And then there were 3: Green Catbird

Winter is hard. I CANNOT wait for Spring when everything just explodes with life again. Life of course, is still ticking along. I can hear the Lewin’s Honeyeaters, Thornbills and Wattlebirds calling as they weave in and out of the trees. But I just miss the sheer abundance, that absolute glut of creatures everywhere. Plus it’s dark here. Darker than usual, the sun not getting up and away from the escarpment enough, the trees crowding in around us. Still, I do enjoy being able to layer up and hiding the signs of my own excessiveness. The more coats the better! Also pasta. It’s perfect pasta weather. So I guess Winter isn’t all bad 😉

I have to say, I haven’t heard the Green Catbirds calling recently. I absolutely love waking up to their crazy ass cry. They tend to head where the food is, feeding on all the lushness of the rainforest: figs, berries, flowers, the occasional small reptile and even baby birds during breeding season to feed to their own young. Even though I haven’t heard their crying baby/meowing cat call recently, they’re around. And even better than just being around, they’ve been busy making more Catbirds!!!

Now if you don’t hear them calling, these aren’t particularly quiet birds. I headed outside after hearing the plop, plop, plop of lilly pillys dropping onto the ground and the sound of bodies crashing noisily through the thick foliage. Babies! And still getting the hang of flying! There were two youngish birds, screeching to be fed but who could, funnily enough, sit there scoffing the fruits all by themselves when the parent was off feeding the other sibling. Bloody kids!

I only got a few minutes watching them, squawking and carrying on, flapping their wings and yelling for food as the adult did the hop, hop, hop thing up to their baby, feeding them and then hop, hop, hopping away, encouraging the young bird to explore for themselves. But it was comforting to know that the forest is still living and growing amidst the darkness and it won’t be long before it’s Spring and then Summer and I can complain about the sun and the heat and long for Winter to roll around again 😉😂

Green Catbird – Northern Illawarra