This is a sulphur crested cockatoo. It’s awfully pleased with itself right now because its EATING OUR CHESTNUTS. That wouldn’t be such a problem apart from two things. Firstly, we only tend to get chestnuts at the top of the tree. We don’t have a nearby cross pollinator and that’s the only place that gets any that the wind brings in, so there aren’t that many chestnuts to go around. Secondly, it’s never just one cockatoo. They travel around in packs of twenty or more, eating pretty much anything in their path. They’ll pick the seeds out of every lemon on the lemon tree, eat your wooden balcony railing and even gnaw on your actual house if they decide they’ve got a taste for it.  Oh, and if you ever make the mistake of trying to handle one, they’ll have a pretty good go at biting one of your fingers off.

We have a collection of tennis balls on the back deck that regularly get lobbed at the little buggers as they shred various bits of our garden. Our cat is waiting enthusiastically for us to hit one. Given my aim, he’s going to be waiting a while.