Thanks be for leaky taps

I whiled a way an hour or so in Titree recently, watching the antics of a small mob of Major Mitchells taking advantage of a leaky tap.

What splendid birds! As the human Major Mitchell remarked (according to Wikipedia): “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region.”

I don’t know if Titree could be considered voluptuous, but the M.M.s do a pretty good job there too.

I had left my zoom camera at home, imagining work would leave me no time for taking pictures, but an expected technology issue left me and my work colleague with time to spare while we waited for a rescue operation. It meant I had to use my Iphone for the pictures and get as close as I could.

As it turned out, it wasn’t a bad thing, as I had to develop some trust with the birds before they would resume their trysts with the tap with me only a few metres away. After a while I couldn’t help feeling they were showing off.

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