After a day of pouring rain the clouds let up just enough to brighten into yellow, darken to orange, then fade finally to a bruise-deep purple. As I drove home the black cockatoos were doing their crazy weather dance in the sky, twisting and diving like the air was water and gravity didn’t touch them.
What is it about rain and pinecones that gets these gorgeous birds so excited? Could be something deep and meaningful in that… if I was a deep and meaningful person.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:10 am
if I was a deep and meaningful person.
That’s right, you shallow and meaningless person, you!
Are these black cockatoos native to Australia? I’ve only ever seen pictures of the white ones.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Yes indeed. They’re huge, beautiful birds and they make the most amazing noise!
They like to congregate in the pine trees on the golf course at the back of our house, where they break open the pinecones and eat the seeds. They screech at each other, they knock pinecones and small branches out of the trees. It’s quite an event when they come to stay!
June 5th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
That sky was enough to get me out of the house… astonishing.
When I was a knee high dinosaur freak I thought I heard pterodactyls one day… turned out they were black cockatoos.
Jez
June 5th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
An easy mistake to make!
June 8th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
The property adjoining ours is a pine forest and it too is full of black cockatoos. Sometimes they fly out and perch in the gums above our house. My wife loves them and runs out as soon as she hears them calling.
As for the rain and the pine cones, I have noticed that cones open and close depending on the humidity. I can’t remember which way it goes though. Either it will open them and trigger a feeding frenzy, or, more likely, close them and trigger a lot of frustration.