Beautiful birds: wildlife on your doorstep - in pictures

You can't tell me what to do!: This Red-whiskered Bulbul ignored the message on the road sign in a Sydney suburb. Photograph: Rod Sheppard/Guardian

Grey Shrike Thrush returns for a feed: Our Grey Shrike Thrush has returned after an absence of a few months to feed, presumably waiting for spring babies. Photograph: shaunashcroft shaunashcroft shaunashcroft/Guardian

Where's breakfast? Wild lorikeets regularly pushed through my old venetian blinds if I was too slow at putting out their special nectar mix. My new blinds are harder for them to push aside but they still try if I'm slow with the food. I live right in the city and there are lots of birds and the occasional possum around in the trees. Photograph: Fay Knight/Guardian

Juvenile Robin begging for food: Taken in my back garden in Warrington. Photograph: TheBiff/Guardian

Little Blue Penguin Chick: Little Blue Penguins on cliffs above local beach. Photograph: Bronwyn Scanlon/Guardian

Ducklings in our back garden - Lake Ontario! Photograph: Karen Kalfin/Guardian

Are you talkin' to me?: Kooka in back garden. Photograph: Tristan Riguet/Guardian

Welcome Swallows: Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena), so named because their return from overwintering in Northern Australia is a welcome sign that Spring is not too far away in Gippsland, Victoria. These Australian natives roost outside my window on Westernport Bay from now till Autumn. Photograph: James Glover/Guardian

Kestrel on the bird table: A kestrel landed on our bird table after making a kill in the back garden. Note the blood on its beak and talons. Photograph: John Smith/Guardian

Black Cockatoo over Wentworth Falls: Every afternoon from my balcony in Wentworth Falls you'll usually hear their sad cries before you see them. Photograph: Simon Davis/Guardian

Chaffinch at the window: He kept tapping on the window, perhaps seeing a reflection of himself or seeing insects on my seedlings. Photograph: Jane Jones/Guardian

Osprey, Guelph, Ontario Canada: Every year a pair of osprey nest on top of the floodlights of the soccer fields. Photograph: Eric Johnson/Guardian

Battle for bread. Photograph: Krishnan/Guardian

Parental love: Family of sparrows which live near our garden and come down to feed 3 or 4 times a day. This is the father and the youngest of their 4 fledglings. Photograph: LeeJPalmer/Guardian

Spoonbills. Photograph: Paul Swales/Guardian

Still learning: A young Kestrel has to climb back up a tree after losing grip of its dinner. Although it could fly in a straight line, it hadn't learnt the more difficult maneouvers yet. Photograph: Paul Sawford/Guardian

Cockies in Wentworth Falls: They're particularly happy in the rain. Photograph: Simon Davis/Guardian

Photograph: Rod Sheppard/Guardian