Alarm calls of Magpie Larks accompanied a susurrus of dish water as I
pulled the plug in the kitchen sink at 9:30 this morning. Looking up I saw a
pair harassing a small raptor perched atop a utilities pole 40 metres from
the window. The raptor sat motionless, a feathered figurine impervious to
attack.
I fetched my binoculars and went outside as the fussbudgets took a breather
20 metres from the raptor and, when I focussed on the bird, I recognised it
as a male Collared Sparrowhawk, small and pale in the bright winter
sunlight.
Thirty secondslater the hawk flew away chased by the Magpie Larks while a
couple of clamouring Pied Currawongs joined in. The smaller pursuers soon
broke off and wafted back to earth while a male Common Blackbird pelted
about the garden impersonating Henny Penny and Chicken Little.
John Layton
Holt
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