lunchtime

cockatoo

expecting some lunch

impatient

Brambuk is an indigenous cultural centre on the Southern outskirts of Halls Gap. It is the best place to begin an exploration of Gariwerd national park.  Jill was participating in a national textiles forum/workshop and her workplace was at Brambuk. Every morning for a week I would drop her off and plan my morning of hikes, haiku and photography from here. Then late morning I would return for a coffee and cake . By this time the resident wild but very tame Sulphur Crested Cockatoo gang would be waiting for their share of tourist offerings. Tame, as in walking up to the plate you are eating cake from , picking up the fork and throwing it on the ground, hoping to steal some food as one bent down to retrieve the fork. I guess this friendly behaviour was encouraged by the staff who fed them bird pellets and conversed with each one according to their name. To give them credit this table in the second photo was their table and they all waited to be served there.The polite birds each had a chair, the rest lacking manners sat on the table. After their snack they would check out anyone else eating. In an earlier post featuring this species I mentioned the beak is  quite lethal, I have known people to almost lose a finger . Conversely these lovelies would delicately take pellets from cafe staff fingers. I threw my offerings onto a chair. At times there were flocks of these cockatoos  numbering in the dozens flying around Halls Gap. The drought was not impacting on their lifestyle.