The Loneliest Birdfeeder in the World

When my parents were here last year, my dad bought us a bird feeder. He put it up just outside our kitchen window and we eagerly waited for the birds to, well, flock to it. I mean, I've told y'all about how many birds there are here, right? Heaps, I say--heaps!

Well, for some mysterious reason, birds almost never visit our feeder. It's been pretty much universally dissed by all birds. It's like they've put out a message to all birdkind: Don't eat there. I've mentioned it to Dad during our Skype conversations a few times over the last year, and he tries to give me suggestions of things I could do to make the feeder more appealing. But then I get so bored talking about birdfeeders that I fall asleep and wake up 2 hours later with my face mashed against the keyboard. I am a disappointment to my parents in many ways.

But! Yesterday I was sitting right here in the kitchen, at this here computer and saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked and saw this:

Well, hello sir (or madam)! It's a sulphur-crested cockatoo, folks. Now if you read this blog much (or live in Oz) you know that cockatoos are not uncommon birds here. We see them quite a lot. But not, friends, at my birdfeeder. They're big birds--the size of a small cat, I'd say. So it was really interesting to watch him teeter on top of the birdfeeder. He was able to get some seeds though...

...basically by hanging upside down. He stayed for several minutes and then flew off in a hurry. I haven't seen him again, so maybe he wasn't impressed with what we have on offer. What am I, a catering service? Sheesh.

But Dad! Look! A cockatoo at your feeder! Woohoo! Incidentally, you can tell my dad put up the feeder because it's attached with a bungee cord. It's like when you study art history and learn to identify an artist by the technique used. Bungee cords are my dad's medium, his milieu, if you will. All the cars of my childhood had bungee cords coiled up on the floorboards, ready to be stretched and bungeed at a moment's notice. If it cain't be bungeed, it ain't worth havin', ya know.

So there's some Aussie birdlife for your day! If you're so inclined, you can see some rainbow lorikeets, too! They're beautiful--that's worth clicking on. But no bungee cords in that one--sorry.