Spring is in the air

Falling in love again1

Just when you think you’ve left it too late, that your use by date has expired (in fact long, long gone) something comes along that turns you upside down and you go head over heels feeling as light as a feather and as silly as sunshine.

Who would admit that the wearing of the green, over a wiggly bottom, was the cause of these unfathomable feelings that excit and ignite the curiosity in the unfathomable beauty and diversity of the universe – and a passion to test the loyalty or otherwise of the admirer?

A rainbow world

Springtime is the right time to spend time in the yard, or park, as nature turns on its annual display of colourful blossoms, bugs, butterflies, bees and birds; each with a task so that together they rejuvenate nature and life itself; the bees accidentally pollinate the blossoms in their quest for honey to prolong their existence; butterflies lay eggs which turn into grubs that eat plants and may get eaten by birds before they become a butterfly; the downside is along the way you may be eaten and miss out on being a butterfly but each one of us has a place in the ecology of the earth’s existence and the promise of challenge, change and growth if your willing to try.

Life is about the appreciation of what we are at any point in time and that is probably the hardest ask of all – how to be satisfied with self as a starting point to enable one to enjoy and grow and move on to the next stage of life like the blossoms, bees, birds, butterflies and bugs.

Tea for two

Looking towards the sky during the twilight zone the clouds form magical pictures and a blue and white backdrop for a black and white magpie clutching a sparrow in its claws that chooses to land in the branches of a dead tree. 2

The magpie kills the sparrow by pulling out its innards with its beak and devouring them; then it wedges the remains of the sparrow in between the dead branches (tomorrow’s snack) and flies off to its home; always the last to go to bed; the last squawk of the night boasting of successful twilight hunting.

The blue-red Rosella’s always come in pairs and have not been impressed with human attempts at mimicry because they never stay to chat but fly quickly away.3

Crushed again

But there was one green-red Rosella who came alone and loved to stay and chatter and wiggle his green-feathered bottom as he taught the human a range of calls.4

As time passed, both green-red Rosella and human adapted to this unusual (but loyal) fond and joyous, chatty relationship – until last week when the green-red Rosella flew in with his own feathered mate – now he never stays to talk and never wiggles his bottom –

Such is life. 5

END

Footnotes / Resources

1. Springtime in a Queanbeyan backyard, Australia, September-November, 2009.
2. (i) Magpie: Now a protected native Australian bird; many people feed them raw mince to help them survive during the drought; they are fearlessly territorial and during breeding “swoop” if you walk close to where they are nesting in a high tree; so we have a sign in our local park; a picture of a magpie and a warning of swooping; if you wearing a hat it is okay but otherwise they fly fast from behind (swooping) and can give a nasty peck on the cheek which can draw blood; a swoop is like a half-circle – down and back to safety. (ii) English sparrow, introduced to Australia, multiplied like rabbits and have displaced many of our small native birds.
3. Rosella: Eastern coast Rosella comes in two colours, green/ red; and blue / red; a member of the parrot family; now a protected native Australian bird; like all the parrot family they are very intelligent and very, very, beautiful, love to mimic, and actually chatter loudly so you will come outside and after a few whistles, on either side, which one hopes are polite and friendly conversation, they are then happy to fly off.
4. Fifty years ago native birds and animals in our towns  and cities were rare or non existent; then two things happened: the law changed and native animals and birds were protected; and the value of native plants were seen by many as a more sustainable garden, to plant in our towns and drought stricken climate. Now, if you take the time to look you can see many birds in our towns and cities, attracted by the native food; opossums are in a lot of house roofs in Queanbeyan and drive the people mad; yet we are still destroying needed native habitat – especially for the Koala Bear; but we are moving in the right directions. In Australia the political party, the “Greens”, especially the leader Senator Bob Brown (Tasmania) have had a big impact on making us more aware of our unique environment and of our precarious climate and the need to protect and respect Australia’s unique plant and animal life.
5. Connee-Colleen © “Queanbeyan Outlook (210), Love again”, The  Queanbeyan Age, November 27, 2009, p. 16.

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