Ghost Birds

sing to me a song of longing ....

a strawberry full moon in capricorn tonight, her illumination excites the curlews. there are some positives to being such a light sleeper. to hear the stone bush curlews wailing like women in the national park we crib. their voices build together with a long haunting crescendo that pierces the dead of night. the only nocturnal bird i know. so rare are their sightings that bird enthusiasts ask us to call in their whereabouts for stats. i lay there too scared to move my ear away from the window fearing their cries will alert any of the myriad of feral animals that would easily take them out, being such large leggy ground dwellers. the last few moons i’ve heard them just over the dunes, out on the flat, fortunately finding a better base than the traffic island in our street roundabout. they sadly remind me of how the wild is being squeezed into our squares and their time is far more abbreviated than ever before. first nations people have myths around their calls that they’re the harbinger of bad news or a messenger from the ancestors.

The Origin of Death (Tiwi Islands): In Tiwi mythology, the curlew's call represents the voice of Purrukapali, the first man. after his infant son died, Purrukapali fought with his wife over the baby, decreeing that because his son had passed, everyone on earth must now die. the mournful "weer-loo" cry of the curlew echoes this eternal grief. (sounds like someone we know..)

as i lay contemplating the forever rain falling on our roof so unseasonal with our friends writing to us about how they’re suffering in paris, germany, london with heat waves off the charts, a humpback whale releases it’s breath as big as a circus tent as it surfaces. the song reaches my bed and i am again lulled into a reverie of awe and inspired hope before we wake to another damming news report. their numbers have doubled, tripled off-the-charts in a good way and we take to the highest point in town to bask in the passing parade. migaloo, the great albino humpback has been spotted not far south of here so we scour the rough seas and brave the downpours for another chance to see him.

my camera is a gift from my sister and the memory card fills with only captures of wildlife. way better than any smart phone in quality but i’m still loathed to read the manual opting for the random stabs of focusing and trying to shoot the most difficult of all, BIRDS. i do have an advantage with a couple of bird baths close to the house and my undying devotion to attending to them daily creating a constant drop in for the generations over the years. the spangled drongo has just been by for their spectacular showtime of taking many dives into the bigger pond whilst squawking to its partner much shyer to approach. the white cheeked honey eaters are daily friends sometimes covering the whole rim with their tiny yellow and white striped excitement.

^{i wont look at the birds}

^{when they sing}

^{i may spoil everything}

^{wont say a word in the dark}

^{that’s the way i’ii brake your heart’( small boat- gyan vid - merryn jeann.)}

double-barred finches are a favourite and oh so rare are their visits. they sing a tiny squeezebox song, so sweet i’m stopped in my tracks every time till i spy them hanging off seeding grasses or scurrying on the ground seeking food only visible to themselves. high pitched tiaaat, tiaaat, they bounce by in a little family staying only long enough to take their fill and wet their tiny soft plumage all the while i’m frozen to my seat intoxicated with this divine dance. i call them clown faces but my bible; ‘the field guide to the birds of australia’ has me corrected.

and pj has just dropped this beautiful soundtrack that’s on repeat at our place. so sad but hopeful, like she’s taken those first steps on the moons surface and we get to remember how we all gazed in awe at the footage beamed back to us as kids. that pale-blue dot called home. a unique collab with professor/muso (keyboard player with D-ream 90s pop band - who knew?) Brian Cox, inviting her to write a song for his emergence tour.

love G xxx