From that, I have learned a new word: “tocsin”.
From: Canberrabirds [
On Behalf Of John Layton Sent: Saturday, 3 April 2021 4:43 PM
To: Canberra birds
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Blue-tongue causes angst in birdland.
At 3PM today a bevy of House Sparrows gained my attention as they flittered from shrub to shrub twittering neurotically something to the effect,
the sky is falling! the sky is falling! while a Common Blackbird perched in a box seat atop a Box Elder giving forth its
rattechity rattechity alarm call, and three Pied Currawongs arrived sounding their war tocsins. Then I noticed the Blue-tongue, it must have come in under the fence from next door. It moved ponderously across the yard glancing from side to side,
seemingly oblivious to the avian angst erupting around it. Perhaps I should have been a little surprised to see the Blue-tongue abroad in April. However, the temperature stood at 28 degrees so this may have drawn Brer Blue-tongue from his autumn slumbers.
John Layton
Holt.
