The wild budgies of Billabong

There has been some good rain in the Murchison recently and nature is putting on a show in response.

The Billabong Roadhouse staff rang in and advised ABC Midwest about the thousands of wild budgies flying around in the early summer mornings.

I had never heard of, let alone seen, any wild budgies before so I was eager to travel out to witness the event.

It was early morning and the sun had just started to peek through the clouds. I had set my filming equipment up by the water where I was told the budgies would come to drink.

A couple of black crows looked on as a brown hawk gracefully flew by before landing on a tree branch. I wondered if they were waiting for the same show?

It was a cooler morning with grey clouds about. As I waited, a few more crows appeared. Even though the sun was now fully exposed, there was still no sign of any bright green budgies.

As I was focusing on the horizon, I noticed a small patch of dust swirling around in far in the distance.

I suddenly realized it wasn’t dust. It was the budgies arriving.

Slowly the numbers grew and within minutes, thousands of the loud chirping green beauties were flying in group formation, like schools of fish, swirling through the air and then swooping down to drink the water.

It was a spectacular sight and the sounds were amazing.

Harold Crawford was kind enough to join me in watching natures show.

Harold has been farming in Nerren-Nerren station for a few decades and explained that the good rains had brought an abundance of wild budgies into the area. He hadn’t seen anything like this for some years.

The budgies flew around for about 40 minutes before the small drifting groups gradually disappeared back into the bush where they had come from.

The air was again silent and the show was over.