Have you ever wondered what it would be like to float on a breeze like our feathered friends, finding momentum in the air currents and soaring higher and higher across our city and country landscapes? I have.

In flight, effortless, graceful and just a little bit haunting – but I love it.

One of the many joys of the Australian landscape is the abundance of birds and their unmatched bird calls. Their striking calls fill the landscape and give you a sense of place, you know where you are… you’re home.

So magestic.

Many years ago I left my hot Australian, beachside life and moved to Holland (yes, in Winter). After a few weeks when my brain and body caught up with one another and my mind chatter settled I began to notice how quiet it was. There were no cicadas chirping, no gum trees rustling in the breeze, no birds whistling and definitely no Kookaburras claiming their territory with a big hearty laugh.  I realised at that moment how important those sounds were to me, because they were ‘home’.

When I hear the Kookaburra laugh, I know I’m home.

Those sounds are a soundtrack to my childhood and now the sound track has changed ever so slightly. I still hear the Kookaburras and they will forever bring a smile to my face, it is my favourite bird call. I can hear the rustle of gum trees, I love the announcement of summer from the cicadas, but the addition to my Sydney-life soundtrack is the piercing call of the yellow tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus).

Spectacular!

At the moment the yellow tailed black cockatoo is making its presence heard in the skies above my neighbourhood. You can hear them coming with their piercing call high above our roof tops. If I am lucky enough to be outdoors when I hear them coming I’ll search the sky for their location and watch, mesmerized by their effortless soaring and sky high manoeuvres. I’ll wonder where they are headed and watch until they disappear behind the trees and buildings. Being indoors doesn’t mean I miss out on the performance, I’ll head to the nearest window and look, if I can’t find them I’ll go to the next window and the next until they soar across the window frame creating a moving picture.

This is a picture of mine from Instagram. I captured only three birds but there were at least fifty more in the sky above.

After their return from hiatus (wherever it is they fly to) to our Sydney skies either Dave or myself will announce ‘their back’ and we both know what it means. Our landscape will be a little more dramatic as they coat our sky in their ununiformed precession. And they will most certainly make me smile as I hear them approach and wonder again where they are headed.

Until next time

Carmel

// amatteroflight.com //