Kookaburra Wars...

Kookaburra Wars…

Who had the last laugh?

Just as we were getting ready to leave Tarzali yesterday morning, we saw the most amazing spectacle. War between kookaburras.

It was the huge burst of laughter that alerted me first. We regularly hear the laughter of kookaburras and there are several who sit on one particular branch of a tree in the corner of our block. But this laughter (or cry) had an unmistakable element of aggression or alarm.

I looked out to see a kookaburra sweeping up the cutting and into our big camphor laurel tree. Then suddenly it was flying out, chased by another kookaburra. They flew together, zooming and diving and looping high, clearly aggressive, not unlike a WW2 dogfight between a British Spitfire pilot and a Messerschmitt.

One bird would fly away and then another would swoop in from another direction and receive a similar reception. This seemed to be territorial warfare between two kookaburra pairs. And it went on for a good ten minutes and was very noisy and involved quite spectacular flying.

Later, when the ostracised pair accepted their lot, one of “our” kookaburras swooped down and caught a cricket in the grass and I swear that it saw that insect in the grass from at least 150 metres away. Their eyesight must be incredible!

Well, now we’re back in the city and had our traditional home-coming Thai takeaway last night. It’s hot down here on the coast, so of course the airconditioner’s on. Thank heavens it works, as it seems the dishwasher has broken while under our No #4 offspring’s supervision. And I have Broadband again. Internet bliss! I might be able to get better sidebars and links on this blog now.

Now, time to take a deep breath and get ready for Christmas.