Going to the Birds

One of the interesting features about Australia in general and this part of Australia in particular is how many birds there are here.  There are so many of them that they really become part of your life here.  I've heard some Paleontologists say that dinosaurs didn't really go extinct but they evolved and branched into two trees: reptiles and birds.  This continent has no shortage of either, although, we haven't seen many reptiles yet.  This is really the "land of the lost" when you consider how wild it is and the types of animals that live here, a couple of which would have no issues eating you (Salty Croc, Great White Shark).  So, without further adieu here are some of the local feathered fauna:

The Pigeon, aka "feathered rat".  These are everywhere but they are quiet and tend to stay out of the way.



The Australian Magpie:



This is quite different from the North American Magpie in a couple of ways.  The first is their appearance but more importantly is their noise.  Magpie's here are fairly quiet and almost make a nice, soft singing sound.

Some of the local Cockatoo's



In parts of Australia they are considered pests and are culled.  Here there aren't too many of them and people still tolerate them.  We've seen quite a few of these around town.  I've always loved these birds.  Hopefully that won't change now that I'm surrounded by them.


Black Swan



Here is Lake Monger (very close to where we currently are) with Perth CBD in the background.  Perth is one of the only places in the world where these swans live.  The main river (Swan River) was named after these birds.  There are a tonne of these in this particular lake along with thousands of ducks.  Apparantly, they are very aggresive if you have food.

Rainbow Lorikeets



We saw a whole flock of these 5 feet away from us in a tree...they were just resting, beautiful plummage...


It's not a bird but related (if you believe the Paleontologists).  Blue-tongued skink:



We almost stepped on one of these while walking to the beach.  It was actually kinda cute.  It didn't seem too concerned about us and just slowly went on it's way.  It didn't flash us the blue tongue as a warning so it's obviously accustomed to being around people.

And lastly, the star of the show... the Australian Raven or Crow (can't quite figure out which):



For as unobtrusive as the Magpie's are compared to their Canadian counterparts, these little buggers make up for it.  They start at the crack of dawn (about 4:30am right now) and don't stop until the sun goes down.  They constantly make this god-awful noise that literally sounds like a cross between a duck drowning and a cat mating.  When we first heard it we were looking around to make sure that there wasn't a drunk, sun-stroked cat stuck on a ledge.  If Edgar Allen Poe had encountered these Ravens the story would have ended with the bird being caught, killed, roasted and eaten.

Haven't seen any snakes or spiders yet.  They are quite uncommon in Perth.