except when slowing down for echidnas, see previous post on that subject).  But Magpies are smart, and if you feed them, they remember you.

But boy, does it annoy the cats.  I just ran the video below and Karnak, who has taken to sitting next to the computer, stood up and started staring at the skylight and then ran downstairs to the back door to confront the intruder.

Here's my breakfast visitor:

Apparently being able to feed them by hand isn't that common, but they see me every day and apparently are used to me.

Magpie feeding from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

And they have a beautiful song as well - here's one giving full voice in a local park.  He just sat there and sang his little heart out.  Sorry about the sideways film - can't be fixed.  I forgot that you have to hold the I-phone sideways when you shoot video.  But it's the sound that matters...

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Then there are the Cockatiels (yes, the same bird that you remember from the cop show "Baretta"...

 

 Here's what happens when you put seeds out:

Cockatiels in the backyard from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Then there are the King Parrots...

 The Galahs...

The Crimson Rosellas...

The occasional Raven...

Black Geese...

 

Some sort of duck...

And the (angry) Minah...this one was so territorial he attacked his own reflection.

There are all other sorts of birds flying wild here that in the States you would only see in a petshop.  There are beautiful parrots called Lorrakeets that are all the colors of the rainbow, Grass Parrots (little green parrots), Currawongs (look like a miniature Magpie), little blue and green thrushes and all sort of birds just passing though.

One last blog this weekend...parking in Canberra.

This is a typical parking experience here...read the sign carefully and note the position of my vehicle...

 
I just got an $80 parking ticket because of a similarly confusing sign..it depended upon whether you read it from the top down or the bottom up.

10-Year Anniversary of 9/11 Down Under

Because there were also Australians killed in the Twin Towers, 9/11 is also an important date down here.  In fact then-Prime Minister John Howard was in the U.S. and he immediately invoked the Australia-New Zealand-US Treaty (an attack upon one is an attack upon all) and is the reason both Australia and New Zealand are in Afghanistan with us (thus far Australia has suffered 29 Diggers (soldiers) Killed In Action, while New Zealand has lost one soldier). 

The U.S. Embassy conducted a very moving ceremony at Reconciliation Plaza on the waterfront of Lake Burley Griffin at 5 PM on 9/11.  It was a public service and very well-attended.

Ambassador and Mrs. Bleich greeting VIPs:

 

Security on the lake.

 

On the left current Chief of Defence Force General David Hurley speaking with just-retired Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal "Angus" Houston.

Former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd arrives.

As you can see, it was a little cold and rainy (it's Winter here)...

 

We had two bands, one of them a police bagpipe band.

 

 Debbie worked this event - that's Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Ambassador Bleich on the dais in the background.

 

Ambassador Bleich gave a very moving speech about his college roommate, who barely escaped the Towers before they collapsed.

Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich 9/11 10-year Anniversary Speech from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

PM Gillard followed.

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

The ceremony concluded with the lighting of candles in memory of those lost on and since 9/11.  The gentlemen at lower right in the green jacket is just-retired Chief of Defence Force Air Chief Marshal "Angus" Houston.

The Australians I talked to thought the ceremony hit just the right note.  It was a good way to spend a late Sunday afternoon remembering how the last ten years have affected us.

A Roosa Comes To Visit

Well, our friends Roos (that's Christopher A. Roosa, COL USMCR (Ret)) and wife Dr. Danielle J. Malek Roosa were hunting in New Zealand and after that was completed, Roos decided to stick around for a week this past August and visit us (while Danielle went back to her job in DC at the World Bank - she's in charge of those paper rolls you put the coins in).  We set up a busy itinerary to whit:

The NASA space "listening" station at Tidbinbilla:

 

"Question Time" at Parliament (translation - where Opposition Members of Parliament stand up and are really rude to the Prime Minister under the guise of questioning Government policies)...

Given Roos' space background (his dad, COL Stuart A. Roosa USAF (Ret) was the Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot) we took him out to the Mount Stromlo Observatory.  They just inked a deal with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for a space museum in Canberra (at Mount Stromlo) and Debbie, who knows some of the Australian National University people involved, passed on some critical contacts provided by Roos at Air and Space to help make it  happen.  Needless to say, they were very happy to see Roos and provided a personal tour of new facilities under construction at the Observatory.

Given our plans, it was time to start on the road.

A must-do visit to the Roos Club in Queanbeyan outside Canberra (it's a football club - the Kangaroos).

The obligatory dead wombat trophy shot on any road in Australia.

Lunch in Bateman's Bay (Clyde River draining into the Tasman Sea)

 

On to Husskison on Jervis Bay to see our friends Mase and Bron and the girls.

 

Mase teaches physical education but is also an expert Bonsai grower and has a business selling his miniature trees - which take a minimum of 5 years to grow...see Mase for all your Bonsai needs...Bron teaches "maths" (as they say here).

The next morning it's whale-watching on Jervis Bay, where we saw both Greys and Southern Rights.

Here's a Southern Right in the water:

Jervis Bay Whale-Watching from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

 

That's Debbie and Point Perpendicular

 

This is the inlet that allows you to enter Husskison.

Then on to Kangaroo Valley for an overnight visit at the mountain-top house of our friends James and Su:

 

The view:

 Where did she come from?!

 And dinner prepared by the resident chef Monique (she and her husband John look after the place for James and Su; it's a working farm as well).

And in winter, you always need a fire...

Next day, on to Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains.  This is an old and famous tourist attraction in Australia.  Has an old hotel with a fancy old dining room.

 

They even have a road through the "Devil's Coachhouse."

The famous "Broken Column"

 

Roos checks in with Dr. Malek (er, Roosa) - "Yes, Dear."

Leaving Jenolan - we head up and over the mountains to our next stop - Leura, where our friends Lindsay and Heather have just bought a house after selling theirs in Sydney.  But before we get there, we spot an echidna - an Australian version of a porcupine - slowly moving across the highway.  I nearly get run down by an Australian who doesn't seem to understand the universal sign for "Slow down, there's an endangered species trying to get across the road here..." (me, standing in the middle of the road waving my arms).

 

In the movie from Debbie's camera, the oncoming car drives between me and the echidna rather than just stop for one minute.  I'm sorry to say that's typical of the driving here - I love Australians, but when they get behind a wheel they tend to be impatient.  Here's the one from mine so you can see how slowly these things move.  Don't ever try to pick one up unless you have special gloves on (which strangely enough, I keep a set of in the back of the car) - also useful for checking the pouches of dead kangaroos for joeys...I have pictures of that but I don't think you want to see them.

OK, since you insist - here's proof of what I say:

Echina On A Mission Plus Impatient Australian Driver from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.



We arrived in Leura at the new home of Heather and Linds (who will continue to work in Juvenile Assistance in Sydney, commuting two hours each way every day of the week).  But it will be worth it; Leura is a pretty little mountain town which has beautiful views and waterfalls all around it.  And, there is a suite specifically dedicated to us (so we intend to return often...).

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

The next day, we placed Roos on the plane back to DC, then headed back to Canberra to make use of our copious free time; in my case, to write a military history essay for my graduate course.  Go ahead, ask me something about Maori hill forts during the Land Wars in colonial New Zealand...

Next post:  the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 Down Under.

We're still down here...

although we are approaching the end of this two-year tour.  A lot has been happening since the last post in July.  First, I didn't win - once again - the Washington Post Travel Photo Contest.  They picked a picture of a tree with a barn with some sky behind it.  But it had a good story - somebody's boyhood memory.

We had Debbie's brother Scott and his sons Hunter and Aiden and daughter Arden come for 10 days via Thailand.  We spent some time in Canberra for the 4th of July but also worked in a trip on a houseboat on the Murray River, then down to Melbourne to celebrate Arden's 12th birthday, then back up through Canberra to Sydney.  Here are a few shots from the visit.

Here we all are with Ambassador Bleich at the Embassy's 4th of July bash (1800 people, and Debbie had a large hand in organizing in her new job as Protocol Assistant to the Ambassador)

And Debbie was recognized...

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Scott and new friend in the park across the lake from our house...

 

The view of Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle from Mount Ainslie, Aunt Debbie apparently loving Arden to death.  The coathanger thing in the background is Parliament.  The low white building in front is the Old Parliament, now the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Presto - and here they are at the coathanger thing on top of the Parliament.

Now on to the Murray River...

Here's the boat we spent 2.5 days on - complete with spa on top, BBQ, 2 plasma TVs, 4 bedrooms and bathrooms, a great kitchen and a living room.  We were not roughing it.

Under way to Echuca for dinner, first night.

Under Way from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Aunt Debbie on the phone with Mom...

Captain Aidan at the helm...

The Mighty Murray River at dusk.

The Woolums Build A Fire from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

 The Woolums Build A Fire.

We avoided both self-immolation and incidents at sea and were able to return the boat in one piece.

Now, on to Melbourne.

Birthday on the Melbourne Dinner Tram from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Here we are on the Dinner Tram - which is actually a nice restaurant which tools around the city for a couple of hours.  We used the opportunity to celebrate Arden's 12th Birthday.  Tom and Jan went on this when they were here last November.


Woolums Over Melbourne from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

We took a trip to the top of the Eureka Building to see Melbourne from up top.

And ate fresh oysters at the Victoria Market

Then it was back to Canberra for an overnight and on to Sydney.

 Where we went up into one of the Sydney bridge pylons and then lunch with a view of the harbor and a significant landmark in the background...

And no trip to Sydney is complete without a visit to the Sydney Fish Market:

Woolums and Fish from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

And then they got on the plane home, while we stayed an extra night in Sydney with friends and went to the Opera House for a concert:


Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.


These are our friends Matt and Lorraine.  Matt's an Australian Army Reserve Officer who visits us frequently in Canberra.  Lorraine has a family of kookaburras (see my previous post on kookaburras - it's the bird that makes the call that you hear in all the old Tarzan movies) she's presently housing in her back yard and which come to the kitchen window every morning to be fed...meat.  That's right - the little guys are carnivorous.

Sydney Opera House At Night from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

There's an entire complex of restaurants and nightclubs under the Opera House.


It was fun having them all here.  But another visitor was on the horizon...to be continued in the next installment of "Ikins Down Under."