currawongs -- black fiends
 

Out in the garden, I heard a commotion in the sky and upon looking up saw
a currawong struggling along in somewhat erratic and laboured flight.
Grasped in the currawong's talons was a full-grown starling, the starling
held so securely that its wings were immobilised against its body and all
it could manage was to wildly flap its tail from side to side in an attempt
to hamper the flight of the currawong. The pair's progress was shadowed by
a group of 7 or 8 fellow starlings all frantically calling to the captive;
and racing to converge on these--like homing missiles--came more starlings
rallying to join the fray. I was aware that currawongs would raid nests and
take small birds, but I had no idea they could carry off a fully grown
nestling in the manner of an eagle carrying prey in its talons.

Then a few days later two birds shots past me in the garden -- a currawong
in hot pursuit of a large bird like a gill bird. In and out of tree branches
they crashed, the currawong determined not to give up the chase. Barely had
these two disappeared over the rooftops, then back came a fleeing currawong
being roundly put in its place by one plucky and furious peewee!

It's the war of the birds.

And stand by for the magpies on their annual straffing dives! (:-(
--
John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n")