It had been a very hot day and Nanna decided to take a walk around the garden in the cool of the evening to see if her plants needed a drink.
She nearly walked into a spider web ...
...then she noticed some fruit growing that she hadn't seen before. She asked Nannu what they were and he had a look and said they were Nashis or Nashi Pears. Nanna felt the fruit and, as they were quite hard, she thought she had plenty of time to make some bags to put over the fruit so that the birds wouldn't eat all the Nashis before they were ready to pick. So she planned to sew up some bags the very next day.
The next morning, Nanna was having her morning cuppa and was wondering what her little grandchildren were doing, when suddenly she saw a flash of orange in the Nashi tree and lots of screeching and chattering. She grabbed her camera and rushed out to see what all the noise was about.
Nanna was surprised to find that a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets had landed in the tree and had already eaten most of the fruit! She was very upset but what could she do but stand and watch them as they were in no hurry to leave.
The next morning, Nanna was having her morning cuppa and was wondering what her little grandchildren were doing, when suddenly she saw a flash of orange in the Nashi tree and lots of screeching and chattering. She grabbed her camera and rushed out to see what all the noise was about.
Nanna was surprised to find that a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets had landed in the tree and had already eaten most of the fruit! She was very upset but what could she do but stand and watch them as they were in no hurry to leave.
They were such beautiful and colourful birds and it was very hard to be angry with them even though Nanna was very disappointed. Rainbow Lorikeets have red beaks, blue head and tummy, green wings, tail and back and an orange breast and are very noisy when they are eating.
The tree was full of the birds feasting on the fruit and after a while most of them flew away leaving...
...a tree of half eaten Nashi Pears which would probably be their breakfast the next day.
Every so often Nanna would see one or two birds in the tree and now and again they would sit still long enough for her to take a photo of their beautiful colours.
The next time Nanna finds some fruit growing she is going to cover it straight away before the next flock of Rainbow Lorikeets visits the garden looking for a delicious breakfast.
If any of my Northern Hemisphere readers would like to see an excellent YouTube video about Rainbow Lorikeets then Rainbow Lorikeets wild and free in their native Australia is well worth watching. I hope you enjoyed my grandchildren's story!
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Try saying No Nice Nashis Nanna really fast ten times. Its a killer and the grandchildren would have fun. You are right it is hard to be cross, they are very beautiful and for me, so Australian.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, trust you to think of that, Lynda! I think my teeth would fall out if I said it that fast :-) They are such beautiful birds I must admit.
ReplyDeleteHello Chel, great story and photos. I know exactly what you went through.
ReplyDeleteThe beautiful Lorikeets and Rosellas have discovered our Paradise Pear tree is ripe for the picking..so they've been breakfasting with us lately, too!
Trish
Hi Trish, great to see you here. I just had a look at your Paradise Pears. Thankfully you were able to harvest some. I was only able to find four or so pears that were untouched so quickly grabbed some washing bags and covered them before they disappeared as well :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother new species of bird for me! These are beautiful! I hope your grands enjoyed the story as much as I did!
ReplyDeleteI am sure they did, Kathy. You are learning a lot about Aussie wildlife, aren't you?
DeleteLovely story Chel - and 4 untouched pears are better than none. The photos are beautiful and you are certainly getting very good with the camera. Any idea what has happened to Phil's blog? - says it has been deleted. Pity the forum is down - we could ask him.
ReplyDeleteGoodness me, Sandi. I hope Phil hasn't deleted it by mistake. Hopefully the forum will be up and running soon and he will say what happened.
ReplyDeleteyes, very beautiful birds but they are quite wasteful too, pesky buggas. great photos nanna chel & loved the tongue twister!
ReplyDeletewas wondering about Phil too, hope everything is okay there, his google one has also gone.
Selina, they are very wasteful...especially when it takes so long for the fruit to grow. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteNanna Chel,
ReplyDeleteWe thought we would get grapes this year, but the birds beat us. So I know how you feel about missing out. We have those lorikeets they like the tree out the front. The cucumbers were fantastic too. Had some in a salad today.
Was also wondering what happened to Phil's blog too. If he accidently deleted it he has 30 days to restore it from blogger before it is perma deleted.
Hope you are enjoying the rain.
-Shiralee.
Now Phil has got us all worried. LOL! Glad you liked the cucumbers, Shiralee. Hubby has covered a lot of our grapes but I saw the lorikeets pulling them out through the holes yesterday. There was also a hole in the netting and they were getting in through there and having a lovely time.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazingly awesome birds - so beautiful. God done good ;). I think I might have seen those pears in the "rare" section at the grocery store in the US here.
ReplyDeleteThey look scrumptious....guess the Lorikeets thought so ;). That is one hideous-looking spider or two :/. Glad you didn't walk into that! I really enjoy your blog.
Yes Mary, as I said it is hard to be angry with them when one is captivated by their beautiful colours.
DeleteHi Chel lovely story,I am sure the kids will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear the nashis have been attacked, they are usually quite firm even when ripe, so don't wait for them to be tender next year.
I had 3 bunches of bananas this year and noticed they were being eaten, but never managed to catch sight of any birds, then one night I came home late from a friend's place and got swooped by a flying fox, and realised they were the culprits. So no bananas this year, as I couldn't bring myself to harvest any for fear of them being contaminated.
Really Margaret? I thought they should be soft which is why I didn't pick them. I did bring one untouched one inside to see if it would ripen so I will cut it up and see what it tastes like. Pity about the flying foxes. They do so much damage but it is hard to protect big trees from them.
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