A bird's-eye view of God's creation
A bird's-eye view of God's creation
17 October 2022
From my kitchen window, I often see flashes of the brilliant green and blue of rainbow lorikeets.
It is a bit of a misnomer to call the strip of land at the back of our place a yard – it’s only six metres wide and 20 metres long. When we moved in eight years ago the house had just been built and the ‘garden’ was dirt. Over the next year, the bare earth was replaced with vigorous weeds that flourished unchecked until one of our daughters wanted to have her engagement party at our house.
In the space of two weekends, the little yard went from disaster to delightful – the joys of having a really, really small garden.
Over those weekends, while my husband pulled out knee-high weeds and levelled the uneven ground, I went to the garden centre. I wanted colour, I wanted greenery, but most of all I wanted birds in my strip of garden.
It’s a delight to see little wrens hopping from twig to twig in my back garden.
I’d read lots of articles on how to attract birdlife. They all promised that if you planted native bushes and trees, the birds would come. So we planted a two-metre-high red Callistemon and two pink grevilleas.
I didn’t really expect a couple of small shrubs to do much. I thought maybe one or two feathered friends might call in on their way to the lake and reserve down the road. But those three bushes, now way higher than the back fence, have been magnets to our local birdlife.
I’ve sat quietly on our deck, flanked by two aged cats, and watched noisy miners (native honeyeaters, not to be confused with the aggressive and introduced common myna) feasting in the grevilleas and Callistemon. I’ve knelt beneath the shrubs to pull out weeds and looked up into branches heavy with pink and red flowers to see tiny wrens hopping from twig to twig.
From the kitchen window I often see flashes of the brilliant green and blue of rainbow lorikeets, and once a huge racket outside heralded a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos. They descended onto the Callistemon and virtually stripped it bare; it took two years to recover.
This year I’ll be taking part in the annual Aussie Bird Count, held 17-23 October. It’s simple to do. You just spend 20 minutes in one spot, note down the birds you see and submit your information to be compiled. It’s a citizen science project coordinated by BirdLife Australia to provide a snapshot of Australian birds at the same time each year. Last year 4,936,509 birds, comprising 623 species, were counted!
What a delightful reason to sit in the sun, focus on the birds in your neighbourhood and marvel at what exquisite creatures they are! How often do we take 20 minutes out of our busy lives to appreciate God’s creation? Not often enough, I reckon.
“Even birds and animals have much they could teach you; ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom. All of them know that the Lord’s hand made them” (Job chapter 12, verses 7-9 GNT).
For more information on the Aussie Bird Count, visit aussiebirdcount.org.au
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