Have you noticed that for some weeks one of the Royal Spoonbills at Kelly
Swamp has been sporting, quite distinctively, a single head plume? This
would not be worth a comment, but for the length of time the solitary
feather has persisted, despite storm and rain, and vigorous feeding and
scratching by the bird concerned. I am reminded of the illustrations of
(Amer)indians in childhood books - ranging from Peter Pan to a junior
edition of Hiawatha - where I used to take great interest in the respective
status of the male indians after being advised that this was signified by
the number of feathers in the head-dress. An indian with only one feather
could be expected to be only at the earliest, possibly probationary, stage
of his career. However, this spoonbill seems to be quite a well-developed
bird, so perhaps it is undergoing some kind of mature-age crisis in which it
seeks out the trappings of its lost youth, perhaps a youth marked with hopes
and promises now sadly unfulfilled.
Geoffrey Dabb
email :
ph/fax : 02 6295 3449
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