Northern Rivers Talking Turkey

Defending My Garden

The little bird is doing a fantastic job defending my garden.  When a Kookaburra lands on the top string of my climbing bean trellis the brave little Willie Wagtail is there in an instant clipping the Kookaburra on the head and calling a warning whichity-wheit, whichity-wheit.  Repeatedly it hassles the larger bird which works hard to keep its balance on the swinging string while ducking the persistent attacks from the Willie Wagtail. The Kookaburra gives up on the worm it had spied and returns to its perch in the gum tree where a Bell Miner descends upon it and clips it on the head with an agitated squawk. Kookaburras like butcherbirds and currawongs will raid nests and feast on the helpless hatchings but despite their size Willie Wagtails fearlessly fight for their territory and courageously defend their nest.My house is smack bang in the middle of the Willie Wagtails territory and no matter where I am in the garden one of the pair will be watching from a nearby perch whichity-wheiting and wagging its tail.  The Willy Wagtails have built their nest on a low swooping branch in the apple gum out the front, it is only just above my eye line and I can’t quite see into the soft downy cup where the eggs nestle. The birds are much larger than the nest and when the parents sit on the nest they hang over at both ends.  I try not to disturb the nesting birds but they watch me when I’m out in the garden and will fly to a perch above my head where they wag and jump about, luckily for me they don’t try to clip me on the head.  The Willie Wagtails sit on the top of my tomato stakes and calls whichity-wheit, marking my vegetable garden as their territory. The crows are keeping their distance and the resident turkey seems to have disappeared, I can only hope that they will defend my patch against a marauding mob of bower birds or a hungry wallaby.  The bower birds descend early in the morning and hop along the length of my rock wall stealing whatever they can get their beaks on, the strawberries may be the main reason for their assault on my garden but they will take anything that is the right blue and steal the heads off my favourite flowers.  I watch two bower birds obsessed with a blue plastic cap that is fixed to the end of my washing line, they try their hardest to take this perfectly coloured object but it will not come free of the line.  They persevere with it for half an hour or more tugging, pulling and biting, taking it in turns to try and free the blue object. I wonder if I may have found the perfect distraction from my flower garden for them. Late at night when all the creatures of the day are slumbering I am dragged from my sleep by the sound of my little garden defender singing whichity-wheit, whichity-wheit.  The call slices through the peace and quiet of the night and leaves me wide awake and wondering if my little friend ever sleeps, dawn is not even a whisper on the horizon yet. The bird sings relentlessly, over and over. I listen to the sounds of the night and imagine the little black and white bird defending my garden against a rogue bandicoot or an even an owl that may have dared to venture into my garden; the plucky little Willie Wagtail would swoop down and clip the invader on the head, dance and sing its song whichity-wheit, whichity-wheit.