Almonds anyone?

I am very lucky to have an old almond tree growing in my backyard... not a particularly attractive tree I gotta say, but VERY attractive to the local bird population when it fruits - like now!

It's funny, the nuts grow quite quickly and they don't get touched at all untill they're nearly ripe and then, just when you're thinking "maybe the birds wont find them afater all this year!" they descend in their hundreds in one great squawking flock! It's quite spectactular really... they just "arrive" and then devour the entire crop in just a few days. Mostly it's the common white cockatoos like this one that do the 'damage' but the pink & grey galah's often get a few as well.

We sat and watched them for hours the other day... fighting amongst themselves & screaming at each other. And they are VERY dexterous too... grabbing the individual nuts in their feet and opening them up before dropping them (in their thousands!) in to my garden underneath. This photo was particularly nice we thought... very regal looking!