Bird visitors experiment.

We were recently contacted by "C", an honours student at Monash University, to ask if we would take part in a study on native birds in Melbourne suburban yards.  Theyare participating in this study with the organisation "Birds In Backyards".  He has put five dishes of bird seed around our front lawn and will be topping them up and monitoring the yard morning and night to see what birds come and go.  I usually feed our bird visitors on the front verandah, but C. asked me not to do that for a week, as he wants the birds to find his dishes of food.  They didn't take long!!

The Galahs who visit us most days were visibly puzzled when they turned up yesterday and there was no seed out for them.  I watched them through the window as they sat on their usual branches, heads on one side, waiting for me to open the door and put out the seed.  I eventually opened the front door and they looked at me expectantly.  I shook my head and said 'Sorry guys, not today.  But go and have a look on the front lawn'.  Now you might think this is really stupid.  If so, you have no idea how intelligent birds can be.   Those galahs flew off, circled around for a few minutes, then landed on the lawn and gobbled up all the seed that C had put out that morning.  There are the dishes, a few husks and a few feathers where there was a tussle over the last seeds!
They were so quick, I didn't have time to get my camera while they were still there.  C is coming tomorrow morning again and will stay for about an hour, so it will be interesting to see what happens.  The cheeky little beggars might not turn up at all, just to spite us, lol!
Next Day.
Our bird population didn't let me down.  'C' was able to observe galahs, rainbow lorikeets, a magpie, a raven, bronzewing pigeons, and a few other smaller birds in the space of an hour.  I think he was pleased!