COCKATOO CRAZIES

THE VERDE WORD

Australia is abound with many marvellous marsupials, creepy crawlies, reptiles and some seemingly crazy birds.  There have been much Australian published poems on the subject of our fauna such as Mad Jack's Cockatoo and The Spider from the Gwydir. 

Australians have very strong leanings towards our kangaroos, koalas and cockatoos.

Now, cockatoos are not just cockatoos, there are black cockatoos, the Major Mitchell cockatoo, Sulphur crested cockatoos just to name three species.

Being the city gal who has only ever spent a school holiday on my uncle’s farm many years ago, I have always felt the pull of the bush with its gum trees of eucalypts, soil, rocks, mountains and anything to do with nature.

I had sold my house and needed somewhere to live for a short time. 

With difficulty finding a house where my lovely ginger cat could come with me was difficult as rental properties which allowed animals were rarely found. The only place I could find for my little girl and myself was a country house on a corner block on the edge of a rural village.

The village had a population of about 300 and it was surrounded by much wide open space with the normal collection of farm animals, houses, cows, sheep, alpaca and of course, kangaroos.  The area also has a number of artisans and vegetable growers.

The house was not flash, to me it seemed more suitable as shearer’s quarters.  However, it was large, I could see for miles, I could walk to town, a vet was nearby, as was an historic church and, handy as anything, the cemetery was also just down the road.  There were a few times I would sit on the veranda watching a funeral as people walked from the church to the cemetery.  I did not think I would need it for my purposes, but sometimes I would visit, walk around the tombstones talking to everyone.

My lovely cat and I were in the settling in period.  She was rather frightened a lot because she had never seen so much 'nothing', so much open space.  She was a domestic cat, free to a good home and brought up in suburbia.  Besides this, she was ten years old and her eyesight was beginning to fail, as was her hearing, but, she always found her food...all day. I suppose she may have been considered a country cat because she grazed.

She was not familiar nor accustomed to country fauna.  She had never seen a cow, horse, tortoise, rabbits nor chooks.  She has seen a number of cockatoos and other native birds, but not as abundant as those in the bush.

Next door there was a pony, across the road horses were grazing, at the rear of our yard was a chook pen and early in the morning and late afternoon...in fact, almost anytime, rabbits were out doing whatever rabbits do just hippty hopping around.  I still don't think she saw the tortoise walking down the road.  Things moved slow in our village.

Our house had a raised veranda along one side facing the street in which was high electricity wires spread from pole to pole.  Nearby, in our yard was a very large 50 feet pine tree.  The pine tree was a favourite hangout for the very many cockatoos and was their preferred bed for the night.  I estimate there were at least fifty cockatoos resident in the pine tree.

One afternoon, I saw the most amazing event with those crazy cockatoos.  I had never seen it on TV nature progams,videos, online, in bird books or even for real, I had not even heard of it.  I tend to think that what these crazy cockatoos were doing may have been a particular local thing in our pastoralist area.

What I am about to tell you I feel is either totally unique or, I am too much of a city gal.

This story exhibits that all animals, especially these cockatoos can find solutions to life problems.

CRAZY COCKATOO SOLUTION

After a few days of torrential rain, an absolute deluge, the cockatoos left their pine tree and stood on the power lines running along the street.  They were flapping and squawking and general carrying on with the social things cockatoos do with their mates.

All of a sudden, one cockatoo still clinging onto the power line, fell forward hanging by his feet and begun flapping his wings, like flying upside down but hanging on by his feet.

Well, blow me down, another copied him, then another and another and so it went on so that at least 20 cockatoos were hanging upside down flapping their wings.

Then I saw it!  Cockatoos are mimics and copy others.  It only took one to start them off.

One cockatoo swung into a standing position on the wire, outstretched his wings, his feet loosely attached to the wire, fell forward and commenced rapidly flying in circles up and over, up and over again and again and again the wire very fast!

As I say, with his feet still attached, around and around and around and around the wire. Then a few more did it too.  

Then, the whole mob of cockatoos, at least 20 stated doing the same thing.  All hanging by their feet, wings outstretched and flying around in the wire in circles, up and over up and over up and over again and again and again whilst hanging on with their feet!

It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen!

What were they doing?  They had come up with a brilliant way of flying and flapping their wings whilst being stationary.  Why?  They were drying their wings!

I think this is brilliant!

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Often, solutions to a problem are driven by necessity, they may not need deep thought, advice from others nor the formation of a committee, team or group of mates to work it out because underneath it all, in our mind, our gut feelings or even our heart, we intrinsically or by intuition know the true answer and can solve problems or issues by ourselves.

By asking others for either advice or confirmation, it can cloud the issue.  When you have found the solution and solved the problem, does it not align with what your gut feelings or intuitions were telling you in the first place?

Trust yourself, the only one who really understands the issue and consequences of the final outcome is you. 

If you need to speak to someone about a solution, the best person are your parents because most parents who have their kids well being at heart, don't have any hidden agenda and are less likely to fabricate, or lie. Of course there is granny, but make sure she understands the issues at stake.  Or, go ask a cockatoo.

Like the cockatoos in rapid rotation around the electricity wires, they used their innate intelligence and gut instincts and solved the problem.  Following, examples based on experience from others, the big birds probably taught the younger birds by example.

Squawk..squawk squawk

 Verde