Magnetic Island’s wildlife carer , irreverently dubbed the Queen of the
Jungle by this blog , recovering from a
knee operation, recently had cause to
walk to the nearby upswept medical clinic , Latitude19Health , to see
about a badly swollen finger. As she emerged from her residence , without the aid of a
walking stick, she became aware that she was being followed – by the roaming , Dutch cheese eating Coucal she
named Dracula .
Go away , she told him several times as she blazed a path through the bamboo and grassy track that runs
by the Pope’s land . He took no notice of her
instruction to fly away, just kept following close behind , like a dog. The Queen had visions of hobbling into the clinic
followed by Dracula . She vigorously shooshed him away as the track neared a busy road , and he
reluctantly stopped , but closely
watched her walking off.
After seeing a doctor, the Queen
came back along the track and there was
Dracula waiting in a clump of bamboo . He followed her all the way home , crossing a road. As she paused to unlock her gate, Dracula flew off . On walking to the back of her
house, there was Dracula , expecting some
cheese.
Dracula has the habit of catching an insect, sometimes a grasshopper, and
showing it to the Queen before
munching it down . Once he dropped
his catch and gave the Queen’s toe a hard bite , perhaps thinking it a chunk of Blue Vein, which might become infected
and see her back at Latitude19Health with Dracula in tow.
This Dracula fan yesterday went
to the Queen’s residence to pick the remainder of the feral pawpaws from the trees that had
grown through her aviary. Dracula
was strutting about her backyard and
followed me lugging the ladder . He flew up onto the aviary and serenaded me with several loud Whoop! Whoops! Then he took up a cock of the walk
pose , below , on the Queen’s clothesline .
FOOTNOTE: Dracula caught some grubs , showed them off to the Queen , and at one stage even hopped onto her shoulder and seemed to offer her one . Yuk!
