canberrabirds

Socked-in cockies

To: Canberra birds <>
Subject: Socked-in cockies
From: John Layton <>
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2018 05:42:09 +0000

Arrived at Uriarra East carpark this morning and, as the pilots say, was socked in by fog. Immediately, the wailing cries of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos drew our attention towards two casuarinas where some 20 of the birds were hopping from branch to branch and trading places with others in the adjacent tree, all seemingly anxious to be under way.

I thought of the word zugunruhr as used by ornithologist, Gustav Kramer to describe pre-migratory restlessness observed among birds, and quoted by Bernd Heinrich in Homeward, his book about animal migration. Albeit, these cockies probably weren’t migrating, unless you could say there was some altitudinal migration afoot. After about seven minutes, happy happenstance! The sun broke through and the flock rose immediately and headed off down river.

 

John Layton

Holt.

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