Al fresco

Just so you know, it’s not only my own food I’m interested in. I’m chronically nosy about what everybody is eating. Sometimes even non-humans.

This morning, Miss B and I were hurrying off to preschool. As we got to the end of our block, we heard a noise that sounded like someone either a) popping popcorn overhead or b) sitting in a tree madly popping bubble wrap. We didn’t have time to take a good look, so peered up into the trees as we passed, trying to find the source of the noise while dodging the shower of tree bits coming from overhead. Miss B's observations: "Mummy, what's that noise?" and "Look, somebody made a mess!" And she was right; the ground underfoot was covered with leaves, small branches, and some kind of small berries or nuts that had been cracked open.

I had a bit more time to investigate on the way back, and coming from that angle, was able to identify the source of noise, that you can see here if you look closely: about a half-dozen sulphur-crested cockatoos, feasting on this one tree. I haven’t been able to figure out why this tree was suddenly The Cockatoo Place To Be, or even what kind of tree it is (other than that its trunk has rough bark, not the typical smooth bark of Australian gum trees). I’m still working on my Australian plant-identification skills. Goofy newcomer that I am, I’m too busy being flabbergasted by seeing gangs of birds roaming around Canberra that I previously would have expected to see only in pet shops or zoos.

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