Hello All,
I was sitting, half asleep, on a stool beneath a two meters high tree
fern { Cyathea jacksoni } overlooking the bushy valley behind my house,
watching for bird movement and ruminating on the question of " life,
the universe and everything" . There was little activity , intermittent
quiet warbles from Brown Thornbills (Acanthiza pusilla) and small
cracking noises from the Redbrowed Finches (Neochmia .temporalis)
industriously feeding in their seed tray nearby.
A typical warm , summer afternoon and what better way to spend it ,
absorbing the drowsy ambiance.
The only action seemed to involve a pair of Spotted Turtle-Doves ,
diving and swerving through the treetops below . This is a very common
activity amongst Spotted Turtle-Doves -- the pre-copulation chase --
and I did not pay it any further attention but settled back into my
semi-comatose state.
However, I was not to remain thus for long as it became apparent that
the chase had suddenly changed direction and the object of desire had
dashed out of the foliage and was headed in my direction. Indeed to be
more specific it was shooting towards me with bullet like accuracy and
an impact appeared inevitable At this point I realised that instead of
escaping "a fate worse than death," the Turtle-Dove was fleeing from
death itself , as the "ardent suitor," was not an eager male but a
Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrhocephalus).
My immediate reaction was to cover my face with my hands and with a loud
thud the Collared Sparrowhawk hit the Dove about two feet in front of my
head, showering me with a snowstorm of feathers.
I think the action of throwing up my hands to protect my face must have
disconcerted the Collared Sparrowhawk and prevented a clean hit , the
two birds separated, the Dove to flutter up into the protection of the
fronds of the tree fern overhead (which I think was its original
intention ) , the Collared Sparrowhawk actually fanned my head with its
wing as it banked away to land about six meters away in a tree
(Angophora costata) where it perched, fixing me with piercing raptor eyes.
Realising that I would never get another opportunity like this again, I
hurried up to the house ,spitting out the odd feather, to get my camera.
Of course when I returned there was no sign of either the Collared
Sparrowhawk or the Spotted Turtle-Dove but I don't think there could be
much doubt about the possible outcome of the incident . Although one can
never take anything fore granted, birding.
Reg Clark
St.Ives. NSW
Australia
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
