Hi, I live in Perth now, but grew up in the Southwest. My dad just about taught me everything thing I know about birds. The rest I learnt out of my faithful "What Bird Is That" book by Neville Cayley. I also have a book by Michael Morcombe, with whom my father used to roam the banks of the Swan River with searching for birds eggs back in their Guildford Grammar days.
I love all birds and love sharing my knowledge about them to who ever is interested. A neighbour of mine used to be completely unaware of most of the birds in our area, until I started to point them all out to her, now she is and avid bird watcher!
Anyway, thats enough for now, better go and do some gardening, bye.
Hi again
Interesting that you mention Michael Morcombe. I was lucky enough to get to know him when I worked for canon in Perth years ago and he was the photographer we used to test drive the new Eos camera when it first came out. I have an amazing set of slides somehwere that were Michaels and somehow I ended up with them, they are so beautiful and some really funny sequences of him and his partner wading in the wetlands and being chased by the black swans. I have his beautiful book The Great Australian Birdfinder, which he illustrated aswell. He has a wonderful talent.
Like you I am enjoying telling others what i am learning about the local birdlife, and most people are quite interested but haven't given it a lot of thought before.
Cheers
Adrienne
Sunshine Coast Queensland