The sky had the slightest tinge of pink early this morning, (although it doesn’t show up in the photo) and as the day progressed and the low cloud cleared, Mount Warning stood beautiful and clear in all her blue-green glory. I must be growing used to seeing clouds over the mountain though, as I chose this photo over clearer sky photos I took later in the day due to the character clouds add to the early morning sky.
Joining me to enjoy the early morning view from the tibouchina tree was my little Butcher Bird friend, Hoppy (of gammy leg fame) …
… and joining Hoppy was one of the two new additions to the Butcher Bird family this year.
While I was eating breakfast, I heard the sound of something we don’t hear a lot of now in these covid days – a ‘plane. And I knew from the whiring of the ‘plane’s engine that this was not a passenger ‘plane. It was here to fly over the valley and dust the crops. I had to zoom in fully to take the photo, and the photo is severely cropped, but at least the ‘plane is in focus. 🙂
When I turned around from taking the photo of the crop-dusting ‘plane, I spotted Bubba Magpie. I’m not sure if he dropped by to say hello, or seeing my camera he decided to pose. Either way, the sun shining on his still-downie baby feathers lit up the black and white pattern which will progressively turn shiny black as he matures.
I have decided these two are an item now, so I will introduce them as Mr and Mrs Pee Wee. Although she is the newest addition to my regular feathered visitors, Mrs, on the left, seems quite dominent, and doesn’t hesitate to come right up close to me when I am feeding the birds their breakfast.
The weather felt warmer in temperature today than it has been, but the lower humidity made the warmth of the day very pleasant indeed.
I could get used to summer if every day felt as beautiful as today. ❤
Little Hoppy – of one gammy leg fame – stood nice and still on his healthy leg this morning while I took a photo of him. I had run out of fresh meat and had to thaw a batch from the freezer in the microwave, and he was very patient indeed.
Baby Magpie simply looked bewildered. If he could speak, I’m sure he would stamp his claw and demand his breakfast. 😉
The weather appeared to be threatening rain all day, but when no rain had fallen by this afternoon, I ventured outdoors to pull out a few weeds. All the rain we have been having has encouraged a new crop of weeds in several patches through my garden beds, so I’ve made a start on getting rid of a few. I also dead-headed my flowering plants. This rose bush still has several fresh roses on it, so nothing needed to be removed from this plant. 🙂
I had my iPhone in the garden, so took a photo of the valley from the top of the garden with my phone camera. There’s really nothing going on down in the valley today except heat haze or mist, but as always, I can’t complain when it is not an overly hot day.
That much I know I have right – it’s New Year’s Day, 2021. But what day of the week is it again?
Never mind, it’s holiday time, so I won’t concern myself too much with remembering what day it is right now. When the usual rhythm of everyday life begins again, I’m sure the days of the week will all fall back into place as well. 😉
We have had more rain today, along with long spells of, well, not sunshine, but it hasn’t rained all day either. The valley cleared to some extent, although Mount Warning decided to hide for the day. I’m sure there are plenty of people, regardless of Covid rstrictions, who may have over-indulged last night and wanted to hide away for the day, just as Mount Warning did.
Little Hoppy, my Butcher Bird friend with the gammy leg, visited today with one of the babies. I’m never sure who the actual parents of these baby birds are, but this little one seemed to follow Hoppy everywhere.
Later, I had a baby Butcher Bird perched on the top of the trampolene, singing at the top of its voice. They sing such a pretty song, filled with an extensive range of vocal notes, once they get into their song.
Not to be outdone, later in the day I had Baby Magpie in the front garden, extending his vocal chords to full extent as well. 🙂
While I was in the front garden with my camera, I had a look at a few plants. Some of them have taken a battering this summer, what with all the rain and gusty wind. These lovely white Mandevilla flowers broke into bloom only a few days ago though, and so far haven’t succumbed to the blustering wind. It’s a fairly new plant, I only planted it last summer, but it seems happy in the place I chose for it.
The only place I can grow Fuchsias is in a large pot on my front veranda, where the plant is protected from the harsh sun and wind. This plant is three years old now, and this flowering season it has already been in bloom for several months. I have to water the plant every day as it is quite a thirsty plant, and stresses quickly in the heat if the soil is left to dry out.
How did everyone celebrate New Year? I imagine quietly, like I did. Husband and I stayed up to watch the televised fireworks display on Sydney Harbour, welcomed the New Year in with a glass of sparkling wine, then off to bed (which is where I’m heading now!) 🙂
The mountain is a tad dull today, more rain is predicted.
There’s something I have never shared before and it may surprise people who have known me online for some time.
Regularly, I share photos of birds. I feed some of the tamer wild birds by hand when they visit my garden. I worry if I don’t see my regulars for a while, and gush over them when they return.
For many years, however, I had a phobia of birds.
I don’t know to this day why they frightened me so much, they just did.
It wasn’t a phobia I could easily hide either. Every time a bird came near me, I panicked. I rarely shrieked – I’m not that vocal a person – but I would break out in a sweat and have to remove myself from the situation, wherever it was. It could be a friends home, a park, the beach, even in my own back yard. If a bird came near me, the sweats and shudders began.
Many well meaning people attempted to psychoanalyse me. I must have had a bad experience with a bird, or birds, as a child, I was told. Most ornithophobics can pinpoint their phobia to an incident. I couldn’t think of any traumatic incidences I had had as a child, so I asked my parents if they knew of anything. No, they said. They were as baffled as me.
Baby Magpie spotted me in the garden, so dropped by to say hello.
Had I watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, I was asked. He’ll no! was my reply. I would like to get rid of my phobia, not exacerbate it.
Face your fears, I was advised. Have you tried hypnotherapy, I was asked. No – and no – I replied.
Eventually, I concluded that I would simply avoid places where there were likely to be birds. That seemed simple enough. I was determined not to pass my phobia onto my children, so tried to hide my fear of birds from them. I needn’t have bothered. Children can be surprisingly understanding, I discovered. The day we were picnicing in a National Park and I turned around to find a bush turkey standing right next to me, I jumped up on the picnic table to get away from it. My children chased it away, then they laughed and told me how silly I was to be afraid of birds.
The years passed by and I coped just fine with my phobia. It didn’t hinder my life too much, and I kept myself to myself while I was gardening. No birds came anywhere near me, until one day, a magpie dared to come within a couple of metres of where I was digging a garden bed.
I shrieked, the bird flapped and moved away from me, whilst eyeing me suspiciously. Didn’t that silly bird know who it was dealing with, I thought?
What’s up with her? the magpie’s expression seemed to suggest.
That was enough for me. I retreated indoors. My safe garden haven was no longer safe.
As I walked through the garden, Baby Magpie followed.
Something about that bird’s reaction stayed with me though. I realised a few things – firstly, the bird had not been afraid of me. Secondly, I had been more afraid of the bird. Most perplexing of all, the bird didn’t fly away when I reacted badly.
Finally, I concluded that the magpie had not meant to cause me any grief. It was as stunned by my reaction to it, as I had been in unexpectedly seeing a bird so close to me in the garden.
The magpie did not want to harm me! How amazing is that? That was my conclusion back then, and I was absolutely astounded by the realisation.
The next day I went out to the garden again. While digging and weeding, I kept a lookout for the magpie, and sure enough, it returned. The bird went about its business while I went about mine. When the magpie was ready to fly away, off it went. The magpie actually seemed to enjoy my company!
The next time I went into the garden, I took some food with me. When the magpie arrived, I threw a few scraps to it, and the bird seemed pleased with my meagre offerings.
Many generations of magpies have visited my garden since then, and over time I have discovered that birds have more to fear from people than we have from them.
The result of me beating my phobia of birds is well documented here on my blog. I never sought professional help to overcome my phobia, I simply learned to trust nature. I also learned to trust my own instincts, and my instincts nowadays always tell me that birds can be trusted. To clarify that point, if you treat birds well, they can be trusted. They react the same as most animals.
I still haven’t watched The Birds, and I never will. I haven’t had any nightmares about birds in several years either, so I do not intend tempting fate by putting myself in any position that will create doubt in my mind. I have many feathered friends now, and will do absolutely nothing that may compromise my freedom to love and enjoy them.
Clearly, this years baby magpie doesn’t know I’m a recovered ornithophobic, as that sweet little bird often tries to land on me! I must admit to some anxiety when he comes too close to my head, flapping his feathers, but I cope.
Baby Magpie continued to follow me, right down the back of the garden.
The photos in today’s post were taken about two weeks ago. It had been raining, and between showers I went outside to take a few photos. Baby magpie saw me, so followed me as I walked around the garden. When I stopped to take photos, he perched nearby and waited. When I moved on, he followed me. Like all the other generations of magpies before him, baby magpie enjoys my company. And I enjoy his company. It’s as simple as that.
I hope by telling my story, it might help someone who has a fear or even an unexplained phobia. I can’t offer any magical cure, all I can advise is to find another point of view to consider the problem from. Stay rational and calm, think the situation through with a clear mind, and go with the flow. Try not to fight your fear. It was when I decided to relax that I grew to love birds.
It’s difficult to describe the difference between a fear and a phobia, but there definitely is a difference. While both can be controlled by mind-power if we so choose, from my experience, fears can be faced and overcome. From my own experience, fear is more a state of mind where we imagine something is going to be worse than it actually is. Phobias are debilitating, and in my case, unexplainable.
I will be interested to hear your thoughts on the extent to which you believe a person can control a phobia through mind-power, or by using rationalisation. Do you believe it is possible, even easy, to overcome a life-long phobia, as I seem to have done? To this day, I cannot explain why my phobia of birds is gone!
How’s that for a crystal clear day? I shouldn’t have gotten too excited, the rain returned a couple of hours ago, but that’s to be expected at this time of year. Our area is known for hot, humid days during summer, ending in a subtropical storm – or heavy rain shower, at least – later in the afternoon. The day began beautifully though, which was a very nice change from seeing mist and haze in the valley every morning.
This morning I noticed the little Pee Wee bird dancing around the top of the fence, clearly trying to get a look at something down below. I watched for a minute, as I was curious to find out what had caught his attention. After a while, a little head popped out from behind my potted Lilly Pilly plant.
Baby Magpie has taken to foraging in the dirt of my newly-potted plants, so I suppose the Pee Wee was hoping for a share of whatever Baby Mags came up with! 🙂
In My World 