Inspiration


We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.
[Marianne Williamson]



Sunday, June 24, 2007

Parrot Palace and Predatory Plants

A few quick photos for Michelle at Scribbit...

When Yeti builds a parrot cage, he BUILDS a parrot cage ;)

A parrot cage that in an emergency can happily house seven full-grown chooks for a few nights! I wish I had gotten a photo of the chickens all perched together on the branches - but they were quite nervous and I didn't want to disturb them with the flash.

Mitch joined our family about 4 years ago. He is a long-billed Corella, and Yeti picked him up on the side of the road after he had been hit by a car. He must have been very young as he didn't know how to eat seed at the time. I reared him on mush and trained him to eat seed and dig for grass roots - which is what that long beak is for. He was my baby - until Wombat came along, when he developed an immense case of sibling rivalry. I am applying my positive parenting practices to Mitch as well! His wing never recovered from the original accident, and he cannot fly, so he will be with us for a very long time - I believe they live for around 30 years!

And if you want to know WHY I call him the mad parrot... check out this video of Mitch playing with one of Wombat's discarded rubber teething bears!


Michelle also recently posted about her family's newest pet - a Venus Fly Trap.

With all the rain we have had lately, I was very happy to see that our own carnivorous plants are back! These are Drosera, or Sundews - variations of them grow all over the world, and I think they are gorgeous!

Unlike the closing jaws of the Fly Traps, the Sundews secrete a sweet, sticky nectar which attracts insects and then glues them in place while they are digested. (Wombat & I took these photos this morning.)

They have the prettiest, most delicate pale pink or white flowers... I will keep watching and may get lucky enough to get a photo.

Finally, here is a gratuitous photo of Wombat taking his bath turtle out to enjoy the water running into the dam. We collected so much run off in the recent storms that the dam is now full to overflowing. WOOOHOOOO! Wombat really loved stomping around in his little gumboots and listening to all the frogs... until he tried sitting down and discovered it was way too cold to be wearing soggy clothes!

1 comment:

Scribbit said...

Okay I can see how those "chooks" could bunk in with the parrot after all. :)

And that plant is too cool. We have a sundew in with the fly traps but it isn't round, but with long arms and hasn't caught anything yet. They're just fascinating plants.