I bought some birdseed, because (I had been told) if you feed them, the parrots will come right out of the rainforest. Within seconds I was besieged by the most astonishingly beautiful birds I’ve ever seen. Brilliant red and royal blue, they’re called crimson rosellas.
As greedy as they were, they got tired of waiting for the seeds to hit the ground and started perching on my hands, arms, shoulders, head. As D.H. Lawrence noted: “That is another of the charms of Australia: the birds are not really afraid.” I was delighted. I sat on the ground and poured the rest of the seeds into my skirt, then photographed the birds as they perched on my knees, munching, and snapping and flapping their wings at newcomers. They were so beautiful, I could hardly believe it.
Excerpt from Waltzing Australia and Photo
Copyrighted Cynthia Clampitt
No comments:
Post a Comment