Little Darwin's resident Curlews guarding two eggs, but to no avail. About 1am several days later, there was a screeching commotion , and on lurching out of bed with a torch , the birds , wings outstretched , were found facing towards trees at the back of the block . One of the eggs was about a metre from the nesting place under the stand holding a Desert Rose . The scene gave the impression that the nesting Curlew may have been attacked or dive bombed , the egg scattered as a result.
A search of the palms, canes and shrubs in the surrounding area failed to find anything responsible for the attack on the Curlews...no Barking Owl, no cat , no snake . Wrapped in a dressing gown , the lights turned out , I sat in the dark , armed with assorted gardening tools , long handled and pronged , for about half an hour to see if the mystery attacker returned .
No show . A sound like a chain rattling was heard in the distance . The egg was rolled back under the stand and nesting resumed . Then , about daybreak , a few days later , it was noticed the eggs had gone-no shell fragments , no moisture , just completely vanished .
Showing signs of distress , wailing mournfully from time to time , one doing so outside the blog door , the Curlews nevertheless ran away and hid when I went out and commiserated: Poor Chicky Whickeys...What happened to the eggs ?...It's so sad ... Eventually , both turned up at the backdoor for regular morning and afternoon feeds.
The Queen of the Jungle , very knowledgeable about island wildlife , said it is shaping up into a very bad season for Curlews on the island as an egg in her banana patch had also disappeared. The possibility of a large lizard being the culprit was raised . Recently hatched chicks were also being quickly taken , possibly by owls , but cats could not be ruled out . In our case , two chicks which hatched on a neighbour's property hardly lasted a few days .
After having lost so many chicks and now eggs , our Curlews are once more displaying signs of being clucky, one taking up a position near the Desert Rose stand for hours on end .
