(some) Birds of Australia

This is the Dinosaur bird or the Cassowary. It is really an aggressive bird (or at least the ones we saw were). This one here in the picture was at Adelaide Zoo, and it seemed more calm but the ones we saw at the wildlife park on Kangaroo Island were really mean. They were behind bars thank goodness, but we had to stand back because they would try to attack people walking by. This one, in the picture, looks much healthier as well. The ones at the animal park looked sick and they kept throwing up and eating it. I had a hard time looking at them. This one was quite beautiful. If you would like to know more about the Cassowary check out this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary

Albino Flamingo from the zoo in Adelaide. Very unusual to see a bird that is usually so PINK be so WHITE. It was, nevertheless, a beautiful bird.

This is the AU Pelican. I think I have other pictures where you can see just how big these birds are but here it is hard to tell. They are SO HUGE! Some look quite funny and they seem to have very cute personalities.

The blue Kookaburra :) We love these birds. Most of the ones we see around our house are not the blue one but just the regular kookaburra's. They are so obnoxious waking us up every morning between 5-6am but they sure are fun birds and they really do laugh like the song says :) My kids love to sing the kookaburra song and we always get very excited when they hand out in the trees outside our deck.

This is an albino Peacock we saw at a wildlife park on Kangaroo Island last Christmas. They had 3 albino peacocks, one full grown albino kangaroo with an albino joey, and an albino flamingo. They had to keep the kangaroos in a large enclosed field full of shade to avoid sunburn but the peacocks just roamed free.

This is the Magpie Goose. These are quite pretty when they are healthy looking. You can't tell here but the area above the beak is orange just like their legs. Something interesting about these waterbirds is that their feet aren't completely webbed. They have "strongly clawed toes that are only partially webbed".
If you want to learn more about the Magpie Goose check out this website: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Magpie-Goose/

This bird is very common here and we have these in our trees everyday. This is the Noisy Miner and it is still just a baby. See the pretty downy front? beautiful and very soft looking. I wanted to hold it :) This one was in the Royal Botanic Gardens just hanging out in the trees very close to us. It was so beautiful I had to get a picture. For info. on these birds check out this great Wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noisy_Miner
These birds are relatives of the Common Myna and we have lots and lots of those around here as well. In fact they are, as it says in the name, more common. Those are similar but they are brown and not grey. Here is a picture: http://fennerschool-associated.anu.edu.au/myna/

The Mangy White Ibis. These birds are very large and are everywhere. This particular one was in the botanic gardens but they are all over Sydney. They enjoy begging and savaging around parks and other populated areas, and watch out because they will steal your food even out of your hand. They have no fear of people and will walk right up or sneak up and grab a sandwich right out of your hand or lap or lunch box. My sister Camilla had a fight with one for her cheese and bread, and the people sitting in front of us at "The Wind and the Willows" play had one sneak up behind them, jump into the mans lap grab the sandwich and run off while he was still in shock and could do nothing about it :) It was SO funny!