Exotic birds - Hyacinth Macaw and Salmon Crested Cockatoo

Now for some interesting stuff. Two exotic birds. Listen to some short info about the Hyacinth Macaw.

This beautiful macaw can reach a height of 39 inches is much prized by zoos and private collectors. The powerful beak which can crack fruit is also used in climbing.

Now for the Cockatoo! Those who live in Australasia have probably seen one. Personally, I have seen many of them on different occasions.

Found in Australasia, which means Australia and nearby islands, these regal birds are unusually intelligent and can be taught to speak. They also belong to the parrot family as well as macaws, lovebirds and parakeets.

See ya!

Birds of prey - Red-tailed Hawk

Now for the Red-tailed Hawk!

One of the most common birds of prey found in North America. These hawks are swift flyers and attack their prey with great ferocity. Their principal diet is snakes, rabbits and rodents. Three to five eggs are laid in tree nests.

The mating season of these hawks is spring. The incubation takes from 28 - 32 days.

Watch out for even more animal films.

That's all about that Red-tailed Hawk.

Birds of prey - Bald Eagle

Now on to birds! Today - we are talking about the Bald eagle!

First of all, I would like to explain something. Maybe some people think: "Oh, a bald eagle! I bet that the eagle's head is bald!". But that is not true! Bald - meaning white. Have a look at the photo!

These big birds mate for life and the pair always returns to the same nest every year. Their eggs are dull white. The female lays from 1 to 3 eggs. They eat mainly fish (mainly dead or dying fish), often stolen from osprey; muskrats, other small mammals, water birds, and carrion. If they can't find or steal, they eat dead or dying fish. Bald eagles live near the sea, rivers and lakes.

Bye!

3 little duckies!

Hey ho! I've got 3 little ducks.

Actually, they aren't ducks, but duck-geese. And duck-geese grow up to be very big and they weigh minimum 5 kilograms. Yum!

Of course if you want you can keep them for their eggs.

Last time we had ducks, (the post My Animals!) the 2 white ducks were so fit, that they could fly! They would fly maximum 20 meters across the yard to meet each other. Once they flew over the fence and the neighbours had to catch them. Or once a duck nearly went on the road.

While the duck-geese can't fly. That's the good thing about them. But who has seen a 5 kilo duck fly?!

I'll be writing a new post soon!

Hummingbirds rock!

You see guys, hummingbirds aren't as boring as you may think. They are really interesting birds!

Well, hummingbirds are very small and colourful birds of the Trochiliede family. They have long thin beaks to suck nectar from flowers. They are the smallest birds on earth! Also, they have no sense of smell...

The most interesting thing is that hummingbirds cannot walk! But they can fly anyway they want to - forwards, left, right, backwards and hover in the air! No other birds can do such tricks!

They beat their wings about 80 times a second during normal flight and 200 during a courtship dive.

Their heartbeat can reach up to 1,260 beats per minute.

There is so much information about hummingbirds! I think I'll have to write another post about hummingbirds. See u for now!

Marching hen!

I present to you - Screaming Lady again! (Only she is doing something else this time!)

I was about to take a shot of her and I was just clicking on the 'Take a picture' button when my sister started to call her. Screaming Lady, when they call her, she runs. And that's what she did this time. That's why the shot came out so funny.

Just think - what would you do when you see a hen marching?! You just laugh! That's what I did.

Don't you guys think that a hen like Screaming Lady must be worth more than the price they sell hens at the market? I think that she's worth more than I paid for her. I bought her for the price of $8 (it's in Aussie dollars).

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, ... It's the Marchin' Hen!

I think that's enough shock for poor Screaming Lady by getting on my blog. See ya!

Broiler - yum!

Hi, sorry that I haven't been writing posts so long but I've been very busy looking after my farm, and when I have the mind to write a post, I always remember I've got something else to do.

Today we're gonna talk about broilers - for those who don't know what a broiler is - I'm telling you guys it's a chicken, a really big chicken that is killed for meat. Broilers are like chickens that never grow into hens, or roosters, only they grow, grow but they only grow in size, not in look.

We had 10 broilers. I've heard that people say that broilers have to be kept all day in the shed where they sleep, but I let them out anyway. By the way, who would like to stay in the house all day?! Anyway, as I said, we had 10 broilers, and they were real scared when we brought them to our house. But as time passed, they grew more familiar with our yard, and of course, they grew bigger every day. When they were big enough, we slaughtered them. Some we had to kill earlier, because they were getting weak. But the meat was lovely!

Watch out for the next funny post  - Marching Hen! Bye!

My hen Screaming Lady!

Well guys, you've got some hen business in this post, I'm warning you! But read on.

People think hens are stupid, but I'm not sure that's true. You can just look at my hen, Screaming Lady.



I taught her to do tricks. The other hens are jealous that she gets all the best bits and they always follow my Screaming Lady around. That's a little weird, eh?

That's all. See ya!

Hawks everywhere!

Let me tell you about hawks.

Hawks are birds of prey, means predators. Their prey is usually mice, snakes, small birds and sometimes lizards or rodents. Hawks catch their prey in their talons and then they bring it to the nest to share the animal with their family. As everyone knows, hawks rip their prey with their powerful beaks. Hawks have very keen eyesight. The hawks eyesight is eight times more powerful than ours! No wonder that they can fly so high and see so well!

Hawks live up to 10 - 21 years. The mother hawk lays from 1 - 3 eggs in the nest at nesting time. Adult hawks weigh somewhere about half a kilo. The hawks wingspan is 56 inches (142cm).

Bye for now!

Talking about animals

I like animals, so I'd like to give you some info about the kingfisher. The kingfisher is one of the most beautiful birds we have. Of course, not in Australia. Kingfishers are also called 'flying jewels' because when they fly, when you look up, it's like you see a flying jewel.

The kingfishers babies must feel horrible in their nest because it's made out of fish skeletons!

These miraculous birds, they live in colonies and they dig their nests in hilly grounds near the riverbank. Therefore, their old name 'groundfisher' which means that the bird 'is born in the ground' comes from their nesting places.

There are three types of kingfishers:
- our common kingfisher,
- the piebald kingfisher and
- the white kingfisher.

I hope you learned something from my post. See you again!