I bought Leon a new camera on the weekend.  We were disappointed that we couldn’t zoom in on some of the critters we see on our travels.  So I got him a 30 x optical zoom camera as an early birthday present.  Yesterday turned sunny in the afternoon, so I decided to pick the remaining apples before the birds ate them all.  Leon spotted this bird in the tree and figured he was the same one we had seen earlier who seemed plucked of his feathers.  It turns out he’s a young musk lorikeet, either molting or growing in his lost feathers, or both.  Leon found an article that says the male will sometimes pluck the young ones to move them out of the nest so he can mate with the female again.  Judging from the feathers on the ground below one plum tree, I’d say that’s what happened to this guy.  But he’s starting to look much better, getting his lovely green colour on his tail and red cheeks and forehead.  When he’s mature, he will be a beautiful bright green all over.

roughed up lorikeet
roughed up lorikeet 2
mature lorikeet in the apple tree

Leon’s taken some great photos of the flowers in the garden.  I’ll post them up later.  As for the apples, they made a great apple crisp for last night’s dinner.