tyabblemons Said:

Today was such a remarkable day at the feeders that I've made this special note to highlight it.

I set out to photograph healthy birds today. Many individuals we recognised turned up too. I'm too eager to post to do any post-processing on these images - they are raw off the camera, just resized. Might fix that later.

That area down the back between the CocaCola sign and the chook yard is where the sanctuary will go. It's much bigger than it looks through the telephoto lens, which flattens everything. The shed will be located at the fence, and the wire enclosure will stick out from there. I'm planning the whole thing to be 3 meters wide by 4 (maybe five) meters long. I want a decent, high flight area for them. This size is planned to accommodate four birds with PBFD. We currently have five I think. The extra bird might have to cram himself in, but I dunno, do you think there will be room?

The elusive Sooky was finally spotted and photographed. We first logged this bird way back at the beginning, but I could never get a pic of him. We think this bird is very young - last season's. No matter where he sits, he just squawks at his mum to feed him. He is very predictable and unique in this behaviour. He was at it again today. He gave up in the end and submitted himself to eating from the feeder.

Headphones needs to go in the sanctuary. He needs a beak-trim and protection from the weather. If we can do this I think he'll be okay. He needs Baytril.

A favourite game of many cockies is to get the seed out of the little holes at the bottom of this feeder. They are very patient, and will spend a lot of time to get a good seed, like a bit of corn, or a sunflower seed. We have so many different designs of feeders because we don't know what kind of feeders other residents are using, and the birds are used to. We know the corner house has a 'house' like feeder - like our green one. We want to attract sick birds, so we want them to be comfortable using whatever feeder they prefer, and different birds definitely prefer a specific feeder. Dr Ross Perry has advised us to cut a large piece of PVC pipe in half, and brace it at each end. This way, the seed is laid out along the feeder and the bullies can't keep the other birds from getting a feed. Well, that's the theory, and it sounds good, so we'll make one of them as well.

I spotted this pair way up the back in a wattle tree. I'm still not quite sure what I've seen. These two birds were either courting, or it is a mother feeding a young bird. A mother feeding a young bird would not be unusual, except that it's July - and any fledglings are well and truly weaned by now, surely. The breeding season begins again in August. As we'll see, the bird with it's back to us doesn't appear to be a young bird, despite the fluffy clean look of it's feathers. (Her feathers?)

The upper most bird was regurgitating food and feeding it to the lower bird, also a courting behaviour. She was shaking so fast that in the above pic, even with a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second, her wings are blurred as she shakes back and forth very quickly, swallowing the food.

They kept at it:

In between regurgitations, they 'snuggled', with their heads very close together. She fluffed herself up as big as she could. It was spectacular:

Then back to the feeding:

Eventually though, he either ran out of food, or decided to stop feeding her, no matter how much she fluffed herself up and begged:

Eventually, he left, and she turned to give us a good look at her. I note the large, weathered beak, and particularly the discolouration of the feathers immediately around her nostrils. I don't think this is a fledgling. They gave me a glimpse into their personal lives, and I'm very grateful, and almost feel that I'm betraying them by publishing their rendezvous. Let's just keep this between us.

Brad Lemon

2/07/2013 4:45 PM

     The only reason I would use a blog rather than Evernote is the ability for the reader to insert comments, and statistics. Otherwise, Evernote is a crisp, clean blogging platform. I'm using it now.

• A preview of the page as it would appear published on the web. The web version format varies considerably from the note on the desktop client, mainly in line spacing.
• Ability for readers to insert moderated comments at the bottom of the web page. (Yeah, I know, big ask. Perhaps a 'write-only' note?)
• Style-sheets or another way to change theme for published version.
• Readership statistics for web-page views. The ability to embed html widgets would achieve this.

Do you use Evernote? You don't? Got a minute? This could change the way you do things.

How do you capture stuff? Maybe the trusty old way of hitting the PrintScrn button, then opening Paint, then pasting it in... And you've got a screen cap. Now, where to file it? Maybe you've found the Windows7 Snipping Tool, and create images that way - much faster, but still, where to file them?

Wait a minute, you don't capture stuff? Well how do you...? Oh, never mind - I'm jealous of you. You're still in 2010, but it's 2013, so catch up :P Lots of reasons to capture stuff these days. Social media posts can be deleted, and if you've taken action or made a comment based on that post, you could be left high & dry. It's happened to me. I do a lot of work in Twitter, and tweets are often deleted. Therefore, I have to capture important tweets. The old fashioned way is too slow, and I would have hundreds of little files scattered all throughout my computer. Evernote solves all this, and it does much more. You can capture whole web pages as they appear at that moment. This is important if you wanna catch a dodgy article on a news website - they often delete or change their own stuff. Sick of downloading pictures just to upload them somewhere else straight away? With Evernote, you can just click 'copy' from your browser, and 'paste' the picture into a note. Copy the pic from your note and paste straight into your email client. With an add-on it's even quicker. It's now fully searchable, and you don't have a gazillion files cluttering up your desktop. Of course you can save the picture to your computer from Evernote as a file if you wish. Sick of transferring pics from your phone to your computer (or other devices)? 'Copy' the pic into a note. Done. Yep, that quick.

Evernote is free. For $5 per month you can get some really fancy features which I use, but they're not necessary.

I know, it looks nasty. Don't be put off just yet. Ignore the toolbar up the top, although I think you can work that out. The next toolbar down looks like this:

You can keep multiple notebooks in Evernote. So if you've got a project on the go, you can keep all your stuff related to that in its own notebook. Tags are optional - you can use them to help organise your notes. I do; it aids searches. 'Web Clips', 'Mobile', and 'Files' just helps you sort notes. The 'CFA Warnings and Incidents page' and all to the right of that are links to notes I commonly use. Below this, we see three panes. The left pane is where you quickly access different notebooks, your tags and other such stuff. The middle pane is my list of notes. As you can see, I have 425 notes. The right-hand pane is the guts of my note. By using the magic outlined in this post, I captured this post while I was writing it... But that's enough pretending to be Doctor Who.

Once you've created a note, you can of course share it, in a number of ways. You can email it, post it to social media, or make a public link that anyone can see, which is how I shared this post. You can even share whole notebooks with other people for collaboration. We have a note for our shopping list that can be accessed from any device - shared between Rose and myself. Either of us can add to it at any time. My wishlist is shared too, you'll notice. When I find nifty stuff on the net, I capture the page and keep it in my wishlist notebook. Rose can see it too, and if anyone asks her what to buy me for a gift, she can find a few ideas there. I know, I'm forward, eh? It hasn't worked yet, but I'll let you know if it does.

Once you've created a few notes, you'll feel comfortable driving the interface. It's pretty simple and intuitive. Of course, you'll be able to keep track of your notes in your mind - and they'll all be listed in that middle pane, right? Forget that! I can't hold 425 notes in my head! The real power of Evernote is its search function. It's very powerful, and quick & easy to drive. There are advanced search operators for when you get good at it. Evernote's search function is so powerful, that it even searches for words in pictures! If you take a pic of say, a road sign, and then search for the name on the sign, Evernote will find it for you. I don't know of any other search function that can do this. A lot of my notes are just pictures of things like whiteboards. Here's an example:

Here, I've performed a search for the word 'Bill'. Evernote has found it in this note about who's turn it is to feed the animals, and marked it with a yellow highlight. Evernote easily searches for text in pictures. No more taking notes during a presentation - I just take pics of the whiteboard or projector slide and copy it into Evernote. I can search it up later. The search function is Evernote's most powerful tool. It is as powerful, or more so, than Google. You can't lose a note - if you can remember just one thing about it, that is enough. Might take you a bit to hunt through the results though, if you can only remember one thing about it.

Any word in any picture can be searched, including handwriting, as you can see here. 'Bill' is not much of a search term, with only four letters, but I found this no problem among all the notes that mention Bill. I could have narrowed this search down by including the word 'animals', but I was lazy.

When you think about it, searching for data you've captured is actually the trick to managing your captures. I used to have hundreds of individual files cluttering up my desktop and 'my documents' file. The Windows search function is, well, bad. Also, you can't share it across all your devices. Evernote comes for PC, MAC, Android and iOS. Can't remember if they have a Linux version, but it rings a bell. So no matter what smartphone you have, it will run Evernote. Unless it's a Windows phone. Just throw that away okay?

Storing and searching for all this data is one thing, but how do you capture it all? Good question, I'm glad I asked it. Well, we talked about the old PrintScrn button, and copying it into Paint. I still use this if I have to capture something very quickly - like instantly (only now I paste it straight into Evernote, bypassing Paint). But that's very rare. The best method is to use the Windows7 Snipping Tool. Where is that, you ask? Click on the Start button, then type 'snipping tool' into the 'search programs and files' box. When the result appears, right-click and choose 'Pin to taskbar'. Now, it'll always be down the bottom on your taskbar for quick access. This is a funny little tool that takes some getting used to. Once mastered, it is THE killer tool for your computer. If you haven't got Windows7 just download any old snipping tool, you only need to make an image of what's on your screen. Now, the Snipping Tool automatically copies the clip to your clipboard, so all you have to do is paste it into Evernote. Really easy, and quick. The Snipping Tool has another feature I use a lot - the highlighting pen. Handy!

So now you've got your data captured and pasted into a note. All you need to do is add your title, or let Evernote choose the title for you - it's intuitive. Add some tags if you want. Put some text on your note to remind yourself why you captured a picture of your cousin's pork roast - free-range pork, of course! Say no to factory-farming! (See what I did there?)

We all have to capture data at some point in our lives. That's not so much the problem, but storing it is. And how do you capture a Facebook page with ALL the comments? Well, an Evernote add-on for your browser (Evernote Web Clipper) captures web-pages really well, including Facey posts. For when the Snipping Tool just won't cut it. I never use the favourites function (bookmark) of my browser anymore. If I'm interested in a page, I capture the page (Evernote puts in the URL automatically), and that way I can easily search the web-pages that I am interested in. If I want the live page, I just click the link that Evernote stored with the page.

Evernote changed my life. I used to have (still have!) lots of Word documents and Notepad files scattered all around my 'puter. I couldn't share them easily, and I couldn't search them. Have a look at your desktop. How many images are just sitting there? How many text files? Links? Video files? All that stuff can get stored away in Evernote, fully searchable. Evernote doesn't support embedded video yet, but it's coming soon. For now, you can still put a video file in your note and even play it from there. You can also store sound files, MP3s etc. You can store Word documents, so I have no excuse for not cleaning up my 'my documents' folder, but I'm lazy. You can store just about any kind of media. I also use Evernote for writing. Most of my work is done in Evernote and shared. Sometimes, I'll copy/paste the text out to hide the fact that I'm using Evernote. I publish to the web with Evernote. It's always open, and I'm always dumping data into it. It doesn't matter how many notes you make, there is no limit. And you can search them all.

Here's a link to the Evernote home page: https://evernote.com/ It's free, easy to download and install, and there are no sneaky tricks. The download button is big, and right there on the home page. If you haven't got a Snipping Tool and need a tip about getting one, just message me on Twitter (@tyabblemons). Thanks for reading this, and good luck with your new life, all captured, stored, organised and searchable.

Brad Lemon

14/06/2013

Photographed at Tyabb Victoria, Australia

by Brad & Rose Lemon

     We've had one of the best days ever at the feeders today. Tyabb, a semi-rural suburb south-east of Melbourne, is home to flock of around 100-150 Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. They live in the tall pine trees along the railway line, which have lots of hollows for protection and nesting. These birds don't have to forage for food - they are fed by numerous human residents of the area. Our feeders would be busy at all times of the day, but we limit the amount of food available each day to discourage them from visiting us early in the morning!

Surprisingly, the flock doesn't visit all at once. They usually visit in small groups - a maximum of twenty birds. Today was out of the ordinary, and Rose counted 40 birds at one stage. Today was the first day we've tried porridge for the weaker birds. It proved to be a big success, not just with the sick birds but also with the very young cockies.

This first cocky in the above pic is just brand-new. He's got a tiny beak and his feathers just don't seem to fit properly yet lol. I think he's still getting good at preening. All these birds are juniors.

The young cockies are supervised by a couple of aunts. We assume they're aunts. It's hard to tell the gender of these birds without careful examination. There is a slight difference in the pigment of the eye, but it's almost impossible to see on a Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. The main flocks will feed at morning and late afternoon and rest during the day. Only the sick and young feed during the middle of the day. There is always at least two aunts supervising and they will take turns at being on lookout duty, perched on the highest vantage point available. This practice is so remarkable that the lookout posted for an illegal two-up game is called the 'Cocky'.

There is a disease that affects all parrots, but particularly the white parrots like these cockatoos. It's called Psitticine Beak and Feather Disease, or PBFD. It is the AIDS of the parrot world, caused by a virus. Birds often catch it while still in the egg. Those that catch it in their first year of life have extremely high mortality - nearly 100%. Some birds catch it later or build up a resistance of sorts. They can go on to live with the disease for years, but they will always remain contagious. PBFD was first researched by Dr Ross Perry in 1972. He is still practising, helping people with domestic birds live with the disease. We are planning a consultation with him very shortly to discuss the Tyabb Cockatoos. We have counted four birds out of the entire flock that appear to be affected by chronic PBFD. If this is the naturally occurring rate, then we will likely do nothing. If it is higher, then we will fight the disease, but this will mean euthanasing our favourite birds. Yes, we love lame ducks. The cocky pictured above we have named 'Baldy'. It is amazing that he or she is still alive - only the wings have saved her. We say 'her' because she feeds with the young. She only has flight feathers and tail feathers left. If we take her to the vet she will be euthanased and there is nothing else we can do - except feed her food that will keep her alive while she can still fly. We think she's got a good hollow in a pine tree and that's how she's surviving the weather.

As you can see, Baldy has got a broken flight feather. This leaves her open to secondary infections which is what usually kills birds with chronic PBFD. We are so worried about Baldy that we will ask the Vet's opinion shortly.

This is one of the other birds with PBFD. We call him 'Big Mouth'. Notice the way the disease is eating away at his beak? It will likely break off soon, and then we worry about whether he will be able to eat seed. We'll see, and there's always the porridge. We are most fond of this bird as he is tamer than any other bird. He may have been captive at one stage - we don't know. A flight feather he dropped looked like it had been clipped at some stage. Could have been a fluke. Big Mouth is never gonna win a beauty contest, but he is our favourite. He arrives every day at 11.30am.

Mostly though, the cockies are in terrific health. This old one melts my heart.

Their diet is great, and if the weather is kind we expect a good breeding season come September. We think the Tyabb Cockatoos will do well again this year. The farmers curse us, as cockatoos can destroy a crop in minutes flat. However, these cockies are so well fed that they're too lazy to be bothered with crops. Far more numerous are the Corellas, who we call the flying monkeys. They arrive in flocks of about 100 and clean the feeders out completely when it happens. They are somewhat nomadic - and you just don't know when a flock will arrive. The Tyabb Cockies tolerate the Corellas, but the flying monkeys bite hard so that the cockies generally give way to them. We take lots of notes, and try to identify individual birds. We note when they visit in a diary. I'm building a special feeder that will double as a trap so we can catch any birds that need to see a vet if we are lucky. Hope to release them back into their own flock after treatment.

It has been an extraordinary experience studying these birds, day after day. We never miss it. It's not boring to watch them as young cockies are quite stupid. And our old favourites just keep coming around for Rose's cooking.

As you've read this far, thank you very much for taking an interest in the Tyabb Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, and for reading my post.

Sorry, you can't leave comments on this note, but you can contact me on Twitter if you need to: @tyabblemons, of course!

Complaint - misrepresentation of Getup! campaign support.

Dear Getup!,

     We have corresponded recently about the Gonski campaign neglecting the $2.8b in cuts to tertiary education, but I have uncovered something much more concerning than that omission.

Please refer the the picture shown below which is captured from your website here:

In this image, you claim that 'Jacinta Webb, Sean Clohesy and 50,464 others like this.' This is untrue. Jacinta Webb and Sean Clohesy have not signed this petition, nor 'like' it, and I'm doubtful about the rest of the 50,464 people as well. You are clearly misrepresenting yourselves. Both these people say they have signed other petitions presented by Getup! You have implied that they signed this one, quite mischievously in my opinion. I have signed Getup! petitions in the past. Are you using my name in the same way - to imply support of this petition? Cease immediately!

This will be uploaded to social media shortly, but I was hoping to balance the input with a response from you. I will publish your response with the picture. I wish to be fair.

I don't think you've been honest. One opinion doesn't count for much, and so I would like to ask Getup!'s members about how they feel about this misrepresentation. What is the best way for me to bring this issue up with Getup! members? What method would you prefer that I use to address this issue?

Thank you very much,

Brad Lemon.