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       #Post#: 16--------------------------------------------------
       From The Bird Lover 1964 (Bird Watching Around Melbourne)
       By: archives1 Date: May 21, 2023, 11:39 pm
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       24/2/1963
       On Saturday I saw a thrush eating snails which he caught and
       cracked on the path with his sharp beak. All he left of the
       snails was their shells. In the evening I saw him sitting on a
       branch singing a lovely bird song.
       27/02/1963
       We noticed two Indian mynas, very distressed by the heat, lying
       with outspread wings and open beaks, gasping on one of the
       garden beds.
       13/03/1963
       I saw a pink cockatoo on a branch of a tree where it was
       cracking gum nuts with its strong, curved beak. After a while it
       gave a screech and, to my surprise, about ten other Major
       Mitchell cockatoos flew out from other gum trees nearby. The one
       I saw first must have been the sentinel and warned others of
       danger.
       12/04/1963
       My family and I went to Barmah for the holidays and camped near
       the lake. At night we heard many water birds calling. The lake
       was teeming with birds – dabchicks, herons, flocks of different
       ducks and many egrets. Some other campers had found a pair of
       musk ducks on one of the islands. One of the aborigines told us
       that a pair of blue wrens nest each year in the asparagus fern
       outside his door. He also showed us two rainbow-birds’ nesting
       burrow.
       05/06/1963
       When we were on holidays at Sherbrooke Forest we went through a
       lot of scrub where we saw a lyrebird and her chick. We quietly
       watched her using her strong legs to scratch for food. When she
       found something she would call to her chick and then, to our
       delight, we were fortunate enough to feed the young chick
       ourselves.
       05/06/1963
       During the May holidays when I was in the country at my uncle’s
       farm, I saw a most unusual sight. On the branches of a tree near
       the old barn I saw many red-capped robins. My uncle said he had
       not seen so many robins together before.
       08/06/1963
       Last weekend my family went to Airey’s Inlet where we have a
       holiday house. As it was rather cold we went for a walk along
       the beach. I noticed a small black and white bird struggling on
       the shore. It was a penguin with a broken wing. We picked it up
       carefully and took it to Mr. Nobel who owns the bird sanctuary.
       09/08/1963
       Recently while walking along a bush track near Healesville we
       noticed two lyrebirds, but they quickly disappeared. After
       searching for some time we found their mound. It was a cleared
       heap of earth with an assortment of twigs nearby. I thought I
       heard the laugh of the kookaburra but perhaps it was the
       lyrebird as it is very clever at mimicking the calls of other
       birds.
       13/08/1963
       I have seen many dabchicks in a swamp close by. They dive very
       quickly when anyone approaches. You never know when they will
       decide to pop up again. Sometimes you don’t see them after they
       dive. I think they swim to the reeds and tall grasses and come
       out there.
       17/08/1963
       Our classroom has three large windows and is situated in the
       front of the main buildings of the school. Virginia creeper
       grows on the wall outside and comes into our room through the
       windows. In summer it was green and held a vast store of food
       for the birds – insects and caterpillars. In autumn the creeper
       changed into an artist’s palette of colours and still contained
       an attractive store of food for the birds. In winter, without
       its leaves, the creeper is brown and appears unattractive, yet
       the birds come in great numbers. They seem to find food hidden
       in the dry-looking branches and dead leaves on the ledges and
       crevices. They sometimes perch on the telephone wire which
       stretches across the way or they climb into the ventilator and
       make a constant chatter. The most frequent visitors are
       sparrows, but starlings, silvereyes, blackbirds and others come
       around often, too.
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