I'm being followed by a Woo shadow.

So grief-stricken were we when Woo flew off this mortal coil that we see him everywhere we go: lurking in shadows, flitting through parklands, etched into mist-marks on shower screens ...
(photo by Hazel Blackberry)

Long black

By the looks of things, this is a totem to the long-billed black cockatoo (Calyptohynchus baudinii) which in the wild ranges from the karri and mixed jarrah/marri forests of south west Australia up the west coast to about Bindoon, where this snap was taken.

This afternoon, when Hazel and I were driving 'round Bindoon and Gin Gin (both about 100 klicks north of Perth), the air was thick with the lilting calls of these fellas.

Satisfaction at last.

I'm tankin' here, Mum.

That tail looks yummy.

Daddy's no help.

Aw c'mon!!!

I'm not kidding!!

Feed me!

But they got it all over their mates

I'd better ease you into the world of the long-billed corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) slowly, because what comes next is really quite shocking.

They're not real bright

It's true. Hazel and I call these cherub-like creatures 'nature's idiots' or 'iddies' for short.

Most Australians call them galahs. But I once saw a bedraggled, caged specimen at San Diego zoo behind a tin sign which read 'rose-breasted parrot'.

When she was a kid, my sister called them 'town birds' - they love the suburbs, you see. Trouble is, iddies also love wheat fields, and so farmers hate iddies.

These two cuties were sprung fanging grass seeds today in Hilton Park, Fremantle, Western Australia.

Behemoth and Waxy Balls

The big fella on the left, who looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, is called Behemoth. He lives in the wild around Brisbane Avenue in Canberra, the capital of Australia.

He could be 38 years old. He could also be 60 years old. But judging by the way he carries on, bullying everyone outta the way, I reckon he's 38.

Behemoth's wife, pictured stage right, is known as Waxy Balls. In the late 1990s they had a son called Woo, who tragically contracted beak and feather disease and died:

The Woo flies gently up and down the avenue.
"Wa wa wa wa!"
He seemed to like this time of year.
Our lives will be forever Autumn,
now Woo's not here.
Poor Woo's not here!
He's just not here!

(photo courtesy Hazel Blackberry)

Galahs Galore

There's galahs galore at your Galahs Galore store!

(Coolbellup, Western Australia branch)