Spring Carnage

A hot day and then the sudden cooling of evening ... I was standing in the driveway and heard the big trees crack. Three or four of them cricked and cracked in the still, cool air. Then their limbs began to fall with shuddery crunches, landing in the forks of other trees or crashing onto the grass. I've never seen this phenomenon before but for the rest of my life I will know that eerie sound of a tree's branches exploding after a change in the weather. I will definitely run to open ground. No wonder they call certain eucalyptuses 'the widow makers'.

My brother in law came down to clean up the mess. Since then, we've saved/orphaned three baby parrots. Mum's been taking them to the wild life carer up the road. We didn't save the honey eater's shattered eggs and slimy, beaked fetuses, or allay her frantic flying about after the chainsaws stopped.

Tonight Mick spotted the brindle dog heading down the paddock with that look. "Hello. He's onto something."
Wolf returned with a baby king parrot in his jaws. Mick gently extracted the parrot and put it in his pocket. Later he handed her to me. She clung to my shirt with long sinewy claws and I could feel her heart beating. Her belly was beginning to turn purple but the rest of her feathers were green, with a red stripe above her beak. I put my hand above her head to shade her from the veranda light.
"She's probably had a rather bad day," I said. "She'll be very tired, Mick."
He agreed and put her back in his pocket.
"Int she the most beautiful thing you ever seen?"