Saturday, February 24, 2007

Hoot Hoot

Jill, over at Ruby St, has this morning spotted (and photographed) a boobook owl in Marrickville. This is really amazing as Marrickville is very polluted & noisy. We are close to the Cooks River though, so perhaps it has come from one of the parks there. Or perhaps it has left its habitat because of the drought? Seeing an owl, albeit on someone's blog, makes me both happy and anxious. Happy because I love owls, even more than I love hippos or dragonflies. If I had to get a tattoo, it would be of an owl. Anxious because I think, what the hell is an owl doing around here? Is it in some sort of distress? Perhaps there are birdy people out there in blogland who have a better idea of why it might have landed in Marrickville.

4 comments:

Ms M said...

I have noticed visitations from a much larger number and range of birds in the Newtown/Marrickville area. We have been speculating on the possible reasons. Is it the drought, or possibly the now quite established re-generated wetlands of Sydney Park with its fresh water offerings? Could it be the flowering natives of which there seem to be so many at the moment? It is an interesting trends and I also hope it's a positive sign rather than a negative one.

David Nichols said...

I feel a bit like James Stewart in Rear Window joining up these dots but obviously same phenomenon discussed re: Stanmore here

http://nonsequiturrising.blogspot.com/2007/02/pretty-polly-oh-my.html

BwcaBrownie said...

Yes owls are wonerful.
They eat mice and there must be Marrickville Mice ?

I have seen a Barking Owl sound asleep in a bare winter tree right next to the busiest truck route in Ballarat in broad daylight, and I used to see a grey owl regularly after work walking home across churchgrounds in st.Kilda - once I stopped to admire him and when he got sick of me looking, he SWOOPED at me! it was wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Hi, this is a bit out of place, but just wanted to say thank you for a blog about Marrickville. We lived in The Warren for about 7 years up to 2000 - it was our first mortgage + house - and we loved it there. Marrickville is so cosmopolitan - never lived anywhere like it since (with the exception, curiously enough, of the 3 weeks we spent in Hackney when we moved out of Marrickville before ending up in the somewhat less cosmopolitan Oxfordshire for a while...). I'm somewhat surprised the Hellenic Bakery hasn't rated a mention yet - it's where we learnt to love the delight of Galaktoburiko, and then the even headier delight of Bougatses. Ah, memories! Is Adora Chocolates still just over the Cooks River? The Post Office cafe on Marrickville Road?

I fell in love with the suburb when, just after we'd bought the house, I had wandered down Illawarra Road for lunch, and went to the little Vietnamese restaurant near the intersection where a smaller street forks off to the left, just past where the CES used to be. I sat down and realised that in all the restaurant, and for all the street front and signs that I could see through the windows not a word of English was to be read. Cheapest OS holiday I've ever had! And the next day I went up to Marrickville Road to the Cosmos (?) Greek Restaurant opposite the church near the top of the hill and did it all again :-) I do genuinely miss Marrickville.