One bird encounter I’ll never forget was recently in Beechworth in Australia, where I live on the edge of farm and forest land. A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles had been circling the property for a few weeks, and we always greeted them as they came past. One day we took the dog for a walk and she went wild at something in the bushes. There was a Wedge-tail in the thicket, struggling to fly.

A group of birdwatchers from Albury had gathered near it, and Sue the local snake-catcher arrived and said that she thought maybe it had been hit by a car and left. She tried to catch it for rescue, but it kept sort of flopping into the branches too high to reach. Eventually it regained some strength and flew away, but awkwardly.

For days afterwards, it would come and land in the tree outside our kitchen window, huge and close, quietly watching us with one wing slightly dangling. I called every rescue service, every time, who tried to lure it down with kangaroos and possums but it would always flop away before they got close enough. Eventually it just stopped coming.

Afterwards, only one Wedge-tail circled for a while, but just this week, a second has appeared! I can’t tell if it’s the original one, back to life, or a new mate. It felt like the closest I had ever come to god or anything like it, being so close to that big bird.  

I’d give anything to go bird watching in Madagascar. I grew up over the pond in South Africa, and was always fascinated by the huge number of endemic species on the island, and how specific and beautiful the ecosystem is.

I really love seeing pockets where everything is simply from that place. The rainforests and mangroves are full of Couas and Rollers not found anywhere else in Africa. Maybe one day!

These days, birding isn’t as much of an obsessive, academic as it used to be for me. I’m more drawn to simply being in nature, and noticing/welcoming whatever wants to be seen, without worrying too much about whether or not I know exactly what it is or whether I even got a good look.

I am grateful simply to be tuned in to notice their presence, and more than ever aware of my presence around them. I’m also increasingly aware of their personalities, and silliness, and bravery - especially out where we live where they have space to be themselves.