My yard is so over run with voles and cotton rats that I go out of my way to catch snakes and release them in my yard when I can. It drives a lot of friends and visitors crazy because I don't care if they are poisonous snakes or not, as long as they eat rodents they are fine by me. Whenever I use bird netting to protect fruiting bushes or trees I check it twice a day to rescue any snakes or turtles that have gotten tangled up in it (this happens a lot!). My neighbors used to assume I was going to chop up the copperheads but I carefully cut them free and took them over to the brush pile. I need all the rodent eaters I can get. It helps that I worked for years and years as a zookeeper and had to handle snakes every day - they don't bother me at all. I enjoy them when I see them.

Beautiful photographs. You must be very patient. Thanks for sharing.

Dawg! Now I'm really jealous! I only recently learned that spoonbills belong to the same order as our vultures. When this guy's fully mature you'll see the family resemblance. IIRC, by the time he's about 3yo, he'll be bald-headed. 8-] ICA, Sophie ^i^

Thanks everyone. Michelle I think that the birds are quite used to me and if I keep my distance and be very still they just keep on doing what they were doing. I seen the Rosella from my Kitchen window, so then grabbed the camera and shot wild as I walked out on to the back decking trying to remember to be very quite, they were about 10 mts away, hense the out of focus shot. Annie we only get the Rosella's in the Spring and usually around lunch time. GH would you believe the two blue's are no where near each other, but they would complement each other. Thanks Jan yes the flowers up here tend to be very bright..Cheers..MM.