Returning from an absence of some days, the father in our Curlew family of four was found dead in the driveway up near the glass door of the den . An examination revealed no obvious cause of death. It was a mystery . He was buried in the backyard with due ceremony and much sadness . It was suggested he had been hit by a car as Curlews often gather on the road and even sit down there .
Some days later , there was a thump at the backdoor and on investigating it was found that a stunned Kookaburra was on the verandah. It shook itself and flew away. At that time of the day the garden was reflected in the glass sliding door , and this was undoubtedly the cause of the Kookaburra's accident, a pointer to the cause of the death of the Curlew . And today a Curlew flew into the den glass door without apparently doing itself much harm. The driveway view of trees was reflected in the glass .The Queen of the Jungle has a bamboo curtain draped over her sliding door to prevent such accidents.
The surviving female partner of the dead bird has become "strange", as if mourning , and when food is thrown out for the three birds , she stands back and lets the youngsters gobble up just about all the tucker . After some very welcome rain each of the three took a turn to energetically have a swim in a plastic archival storage bin filled with rainwater .
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A whale of a time
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Recently we had 13 Curlews on the front lawn and up the side of the house .
