Lorikeets

When I'm out walking, and even when at home, I hear Rainbow Lorikeets all around, all the time. They seem to taunt me as they flit around as they are very fast and I'm rarely quick enough with the camera to capture a decent photo. Through sheer luck, I have managed to get a couple of photos in recent months, but for the number of times I glimpse flashes of colour and hear their chirping, I should have a million photos by now.
Yesterday, I hit the jackpot. Walking through a public park not far from home, I noticed a tree covered in a net with lots of movement beneath. About six birds flew out from under the net as I approached, but two of them were unwilling to abandon the fruit tree so soon. ( Peaches, I think. The fruit was pretty much chewed up) As I watched, they slowly edged their way out from under the net and looked at me in annoyance before eventually having a few words to each other and taking to the sky.

Here they are, just emerging from the net.

You can barely see the one up in the right-hand corner. So well camouflaged by the autumn leaves.

 

 

 

 

Love the way they are mimicking each other's positions here and in the photo below.

 

 

Such beautiful creatures.

After they had flown off, I had a closer inspection of the tree and really wish I hadn't done so after spotting the remains of a couple of precious victims of that horrible net. Clearly, they had managed to get in but then couldn't escape, poor things.

It made me so angry that some idiot - probably an occupant of a nearby house - had done such an inadequate job of covering the tree with the net, therefore endangering these beautiful birds, and then clearly left the fruit to rot on the tree anyway. I wish I'd had the nerve to rip that net off on the spot.

On a lighter note, as I walked back past the tree on the way home, I saw many birds flitting in and out from under the net without any trouble.

I hope they eat every remaining piece of fruit on that tree.