The delights of bird watching

When we take the time to stop and enjoy our surroundings, we can be richly rewarded with beautiful sights that leave lasting memories.

In 2008 I was fortunate to interview Lyn Bartlett, a keen bird watcher.  She described for me a wonderful occasion when she was in her garden…

Male superb fairy wren. Photo by Frankzed. CC BY 2.0.

I was in the front garden one day with the binoculars and I saw the male blue fairy wren courting, chasing, the female, and he had a white flower petal, rose petal, in his beak.  And I thought, ‘That can’t be’, but it was.  And then, some days later, I saw him chasing her again and he dropped a red petal, it had little beak marks in it, and I read in one of my bird field guides that fairy wrens do sometimes court the female carrying a coloured flower petal.  So I was really delighted to see that with my own eyes.

What a wonderful sight that must have been!

Have you ever been fortunate to see unexpected behaviour such as this? Please tell us about it in the comments section.

Quotes from oral history interview with Lyn Bartlett, courtesy of the State Library of South Australia (OH 829-8).

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