[gray_marian]

BBC News - Birds that bring gifts and do the gardening

[happy daze john in oz]

Clever birds, and she is quite good looking as well.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Marian, That's beautiful. The intelligence of the descendants of the dinosaurs is mostly not recognised. Margaret makes good friends with many regular visitors that fly in (and they accept me as harmless!) and the way they communicate is is quite charming. The king parrots have a particular whistle to attract her attention and if one is alone M's arrival on the back verandah gives rise to another distinct whistle towards the valley and Mum and the kids soar in. The Galahs arrive to introduce their new brood and have their own "where are you Mrs Q" and if there is not an immediate response the question is repeated a decibel or two higher and higher. The shy little kingfisher sits on the railing looking mournful but does not venture near the goldfish pond which is covered against the big kingfishers (Kookaburras) but he (or she) could easily sneak in and is satisfied with a tidbit or two. It would be nice if they could be trained to scan the creeks for gold nuggets!
By the way, a documentary the other evening showed that songbirds originated in on the Australian continent millions of years ago when the world land mass was closer together and the in the colder climates females are the singers whereas in the warmer climates it is the males. Too much to go into here, but I'm sure it can be Googled.
Richard