Get a Grip

Lovely morning blipmeet doggie date with GlassRoad and her gorgeous pooch Astro this morning. I brought along Bonnie and together we went searching for the last of the wildflowers for this season (not that the dogs cared for them at all!). Bonnie had an absolute blast bush-bashing through the forest and swimming in the creek. I got some great shots of some lovely wildflowers and even saw my first wild kangaroo paws. I was a bit stumped as to what to blip! Wildflowers, Bonnie and Astro or this galah performing some very unusual behavior that I havn't seen before.

Well I am a birdy nut so in the end I chose the galah :) There was two of them hanging on to the trunk of this very large eucalypt. And they were constantly rubbing their cheeks along the trunk of the tree, back and forth in very quick succession. When I started to focus more closely on what they were doing I realized they were first touching their preen gland at the base of their tail, then what I can only presume is rubbing the oils from the gland on the trunk (pictured here) and then rubbing their faces over the trunk to help oil their facial feathers!

A great morning out! The rest of the day was mostly spent doing personal admin stuff crap! I really need an assistant... just for a few weeks! Oh but did manage to get out for a couple of hours in the afternoon for a catch up with a friend I made during my elephant project in Namibia! Maureen is staying in Perth for a few months on her year of travelling so I took her down to the beach for an afternoon drink as the sun set :)