Contributing photographer Vallis recently decided to have his eyes tested after he took a snap of what he thought was a wallaby sitting on the side of the road on Magnetic Island and on downloading discovered it was a traffic control witches hat .
His eyes sore first thing in the morning , and remembering his mother had once warned him he could go blind for some forgotten reason , he went to Specsavers . Apart from revealing larger cataracts , he is to get new glasses to enhance his dwindling x-ray and view-finder vision.
Having just been for the eye test , he tottered down to the Townsville waterfront and with his wonky eyes gazed about -instantly spotted a large bird of prey , above , flying about expensive yachts like an attacking Kamikaze pilot. Up and down, sideways, loop-the loop, dart up near the top of a mast , then swallow dive, somersault...
Vallis whipped out his camera and tried to follow the wild gyrations of the eagle which clearly was hyper -active . After taking many snaps, some out of focus, it dawned on him no raptor could possibly perform the amazing aerial stunts.
If you can believe what he says, he eventually saw -with his squinty peepers- the aerial acrobat is not a feathered gymnast - it is a fake eagle attached to a cable , which runs to a flexible rod .
He surmises it is a fancy gadget to frighten birds to try and stop them from messing on yachts. It remains to be seen if it works . Imitation fixed eagles and swinging owls have been used on Townsville vessels in the past without much success.
