Birds, Birds, Birds!

The variety and population of birds here is greater than I've ever seen. The first thing that struck me was the colors. Even the most ordinary birds here have some kind of exotic color or pattern. I've seen small finches in some of the brush areas, and huge pelicans at the beach. The remaining birds fill the range of sizes in between. There are lorikeets, galahs (pronounced gal-AHZ), white and black cockatoos, magpies, ravens, kookaburas.

The lorikeets chirp all day, and fly very quickly -- darting this way and that as if playing tag among the trees. The galahs are mostly quiet, but become more playful in late afternoon. Black cockatoos are more rare, but white cockatoos are everywhere. To find them, simply listen for the really loud screech -- it's unmistakable. The ravens' chirp sounds like Snoopy crying. The kookaburas have one of the most interesting cries. People here say it sounds like laughing (hence the song many learn as children about the kookabura), but I think it sounds a bit like monkeys. I will try to upload the sound at some point if I can record it.