Bird Watching

We are always on the look out for birds. It's totally our thing!

Thank you Granny and Grandpa for always pointing out the birds to us. I think of them every time we spot a new bird, and eagerly rush home to find it's name in our bird guide.

Today on our walk to pick up MsE from her Nature Class we spotted a Kingfisher. They're such a bright blue. I always assumed a Kingfisher was a much bigger, but but they're actually quite small. I pointed him out to the tourists walking by, who stopped to take photos along with us.  As the bird flew off, MsI said,

"Why did the bird run away? I liked him."

We live near a lot of green spaces, which helps bring the birds right to our doorstep. The 5 we see everyday are Mynas, Spotted Doves, Zebra Doves, Olive Backed Sunbirds and Eurasian Tree Swallows. The kids know all of those by name.

We can always hear the black mynas with their yellow masks calling. They're as common as the robins are in North America. I think they have a lovely call, except if I'm trying to sleep in. They can be quite the scavengers of any food left out on picnic tables. The Spotted Doves have a lovely spotted collar around their necks. We always remember their names. The tiniest doves here are striped and called Zebra Doves. We thought they were baby doves for quite a while. Olive Back Sunbirds have bright yellow bellies and look a long beak and body shape similar to a hummingbird. They are very petite. The Eurasian Tree Swallow looks like a little brown swallow.

We were at the playground just before lunch and spotted our 5 regulars and then some more. There was a new black and white bird. It looks like it's an Oriental Magpie. But even more exciting - there were 3 or 4 new rather large bright yellow birds. We followed them all over the place, trying to get a good look at them. They stayed up high and kept diving between trees. We spent about 1/2 an hour following them around. They reminded me of a parrot. I don't think they were parakeets. Sometimes we get green parakeets soaring around here.

We've also heard that one of the neighbours lost their pet Lovebird out a window. We've been watching out for that one (yellow and orange). MsC's had been trying to convince us to buy her a Lovebird from the pet store, so she's eager to try to catch this missing one. Don't worry we would make her give it back.

A little bit of sneaky sprinkler play might have happened while we were bird watching too.