Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Parrot Party

We've decided to postpone our trip down to the coast... it's just too far, a 14 hour drive in horrible long-weekend traffic, to spend four days before the great trek home again. I hope it won't be too long before we can go for a reasonable amount of time.



So, I will dwell a bit longer on our short Aussie visit - and the weird and wonderful birds that abound. I photographed the white parrots above, that were hung like bits of rag around a pine tree at Cottesloe Beach, where we were looking at the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. It was a surprise to see the photo zoomed in - they look like they're having such a party, with their funny, smiling beaks and their eager, greedy eyes!
I didn't get close up in any way to the bright little lorikeets (I think - the Perthians call them by another nickname, which I've forgotten, as they're a bit of a pest), so this is the vaguest impression of the flashing brightness of them as they dart through the dark Norfolk pines in great flocks, and making a huge din as they settle down for the evening.





6 comments:

Gillian said...

I love the way their 'eating' claw looks like a tiny hand! Rather "Alison in Wonderland'ish" if you know what I mean! Ja - I remember how noisy the galas (sp??) were... But what a delight to see the flashes of colour dart through tree tops. I love our little red cardinals here, and they make rather sweet sounds too. Still have to finish my w/c of our back garden - have run into a bit of a wall...!

Cathy Gatland said...

Looking forward to seeing that back garden... sometimes watercolours do better when they're not that 'finished'!

Jeanette Jobson said...

How lovely to see birds in the wild like this and capture them in watercolour. THe brightest bird in my garden tends to be bluejays which have very loud voices.

Gillian said...

Oops - I meant ALICE in W.

Adam Cope said...

nice use of white in the parrots!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you didn't get around to the sea after all...but at least you did great work at home with these paintings...you have such a light touch with your brush...love the whites!
ronell