The Calmness Of A Kingfisher Preening

I awoke to a quietness among the birds outside my window. Unlike the usual chatter among the sparrows, the minor birds and of course the magpies. All was silent. Nothing alarmed me to start with . Maybe the change in weather? I didn’t even see them when I first went outside to prepare the maggies dog biscuits or again while waiting for my cuppa to brew. It was then I looked up and saw the kookaburras! Four of them, making their way along the power lines adjacent the vacant field looking for bugs and mice in the over grown grass. One came down and sat on the lines leading from the shed to the main power pole almost 20 feet from me. I stood there drinking my hot cup of tea watching them for almost 20 minutes, until the one closest to me flew straight threw the yard in front of me. The remainder moved further up the lines to more productive hunting grounds. The maggies returned and one in particular always flies down to greet me Ive named her piglet. Shes always hungry and I went back inside to see if there were any left over food scraps, since the biscuits weren’t soaked enough to feed them. Once again they had all disappeared. Looking up 15 feet in the power lines directly above me was another Kookaburra. I must have stood there watching people pass using the walking track unaware of what was going on above their heads as the kingfisher preened oblivious to all around. I had never realized how much of a calming effect of just standing there watching a kingfisher preen for 15 minutes would be. Until an alarm call from an erratic swallow alerted the kookaburra to some unknown menace and it disappeared as mysteriously as it first came to me.