Lorikeets & Grevilleas

by J in JaM

This morning while having my coffee, I noticed that Rainbow Lorikeets were feeding in a large native Grevillea just outside the kitchen window. I wanted to try taking some pictures of the local birds with our new digital camera. Lorikeets are a noisy bird, gregarious and fun to watch while feeding on the pollen and nectar in the blossoms the native Grevilleas. They have specialized brush-tipped tongues just for this job. They are messy feeders and often snip off the Grevillea blossoms while holding it with one foot and after they have slupped up the pollen and nectar, discard the blossom. The ground under some of our native Grevilleas is littered with blossoms.

We all see very high quality images on TV from the best wildlife photographers and when I attempt this sort of thing, I usually am disappointed. In a few minutes I had a few pictures and the Lorikeets had flown away. I think the photos came out Ok. Notice the pollen on the head of the rainbow Lorikeet above. While taking some close-ups of the Grevillea blossoms, I noticed that ants were also feeding on the nectar and that lead me to wondering about the relationship between ants and the Lorikeets.

The wonderful thing about being retired in this remote, quiet place is how easy it is to wander down all those paths that go unnoticed in a more busy world. I continued to wander around all morning taking more pictures and looking at the details of the incredible, beautiful and complex world that surrounds all of us.