Feed the birds!

Not exactly tuppence a bag, but not much more!
My seed mix, which I know many of you enjoy on your muesli, oats and toasted in salads is rapidly disappearing. Before I was forced to leave my clinic, rather unhappily with Stage 4, I took three packets with me. That will do I thought. But, aha, no! It’s all gone! And no, I haven’t been scoffing…

I have a few new feathered friends in my backyard, who seem to have taken a liking to it. Over the past eight weeks I have spent far more time outside than ever, like most.

And to my astonishment I have a plethora of birds in my garden. Wattlebirds swinging upside down in the bottlebrush tree, blackbirds and pigeons mainly sitting on my fence, crows flying over the rooftops, magpies looking determinedly busy on the nature strip (I’ll return to these guys later!) and yellow-breasted robins in the cherry blossom tree and sharing with the wattlebirds.

I have become particularly obsessed with a couple of devoted doves and a beautiful blackbird, with a shiny black coat and a particularly enchanting song. All three have been sitting patiently on my fence for months. So, I gave in, my seed mix to the rescue. All three share, with no pushing and shoving, but with little social graces. If you could describe a bird gulping…that would be their eating style.

But now I have birds impatiently pacing my fence each day waiting for this naturopath to give in. They have me wrapped around their little claws for sure. But it is an absolute delight, to sit closely by and observe these feathered beings, another silver lining of the past few months.

I have become so enamored with my new friends, I took part in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count! My identification skills are not great, but spending 20 minutes a day for a week counting each of these lovely creatures was a sensory delight!