I have planted trees specifically for the purpose of feeding birds and butterflies and providing a bird friendly habitat. In the main these are native trees, however I have found through my reading that citrus trees and many non-natives work wonderfully as well.  I now tailor my gardening life to the birds that are resident or visitors.  For example I would never prune or trim the Justica’s during spring because all of the honey-eaters that are growing up their young and need as much food as possible.  My garden is a food factory for them.

You will also find in my garden, a couple of watering holes for the birds. Even though it took them a while, they eventually got used to them and now bathe and drink there throughout the day.  This makes it possible for me to be working in my home office and watching the birds come and go as they do.

The habitat it very important because all types of birds seek refuge for nesting and each seems to need something a little different. The sunbird pair need a sheltered place and a rope; the finches need a dense tree with a lookout nearby, the doves need a dense tree with peace and quiet and so on.  Over time, we have created two secret gardens to serve all of these purposes.  Additionally, our elderly terrier does her best to see any marauding cats off the premises!  Even so, cats managed to destroy the nest of a willy wagtail which was a sad loss to all of us here.  We were very excited to have this sweet little bird nesting on our deck.

So if you also love all things nature, and you live in town on an ordinary sized piece of land, you too can do your bit for the various species and create a wildlife refuge and habitat. Next time I will write about our animals and I am very happy to answer questions about how to create you own piece of heaven in your backyard.  In the meantime I am off to feel the joy – happiness really is birdwatching in my backyard.

Normally, in my own garden I am watching our sunbird pair, a variety of finches, orioles, doves and honey-eaters as well as an endless array of passing birds. Right now, though I am visiting family in western Queensland, the dry country and enjoying very different species to those at home.  But there is one thing that has not changed.  Each of our families has been adopted by a pair of birds who have taken over a part of our homes to nest and raise their chicks.

In Cairns,  our sunbird pair own our back veranda and come to us for assistance just as they need it.  They have nested twice there and raised countless chicks in our garden before seeing them off to start a life of their own. We watch with avid interest as each new pair of eggs is laid and the chicks hatch, fledge and become independent.  Along the way the parent birds entertain us with their scolding, cajoling and finally their meanness as they send the new young birds off to other territory, they achieve success,  before commencing the whole process again.

Here on the farm, it is a willy wagtail pair who have taken over a part of the downstairs laundry, building their nest on the water pipes there in a very protected area where they are raising their first family of three. Not only do they provide sustenance for the chicks they also contend with a malevolent magpie with a family of his own to feed.  The magpie clearly has his eye on the chicks and even went so far as to go in under the house for a look see.

The willy wagtail parents had other ideas though and through persistence and their combined efforts have seen the magpie off each time that he has arrived. The two small birds swoop and dive the magpie, putting their lives on the line until the magpie is unsettled enough to go away.  This business of raising their chicks is extremely hard work for the parents who are up early, to bed late and on the go all day.

Apart from being entertaining and relaxing, there are life lessons here for anyone who wants to find them. Without trying I have found the following:-

• Keep your eyes peeled for every opportunity – the world around you  abounds with them
• Put a lot of effort into growing and nurturing your young and then give them independence to go their own way
• Be persistent in your efforts to get what you want
• Be prepared to work hard for the time that it takes
• Show no fear for the predator, even if they are bigger than you
• One plus one equals more than two – you need a team to make some things work
• Live like there’s no tomorrow, fly like you know how and enjoy everything that comes your way

Recently for example, I was in Hawaii with a group of entrepreneurs who raised $300,000 dollars for the Make a Wish Foundation in Hawaii. I am also aware of a well known Cairns entrepreneur who has set up and sponsors a number of Foundations, some in support of young people.  Doing good works is part of being an entrepreneur, however they are not necessarily out there telling everyone that they are doing good things.  Often it is about the quiet achiever.

Becoming an entrepreneur is about much more than making money.

Yesterday our sun bird pair (we know that they are ours because we are theirs – at least that is how they treat us) fledged the first of their two chicks and today the second. We get a great deal of joy from watching this natural cycle take place in our living room.  You see, we live in Cairns in tropical north Queensland and our pair have nested in the shelter of our veranda building their second nest there.  We live on our veranda for most of the year so we consider that they are in our living room!  We do many things especially for our sun birds, for example we only sweep the veranda, never use the blower while they are there, we give them perfect twine to nest on and ensure that traffic is kept to a minimum in their area.  We also hold the water hose at just the right flow so that they can bathe.  In return they trust us with their presence, show off their babies to us and talk to us on a regular basis.

Every day, we learn something more from our sun bird pair and their families, particularly about trust. They have shown us that even such a tiny bird will trust us if we show that we are trustworthy. How could we possibly ever have thought that trust is about anything else!  They have also shown us that we can have faith in the rhythm of life, to get out of the way and let life get on with it.  Of course they are on purpose – when it is nesting time, they are furiously building, when it is sitting time, mother bird is diligent and when it is growing time they work feverishly to provide for their young.  It is full on action. However they are in flow with the natural rhythm of life and I am grateful to have learned that lesson from them.  The total joy of sun birds.

It would be great to hear your bird stories.

Just One Second of thought could save a life.
You may never know who’s life you save,
But you will know you haven’t taken one.

Safe drivers are life savers.

Join the thought wave…
One Second for Blogging

One Second for life.

By a miracle, the baby sun birds had not fallen out so we tied the nest back into place and the next morning found the parents furiously feeding their young and in no time they were fledged and away. With some sadness, we removed their old nest and put in place a good strong piece of twine, hoping that they would return and nest again.  The parent birds stayed in our garden and we lived in hope.

Now they have their new nest, on their own special piece of twine and I am able to watch them as I work.

Great meditation – You bet!! Meditation can be done anywhere that you can lose yourself and open your mind and I sure am enjoying this particular meditation.  I have no doubt that my home business in personal development will benefit as well as well as my mind and health.  And having these little sun birds in our garden and around our home just brings me a whole lot of joy and happiness.

Additionally, I cordially invite you to the following event:-

International EXPO Monday 27th July, 2009. 12:30 – 6:30 for Book Creators Expo and Peace Week Launch. Public welcome.

EVENT LOCATION – Mercure Cairns Harbourside, Blue Mango Terrace entrance Esplanade – Cairns. All welcome to celebrate “The Message” of peace with guest speakers, Sydney writer James Knight and local Innisfail writer Jacque Duffy, and the writers and local businesses on Book Creators Circle. Come spend a relaxing afternoon networking and celebrating. Please pass on to your contacts and feel very welcome to join in the launch of Peace Week, to support our international writers and businesses or to drop in after work.

We had forgotten the joy and anticipation that goes with preparing for the trip, the journey, getting there, setting up camp and going off to find the gems. It is all such fun and exciting and it is refreshing to just let go of urban life and enjoy all that the bush has to offer.  The weather was amazing and the birds constantly entertained us, the creek and rapids produced a soothing background.  Best of all though was the soporific effect that sitting watching the campfire in the evenings gave us.  Conversation flowed gently and after a hard day of gem digging, camping and enjoying ourselves, bedtime came around naturally and sleep was invited in easily.

Ah, gem digging and bush camping, a truly joyous and delightful experience.  One that opened up an opportunity to just be, free from thought and commitments.  Personal development – you betcha!

I know for sure, in my home business in personal development that many of the business owners are women. And I know that these women have what it takes to set up a business that allows them to work from home.  One of the things that it takes to be successful in your home business is persistence and perseverance.  Not only to access capital, credit and equity as shown by the American statistics, but also to understand marketing, arrange a daily schedule of activities that works for you and to keep going while the business is established and producing an income. Persistence is the key.

And it pays to remember that people who do not succeed in their home business may be just one shot away from success when they give up.  Persistence and perseverance is everything. Isn’t it great also to see the leadership role that women are taking in business about lifestyle and making money. Here in Cairns, in my home business in personal development, I can be persistent while enjoying my amazing lifestyle and having fun.

Hill contended then that it is possible for thoughts to communicate with other thoughts; minds to speak directly to minds and gives as an example the Master Mind that served so well for Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Well, I will be happy to achieve to the extent that those three men did so two weeks ago I set off on a journey to meet up with as many of the experts within my new home business in personal development field as I possibly could in the time that I had available.  The first thing that I found was the absolute generosity of those experienced people.

They freely gave me hours of their time, shared their business acumen, provided hot tips and advice garnered from others and from their own experiences, lent me books and in some cases hosted me in their homes. I greatly appreciated this generosity and having never been seen it before, was amazed and humbled.  I am sure that in relation to give and receive, these people will receive ten fold in return.

Now for the amazing bit.  In some cases, I was gently but firmly challenged in regard to some of what I believed or was doing and that was an incredible learning experience on its own.  However in all cases, I left with something on my mind that I have subsequently turned much attention to and found some answers that I did not ever expect.  I can only think that this was a genuine Master Mind as defined by Hill.  Apart from that though, I greatly welcomed the Master Minding discussions that we had and learned heaps from them.  I thoroughly recommend that every small business owner find themselves a Master Mind!!  And I am sure that my own home business in personal development will be all the better for those Master Minds and others that will take place in the future.

The drive down the coast from Cairns to Brisbane was alright too. I highly recommend a look at both Tannum Sands and Burrum Heads.