Hi, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

This week I was delighted to be summoned by a neighbor to grab some shots of a visiting family of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos which were picnicking in her pine tree. Although native to Australia, we don’t see very many of them on the Quiet Side of the Great Lake.

There was just the three of them. Mum, Dad and a juvenile. The juvenile was concealed in the tree for safety purposes, but Mum and Dad were well and truly on display.

You will notice, Dad has pink around his eye.

Mum just has dark skin around her eyes. I have to ask why male birds are the most colorful and the most beautiful? It seems funny when in the human species females go to such great effort to make themselves beautiful. A subject for another time perhaps.

Anyway, there they were the cockatoo family busy munching on pine cones whilst at the same time desiccating the tree. You can see how Mum has broken the branch to free up the pine cone she is holding with her foot (above). Do think that’s a smile of absolute bliss on her face? (close-up below)

By the time they left the remains of their picnic lay at the foot of the pine tree.   Stripped pine cones, many broken leafy twigs. The twigs had been bitten through with their sharp beaks to remove the pine cones .

Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos are large, powerful birds compared to the corellas and galahs who visit us regularly. They are impressive in size growing to 55cm-65cm or 22-26 inches in length and weigh 750 -900 grams in weight. Their cries also reflect their size. They are noisy!

Usually only one egg survives at breeding time and the baby remains in the nest for about six months. (That’s a hard slog to feed a baby of that size for so long! The parents must be exhausted.)  But then looking at all these feathers they have to grow to be able to fly I guess it takes that time.

In the book of Matthew  in the Bible says: ” Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.” Matthew 6:26. For these feathered friends it means giving them a needle-sharp bill to chomp into Banksia flower spikes, Pine cones and other food sources that contain wood-boring larvae and seeds.God provides for them as He does for us.

Be encouraged that scripture concludes with these words: “And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”

Be blessed, enjoy your day,

Marilyn