Link: Rain birds recording on soundcloud

Rain birds

When I lived near the Jerrabombera wetlands on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, I would hear the call of yellow-tailed black cockatoos flying past in the mornings. As I lay in bed, my half-asleep awareness drifted over the wetlands and shifted through the Casuarinas following their calls.

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Walking up the road towards Targangal on Ngarigo Country, Pablo drew my attention to the way the ravens articulated the scale and distances of the spaces around us as they kited over the river between the mountains.

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Arriving at the fishing cottage near a bend in the Little Plains river on Ngarigo Country, the sky was filled with a raucous mob of some 200 black cockatoos. They shoved their way through the air, open-mouthed, shouting across the valley and settled in the tree-tops like a bunch of old cronies gossiping at the pub.

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Amanda and I were sitting in the office at the Art School on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. She heard a cockatoo calling and we ran outside to catch a glimpse of black blur disappearing west.