Our resident Curlew family contemplate life behind a picket fence and gate rather than the temporary Berlin Wall made up of heavy concrete blocks to keep the two chicks inside. Those youngsters are now hungry teenagers , flexing their wings , about to fly away and join the street and bush gang shown below .
As this post was being written , the repeated plaintive cry of a Curlew could be heard. On investigation it was found a chick had somehow made it into an adjoining property. A parent came up and peered at it through the wire fence . Now what ? The neighbours are asleep , the chick at home is running about with its tail feathers spread like a turkey making a nuisance of itself, demanding to be fed by parents , who peck at it firmly , telling it to go away . After the long running stress and strain , sleepless nights , cat and dog chasing , fearful of a Murder Bird attack involved in trying to save chicks , the Curlews will be traded in for garden gnomes which can only be stolen and end up in distant lands .
DOGGONE CURLEW CHASE
Pursued by the neighbours' friendly, leaping grey greyhound, Boyo , and miniature dachshund , Sadie , because they could smell the tub of Curlew food (chopped up special dog tucker) I carried with which to trap the errant chick , I moved in for the catch. The dogs had to be locked up as I made soothing broody hen noises and threw tempting pieces of food to the chick. Lured into a corner , with its watching parents screeching at me through the fence , their wings outstretched in attack mode, the chick was captured with a towel and returned home .
