Parrots have found a cool and comfortable nesting place,

safe from predators in the marble at I'tmad-ud-Doulah's tomb in Agra.

By Alison James, Photographer Chris James

Making Friends with the Wild Birds

in my New Home Range

by Fiona Darroch

I have always loved the Australian Bush and its wonderful creatures, including birds. However since coming to know Gitie, my eyes have been opened in a way that has totally transformed how I regard and relate to wild birds. The idea that you can befriend them at first seemed a bit fanciful. Like many people who have a general appreciation of the natural world, I tended to look ‘at’ birds, and admire them, but in a manner somewhat detached from their world and being. My Toowoomba-based friendship with Gitie changed all that.

by Annette Butterss

We moved from the city to a property on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria that combined plant nursery and display gardens along with natural bushland. Throughout the 12 (drought stricken) years we lived there we developed a keen interest in our resident birds and forged wonderful relationships with many of them – especially Magpies, ‘Esmerelda’, ‘Whiteback’ and their successive broods.

Our house had many floor to ceiling windows and a large deck overlooking gardens, bush and a dam – an idyllic spot to relax and observe wildlife interaction, behaviour and events as they unfolded.