The Whipbird

The birds eventually discovered the jacarandas are a splendid spot to stop and look at the scenery. The droopy foliage protects them from the gaze of the sea eagle, which spends afternoons riding the updraft in the adjacent valley. You very rarely see an eastern whipbird, its punky head and shiny green coat, but as I work away on the slope in the garden, the familiar crack of its call and its answer swools around me,. It billy noticed me being there. Or perhaps its toleration of me was its own welcome. Either way, I felt my work was complete.