Birds are keeping me sane in lockdown. When this is over, we must do more to protect them | Suzy Freeman-Greene

Seeing a wild, swooping kestrel hunt its prey near my Melbourne home was exhilarating. I could taste its freedomThe nankeen kestrel hovered over a patch of saltmarsh, eyes down, wings slowly flapping. After a minute or so, it flew off, displaying gorgeous black and brown plumage, before returning to hover and watch. It dropped suddenly, like a stone flung by a god, then took its prize - a cricket or grasshopper - to a fence post to be eaten in seconds.The sight of this bird of prey, late in my second week of Melbourne's hard lockdown, opened something inside me. Like millions of others, I was stuck in the city under curfew, unable to venture more than five kilometres from my home. I yearned for the bush, to be in a place free of cars or houses, where I didn't have to hear other people's conversations as we marched up and down the same few paths on our measly hour of daily allotted exercise. That wild, swooping kestrel was exhilarating. I could taste its freedom. Continue reading...