We have been back just over a week and our critter home is complete. The birds are back and it gives me infinite joy. Magpies, kookaburras and butcher birds all putting in an appearance. The Currawong came, shy as always, and the rainbows too. Will Trump come back or is he still out there behaving badly? The Butcher birds first came to the bedroom window.

They were excited to see breakfast was once more on the menu. Now the challenge is to get them to come to the back deck. That didn’ take long.

And there is a cheeky chappie who may be new and looks like a bearded young one. He is curious and comes in looking for fruit aperos. He loves pear and apple. A little cut to his ear suggests a lively time chasing females on the roof. We hear him.

A solitary cockatoo, but we are not fussy. And the way this one eats is messier than a whole flock.

In the Queensland Museum I came across an artwork which expressed my joy at the birds returning. I looked for more information and found out that it was created by Keith Wikmunea as his family totem.

Aurukun carvings celebrate the bond between community and environment.

For any of you who might be interested to hear Keith here he is:

https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/stories/keith-wikmunea-theewith-yot-a-lots-of-white-cockatoo-2024

When you look at this tree it is full of cockatoo’s cheekiness. Their curiosity, their screeching, their messy eating. Watching them is a show unto itself and Keith has captured it here.