Unhappy Chicky , foreground , having just been
driven out of the backyard and over the Berlin Wall by its father, seen in the background .
When you are
intent on trying to save baby Curlews from sudden death, you pay close attention to the
sounds of the night
because
under the cloak of
darkness the assassin often strikes
. On a certain
evening something seemed to be upsetting
the Curlews up and down
the street.
It was hard to concentrate on the TV. Is it a dog, cat . shrub nibbling wallaby , somebody walking along the road, Colonel
Sanders diversifying ? It being
a cool evening , sporting a dressing gown
and Ugg-boots , I tottered out to
investigate .
The air was
rent by shrill cries; no cause
was evident . Stepping out onto
the road in my night attire , I glanced up and down . Nothing
... But wait ,what was that ghostly figure draped in white pressed up against
a
fence near the end of the street
where the noise was loudest ? Ramrod-straight,
the spectre caused my normally limp hair to stand on end . Prepared to turn tail and
sprint away like a gold
winning Australian competitor at the Commonwealth Games , I
approached the fearsome figure , seemingly as tall
as a Harlem Globetrotter, outside an unoccupied
house . It did not
move , standing there all the
world like Fisher’s
Ghost. Uncertain about how to address a being from the spirit world , I fired off a nervous
leading question, “What the hell are you
doing ,standing out in the dark ?”
You see , I had suddenly
identified the mystery
figure-it was a wildlife carer known as the Queen of the Jungle , armed with a walking
stick , a shawl around her shoulders. She was waiting for some friends
to pick her up in their car and take her to dinner. The Curlews probably thought that
she was turning on supper so were screaming
out the welcome
news up and down the street like town criers .
**********************************
To keep the two latest
Curlew chicks in the relative safety of the backyard , the Berlin Wall was erected
at the side of the house to prevent them following
their parents outside. Chicky hurdles the wall with ease
on the occasions he/she has ventured inside for a feed
and subsequently fled from father
who drives it away .