July 25, 2026 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST

Don’t be alarmed. Yes, It’s Saturday night, and I’m posting.

Many will recall that I started these sessions during the many Dannie Andrews Bolshie “Iron Curtain” lockdowns of the Covid era. Posting probably kept me sane.

The weather has been less than kind the past few weeks, and sadly we’ve spent a lot of time again at home.

But we ventured out on a whim the other morning, overcast with thick porridge skies.
We had checked a couple of places, and the result was two Black Swans that promptly took off when we arrived. Did we leave the bird karma at home??

So we continued on, and on a small country track (now with encroaching housing developments filling up all the spaces on one side), on the paddock side, was a Black-shouldered Kite hunting.
Country road with no side verge, so I pulled off as safely as I could, and the bird was hunting just out the driver’s side window. How fortunate. I reached back for the camera and by the time I’d turned around, the sky was empty.

EE was already out of iAmGrey and I stretched back and forth to get a glimpse. But in the end opened the door to discover the bird had moved to the housing side and was practically hunting in someone’s front yard.
And down it went.
And just as quickly slipped back into the air, and I knew it had a mouse. Wonder where it will land to enjoy its meal.

Then. It pulled up in the sky and hovered. Strange, I thought.

But then the mouse was dangled down on a long leg, and a second bird swept in from the right, and with gleeful cries, took the offered meal. He was feeding a female. And off she went way, way way, down the paddock. Too far to even think about being able to follow, and across some open fields into a treeline on the horizon. I’ll give you 1.5 Kilometres—at least.

He rolled over, and went back to hunting. Within a minute he was down, then back up with a second mouse that also made the long journey down the field, and through the long lens I saw her come out and accept that one as well. She is going to be well fed.