Ben Thomas writes:
Thanks everyone for the stories.

Hey, I haven't told you mine, yet.

On day I heard the rotary clothesline rattling and saw out of the window
a currawong struggling to get a peg off one of my socks on the line.
Eventually it succeeded, the sock fell to the grass and the bird dropped
down and picked it up and flew with it to the top of one of our tall gum
trees. After a bit of play, it let go of the sock then swooped down and
caught it midair before it reached the ground and returned to the treetop.
This game was repeated 3 or 4 times, and I felt sooner or later my sock
would be caught in a branch and abandoned high out of reach. But the
devilish bird decided to ratchet up my stress level and it took off across
suburban rooftops, disappearing from view with my sock in tow! I had no
option but to accept the loss of that sock, good quality woollen socks
not being cheap either.

But 5 or 6 minutes later the currawong had returned, and was dropping and
catching the sock again! This time I waited until the instant that it
let go of the sock and I clapped and shouted out of the window. Taken by
surprise, the startled bird was distracted and I hurried outside and was
able to retrieve my sock. The sock was none the worse for its ordeal, but
I frustrated that birdbrain's fun by securing every sock with three pegs
for the next few weeks.

You guys are so lucky to have had these experiences with some of the creatures
that we share the planet with.

I'm willing to share the planet, but I do draw the line at sharing socks.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)