Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo
Today is the first day since we left Sydney that there hasn’t been a major rain. It was warm and sunny this morning, and we walked along the beach for about an hour, then I took pictures of both a gecko and the red-tailed black-cockatoos that are here. We have gotten careless and haven’t been putting on sunscreen (there’s been no need in the rain) and today I should have, as for the first time here I’ve sunburned my legs, not bad, but they are a bit pink.
There are quite a few red-tailed black-cockatoos here. A large fig tree is right in front of our motorhome, and the birds sit in it and eat the seeds out of the figs. Yesterday when we arrived the ground was littered with figs and fig leaves, and I thought that they must have blown off in the wind. It turns out that it is the cockatoos eating them. They cut a fig from the tree, and in the process generally break off several more with a branch attached. Then they proceed to rip open the fig in their claws and beaks, discarding all the flesh, and cracking the central nut and eating the seed. They must have incredibly powerful beaks, as Enid tried to cut one with her pocket knife and found it almost impossible to do so.
The birds are very black, but have a bit of gold speckling their feathers, and an orange barred tail. During flight they spread their tail feathers and have two large red bars on either side. These are not often exposed when they sit in the trees, and are hard to photograph well. They also make a loud croaking noise, almost like the caw of a crow. In fact this morning when we awoke and I saw the black shapes high in the trees, I thought they were just crows.
It was very windy all day, and the wind got stronger as the day progressed, so we didn’t get out into the ocean. However we did shower in an outdoor shower, which really was quite nice and warm. We sat out on the grass under the fig tree in the sunshine to dry off. I guyed down the awning of the motorhome this afternoon. At suppertime the wind got very strong as a storm passed over, so we took the awning down. It then sprinkled rain, but only very lightly.
Yesterday our windscreen (windshield) got hit by a large stone that flew off a semi-trailer. It was big enough that I could see it coming. It may have been a bolt. In any case it made a good crack in our windshield, and we are going to try and get it sealed tomorrow morning as we drive north through Ingham.