Spring in Brisbane: Rainbow Lorikeets and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

A Rainbow Lorikeet in a Golden Penda tree

I've discovered that I have some readers in the Northern Hemisphere, so while the weather in your part of the world is getting colder, here in Australia it's spring, and the birds are going nuts!

A little back story: the gym that I belong to was badly flooded in the January  2011 floods. Fortunately, they were fully insured, but they decided to build another storey for all of the cardio-equipment- treadmills, rowing machines and step machines- because they are so hard to move in an emergency. The down side for me is the steps up to the cardio-room- this is the hardest part of the workout for me, due to my dodgy heart. However, the upside is that the treadmills all face out onto the gardens of the gym, and the playing fields of a school. There is also a creek running past the gym (and which was responsible for the flooding.) So, there is usually something to see on both weekdays and weekends from my elevated position, hence the tag for this post: The View from a Treadmill.

The action isn't limited to the boys playing on the oval at morning tea (and please don't think that I am a stalker- I just like to people watch). I get to see the local wildlife in action! The Golden Pendas have been flowering like crazy this year, and the native birds, especially the Rainbow Lorikeets, are drawn to them like...well...lorikeets are to anything with nectar.

The Lorikeets are among the clowns of the bird world, along with the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos which prefer to try their luck at ground level on the school oval. So, being the multitasker that I am, I can a. walk on the treadmill, b. listen to a podcast or audiobook and c. watch the local wildlife in action. Bliss! (at least for b and c.)

A Sulphur Crested Cockatoo