Mountain Fly

I was feed two birds. They born baby. But I didn't know that they has baby. So I didn't give them black cover. So they born and eat it. I'm afraid that!! and they think taste good. They born and eat it continuously. I feel scared, when I go to mountain, I let them fly.

Mina Kim
Adelaide

The Warriparinga Pelicans

As I recall it, Jo, Tav and I headed down to Warriparinga wetlands to feed the ducks.   We had been there before, and the variety of bird life there was fantastic.

That morning, we began to feed the ducks and noticed the new ducklings beginning to feed as well.  In the distance, about six pelicans were making their way across the pond towards the commotion of the ducks we were feeding.  We were feeding close to 50 ducks on the banks of the pond, trying to favour the ducklings who were competing with the adult ducks. 

The pelicans swam closer, and as they merged on the group of feeding ducks, what took place next has stayed with me till this very day.

In one swift gulp, the first pelicans bill filled with water, as well as a duckling!  Water spilled out of his bill, and the duckling inside was wiggled down his throat.  The other pelicans struck, in a strategic operation where the targets were the baby ducklings, not our bread.

I had to distract my son, as my wife and I watched 4 ducklings go down.  Because this was happening in the water, we could only watch as the mother and her ducklings swam erratically to dodge the pelican bills.  The commotion of the other ducks alarming the attack was quite loud.  The sight of the pelicans bill with a massive volume of water draining from it to reveal the duckling inside, and then to squeeze it whole down it’s throat live was quite terrifying, but awesome at the same time.

My son doesn’t recall this event (luckily), but my wife and I will never forget it.

Of course, when I checked this out on the internet when I got home, it all turned out to be a  quite common occurrence in nature, where ducklings are on the menu for pelicans quite regularly.
Ian Mackenzie

Emu Eyes

I think I was around 7 or 8 and my family and I were travelling from Mount Gambier to Loxton to visit my Grandmother.  My Dad was driving, my Mum probably reading and my brother and I had fallen asleep in the back of the car. I used to extend my seatbelt out to lean my head on the part of the door where the window begins, making sure I had locked it just in case it wanted to fling open while we were travelling top speed. In my deep sleep I heard a commotion, my Dad reacting startled and the car jolting in an unexpected way. I opened my eyes and lifted my head to look out of the window, directly into the gaze of an emu. We stared at eachother as it ran alongside keeping pace with the car. We were face to face and only separated by a pane of glass and as my childhood self I remember the emu being so large and unexpectedly frightening. It was probably only a few seconds but has continued into a lifelong wariness (and fascination) of these large birds.
Sera Waters