Avian visitors

My friend Helen Vennrecently created a blog post about watching birds play under the garden sprinkler. That’s one of the things I miss about living in an apartment – on the balcony of a fourth-floor flat there is no garden (unless you count a couple of dozen pot plants, mainly geraniums) and no sprinkler. I got very enthusiastic in my comments on Helen’s post, so I thought I’d better expand on the topic on my own blog rather than hogging Helen’s.
When I lived in a house (as opposed to a bed-sit flat) I used to love to watch birds playing in the sprinkler's fountain. Parrots seemed to be the main visitors, and they did a lot of excited squawking as they had their shower!
Where I live now I can watch flocks of birds at this time of year – often pink-breasted galahs, but sometimes the rare black cockatoo species – chattering excitedly as they feed in the trees across the road. The rest of the year is almost birdless, so it must be some kind of favourite seed they come to find when it’s in season. It seems to be part of a daily journey – they fly in from one direction and leave in another. I never see them going home at night: they must have a different route for that.
Wikipedia: Calyptorhynchus banksii
I can see why some people get really hooked on bird-watching! (Glenda Larke,  for instance, is a master of twitching and has watched our feathered friends in many parts of the world.) However, poor eyesight prevents me from spending more time on the balcony, looking out for avian visitors. I can see the black cockatoos, but not distinguish the colour under their tail feathers. There are several subspecies, but the ones in question include a species with red highlights and another with white. Both are rare and becoming rarer, but the white-tailed one, known as Carnaby’s cockatoo, is closer to extinction than its red-tailed cousin.
Perth Now: Barnaby's cockatoo
The above picture comes from the Perth Now website. The accompanying article points out that government inaction on the destruction of habitat is largely to blame for the 'cocky's' rapidly decreasing numbers. 
It’s probably just as well I have poor eyesight, because I should be working on book three of the trilogy rather than watching birdlife! Book two, The Cloak of Challiver, is scheduled for release within the next few weeks! Watch out for the Big Announcement!