War has been declared on leafy Magnetic
Island . Marauding Currawongs are
attacking on many fronts . In
a daring raid ,
they invaded The Queen Of
The Jungle’s menagerie
, grabbed a spare Purple
People Eater nest of Larry
the talking Lorikeet, flew across the road and dumped it on
the footpath. Larry responded by angrily muttering , “Bugger, bugger, bugger !” His companion , the cuddly Torres
Strait Pigeon , Miss Wong , advised Larry to guard his teddy bear as the enemy are bound to return , and she joined
Red Cross to tend the wounded ,
like Florence Nightingale .
This war correspondent
was pounding away at the computer early in the morning when strange sounds were heard from the Western Front . Slipping out in his
bullet-proof pyjamas ,Ugg boots and
dressing gown, he
discovered that two aggressive Currawongs were pecking
at something high up in a palm tree
–a small fruit
bat .
 |
| Why me? |
The bat flew across the road ,
chased by the birds. I whipped inside
for the camera and dashed
about the road taking photographs
of the assault , see above , on the bat with what my wife said had such a
cute face . When the Currawongs
were frightened off by me, the
bat blew me a kiss, folded its
wings across its eyes and went to
sleep , hanging upside down.
While attending a vegetable market , a camera enthusiast ,
who has lived in
Papua New Guinea and takes
many shots of wildlife on the
island , told me that Currawongs
are causing trouble in her
neck of the jungle . She feeds
rock wallabies with carrots and
recently a Currawong had
swooped down and grabbed a
carrot next to her and flew away
with it .The troublesome Currawongs have also been dive-bombing our Curlews and stealing their food . Many near ripe pawpaws are also pecked.
Larry standing guard over teddy bear
Larry is still muttering under his breath about Currawongs and fiercely
guards his Purple People Eaters ,
yoghurt and coffee . In
an exclusive interview , he aggressively recited a lurid variation
of Four and Twenty Blackbirds in
a pie in which the buggers are
baked to a crisp, never to fly again.
