Playful Magpies

I was surprised to observe the behaviour of this family of Australian Magpies, Gymnorhina tibicen. The young one, in the middle with a stick, was playing around with it and the parents , darker in colour, were jumping all around him/her and lying down making strange moves. All three birds seemed to be very interested in the stick. Their behaviour reminded me of dogs playing with each other with a stick... funny Magpies..

Kookaburra sketch + Walt Whitman's reflections

The Italian nature artist Angela Maria Russo http://angelamariarusso.blogspot.com/ commented on one of my  previous posts quoting the words written by the American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). I think his words, intentionally provoking, give food for thought and deserve to be shared.

'I think I could turn and live with animals,

 They are so placid and self contained,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respected or unhappy over the whole earth'.

Walt Whitman   Leaves of Grass

Until next time!                 Matteo

New generations and feathers

Autumn encounters: new generations, a young Kookaburra, and moulted feathers, one from the Kookaburra's tail. 

Latest Yeronga Park Sketches

I am keeping an eye to that Scaly-breasted Lorikeets' nest, it seems they've got chicks to feed, while into the other couple's nest on the other side of the tree there doesn't seem to be a family... I've been using a new kind of art material experiment that is a fountain pen filled with watercolor paint (charcoal gray), it is giving brilliant results so far...

Feathers

A few feathers found at Yeronga Park, Brisbane, to start a new journal. Stone Curlew (?), Masked Lapwing, Crested Pigeon and Tawny Frogmouth...

Scaly-breasted Lorikeets

First left: Rainbow Lorikeet, tail feather. Second: Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, tail feather. Third: Rainbow Lorikeet, primary covert.

Different colours for different lives