I have enjoyed reading the posts on this forum for some time, and especially in the birds and nature sections.
I live in country Australia and have lots of bird life around to enjoy. This week I have been having a laugh at some herons (ardea novaehollandiae) stalking around my lawn. They look so graceful as they slowly walk around. They are winter visitors in this part of the country. However, looks aren't everything even in the bird world. They have a raucous voice and use it as well as their long beaks to scare off other birds. The 'Noisy Minors'(a medium sized honey and insect eater) usually work as a 'gang' but even they have been chased off. Yesterday I watched a Kookaburra chased off too. I suspect the regular bird population around here will be glad to see the herons go.
btw I hope I have done this posting correctly.

You did just fine, Mikk. I am glad to know that you are enjoying the topics in the two nature forums. Since hardly anyone besides myself ever posts to them, I was beginning to wonder whether anyone even reads them, and whether it was worth the bother to continue posting. I hope you will participate here a lot - it would be nice to have someone to discuss God's beautiful creation with, instead of just talking to myself!

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

[This message has been edited by Cathy Sears (edited July 01, 2001).]

Although we do have a couple of types of herons in Michigan, I don't see them very often. I do remember seeing a bird last year that I think was a green heron, if I remember correctly. It was perched on a tree on the bank of the creek that runs beside and behind our property.

Just last Sabbath I saw four sandhill cranes in one of the fields I pass by on my walks. They were too far away for me to see them very clearly, but I identified them by their size, the way they moved, and their calls. I would have liked to get closer, maybe even attempt to photograph them (I had my camera with me), but the poison ivy grows very thickly all along the side of the road, so once it comes up, which is the case now, I am confined to the road itself on my walks.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Thanks for replying, Cathy. The heron to which I referred is similar in size to the Cattle Egret - but stands taller. The egrets are always here - walking around the feet of the cattle as they graze. Right now there are also quite a number of Ibis around - both white and 'straw-necked'. Don't know if you see any of these at any time. They are also a big bird - even bigger than the herons - and its quite a site to see a dozen or so walking over the field and picking up insects and grubs.
Our Heavenly Father has certainly made an abundant bird-life to remind us of His care for us.

Mikk, I looked in my bird book. There are a few types of ibis in very small coastal areas in the US, mostly in the south and west. We don't have them here, and I can't remember ever seeing any in a zoo. I believe the largest bird in Michigan, my home state, is the great blue heron, followed by the sandhill crane.

I have seen cattle egrets. They were very common in the part of Florida where we lived for a short time, but they do not live around here at any time of the year.

While I have lived most of my life in Michigan, my husband and I did live in a few other states for brief periods during a four-year period. One of the most memorable things from those years is the variety of birds we saw that we have never seen in Michigan.

I especially remember the time when we were at our kitchen table at our house in Ortonville, Minnesota, overlooking Big Stone Lake, which forms the border with South Dakota for several miles. We saw a large group of big white birds swimming in our direction from the middle of the lake near an island located there. We thought that they were swans, which we were used to seeing on lakes in Michigan, yet they didn't look quite right. As they drew nearer, we finally realized that they were white pelicans! We had never see pelicans in the wild, and did not realize they lived on inland lakes. We learned soon afterward that they nest in large numbers on that island every year.

We saw many other beautiful and interesting birds that were very common in those places where we lived, which we will never see in Michigan. While there are so many beautiful birds around the world, most of which I will never see live in this life, I feel very blessed that God has placed such a wide variety right here in one place. And to think that He did it all for us! He didn't need to - we could have gotten along all right with only a few kinds - but He has given us, in all of nature, such a wide variety of beautiful living, and even non-living thigs to enjoy, we could never run out of new beauties to delight our senses. I really feel sorry for those who have no interest in nature, who find their pleasure in only man-made amusements and things. The things that give me the greatest pleasure and delights in my life are free of charge, and nearly unlimited in quantity and variety.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

We've got a Great Blue Heron that posts duty in a nearby creek as predictably as the local constabulary visits donut shops on their rounds.

They are large, graceful birds that must eat their fair share of fish. You may have read in an earlier post of mine that one of them tried to take goldfish out of a neighbour's pond. After they put strings above their back yard, the heron has decided to go elsewhere.

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You have done many good things for me, Lord, just as you promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge. Psalm 119:65-66 NLT

I missed your previous post Andrew. Something similar happened to my neighbour. He was going to start a little industry growing a kind of fresh water crayfish that were bringing a lot of money on the fish market. It started great until a heron discovered the pond! He didn't have the money necessary to completely net the pond so his new industry failed. The heron must have really believed it had a personal feast table!

I've read a lot of these posts, and attempted to contribute before, but I felt like a loner on this side of the planet! Now that another Aussie has contributed, I don't feel as shy.
I had an interesting encounter with a spoonbill (I have no idea of correct names, sorry) in New Farm Park, in Brisbane. The council had opened an experimental camp for the homeless, and when I went to see how it was operating, there was a very tame spoonbill strolling around, keeping within eyeshot of a mauled loaf of bread that had been placed out for it. It was incredibly tame, and was obviously liked by the inhabitants. It was quite a tall bird, black and white. Pelicans live on the Brisbane river, and a few of those were on the river bank nearby. They always strike me as being quite intelligent.
In my backyard I have a pair of crows who try in vain to crack open the macadamia nuts from my tree. Occasionally a borer will drill into one, and they go crazy pecking to get at the sweet flesh. I usually break them open for the birds if they're not edible. But this has backfired, because the crows know that the nuts contain food, so they pick them up, and hide them! I watch them carefully dig a shallow hole, push the nut into the ground, then pluck some grass and drop it over the place to conceal it. Sometimes they drag leaves or sticks over the top. I've seen them hide other food between the tiles on roofs, or under rubbish in the drains. They're very clever.
There is a family of magpies - 3 of them - who stroll casually around our neighbourhood. I seldom see them fly. They walk down the footpath, visiting all the friendly homes. They regularly visit us, and my son loves to feed them. One will take food from our hands. When the crows see food being distributed, they fly down, but the magpies fluff themselves up, adopting a pose reminiscent of vultures, and first, scream at them, then they sing their warning song. Even though the crows are twice to three times their size, they won't take on an angry magpie! Peewees (magpie larks) wait on the sidelines to glean leftovers, while the tiny willie-wagtail attacks everything, including us! I've seen wagtails attack crows mercilessly. The crows merely duck their heads away from the tiny aggressor, whose bravery exceeds its wisdom.
We have many varieties of birds whose names I don't know. Multi-coloured green parrots screech across backyards, seeking nectar and tiny fruits. A small grey and green bird with a hilarious cacophony of a call struts its stuff once a day. Little black birds the size of pigeons fluff up the ruffles on the sides of their faces, and contest territorial rights to the macadamia tree. Noisy miners, apostle birds (who get about in noisy groups) and kookaburras are daily visitors.
The times I don't like are when the crows gang up on possums. Any possum unwise enough to be stirring during daylight will be attacked en masse by dozens of crows. (We live near a reserve within a city.) They usually can hide under the eaves of houses, but some must be unlucky.
I don't understand how anyone can delight in nature, while believing in evolution. Nothing so intelligent and beautiful as our abundant birdlife on this planet could have been a series of accidents.

Zyph & Mikk,

I'd love to see what the birds you are telling about look like. Do you know of any websites that have photos of australian birds? The websites thread lists a couple of online field guides for North American birds. Do you know of any similar sites for Australian birds? If so, please e-mail me the URL's, and I will add them to the list.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

For the benefit of the Americans - which I guess is most of you! - Aussie magpies are a quiet different bird from the ones over there. There are pics and also the sound of them on the site that Cathy has now transferred to the other topic. (Thanks Cathy). It was a bit disconcerting when I saw my first Magpie in the USA. Not at all what I expected. Nice to see you posting re Aussie birds Zyph.