For the Birds and Bird Lovers 2018 CAUTION: LARGE IMAGES

Broome is number one in my destination bucket.

Go there! Do it!

Not a bird, but this squeezy noodle is outside my window as I type: a mid-sized carpet python (Morelia spilota)

View from outside: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnhSe_5V4AEc321.jpg

View from inside: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnhSixzUwAESd3j.jpg

oh wow, s/he's gorgeous! and very curious

I'm trying to discourage the pademelons from getting too close! The birds are a bit slow on the uptake, too. If this were a brown tree snake or an owl, the honeyeaters would be mobbing the living daylights out of it by now.

what a lovely place you live in, Helix! *swoons at pademelons*

It's trying to get in.

MaeZe said:

It's trying to get in.

Click to expand...

It really was! I'm glad there are flyscreens on the ground floor windows.

Um...you are very sanguine, Helix. Can I assume this squeezy snek is not very threatening? Because it looks, em, sizable.

They are not generally aggressive unless they feel threatened. But because I didn't know what that snake would consider threatening, I decided to keep out of its way, just in case. Carpet pythons and scrub pythons tend to be a bit more relaxed (because of their size?) than some of the other species I get around here.

This was probably 1.8 metres long. The largest carpet python I've seen around here was 2.7 metres. I can give an exact figure for that one, because I ran out the tape measure when it was stretched out. The scrub (also known as amethystine) pythons are quite a bit bigger than that!

Elaine should have warned me it was a snek...curse you, puppeh!

Helix, that is quite the...um...

If I saw the snake like this, I guess I would run away from home and never come back

I've been wandering around SW Western Australia. Am still sorting through the pics, but I thought you might like to see a few of them.

Common bronzewing

Brush bronzewing

New Holland honeyeater onna scarlet banksia

Crested shrike-tit (SW subspecies)

Blue-breasted fairywren

Those bronzewings. Wow! Stunning! I love the rainbow colors on the wings.

The wren!

Such terrific photos, Helix! I got a kick out of the "Hey, baby" common bronzewing. I have a mental picture of the female strutting away like Jessica Rabbit.

Wow!

SW Western Australia is an amazing spot. The flowers are even lovelier than the birds -- lots of banksias, hakeas, eucalypts, and flowering peas.

Wow. This thread popped up with great timing, such great timing it's almost creepy. My main character in my survival novel just finished taking pictures of some birds, and I had no idea if I did it right. I'll just be browsing the thread for a bit.

mrsmig said:

My feeders have been nuts lately as spring has sprung and mating season is nearly upon us. I got this shot of a male Pileated Woodpecker early this morning, hammering away at the suet feeder. These birds aren't uncommon in my area, but they come to my feeders only once in a while. This big male, with the morning sun shining through his crest, was like a gift.

Just for perspective, the suet cage is roughly 6x6 inches. I'm guessing this guy was about 15-17 inches long. The only bigger bird that shows up in my yard is the occasional Red-Tailed Hawk.

Click to expand...

Oh, look at that lovely fellow with his fancy head gear!

I love these guys. We often have a couple of them in the backyard forest. One was around last week.

I can't imagine them pecking at the siding. They do peck hard.