The Sound of Home
The Sound of Home
Originally uploaded by Senex Prime.
The Oregon Zoo has a display of lorikeets, small parrots that come mainly from Australia and New Guinea. To most of the visitors from the zoo, these are very exotic, colourful birds, rarely seen.
To me, they're home.
It's only once I heard their distinctive shrill screeches as I neared their enclosure that I realised what an integral part of the soundtrack to my life these little birds have been: I would wake up every morning in Sydney to the sound of flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets (has there ever been a more apt name for a bird?) flashing past my window. We are so lucky to have birds like this in the middle of the biggest city in Australia and we just tend to take it for granted. And it's not just lorikeets - we have Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (the definitive cockatoo), galahs, king parrots, black cockatoos and more. By comparision, Portland seems very quiet and less colourful. All I've really seen so far in the metropolitan area are seagulls, pigeons and scrub jays... none of which are quite in the same category as these wonderful little birds.
Posted in: australia, chaosboy, portland on July 5, 2007 at at 11:23:00 AM
Hey Cam,
I'll appreciate the birds that wake me up in the morning more now. And I'd probably miss them too if I was away. John