'They used to blacken the sky': the siren song of the magnificent Carnaby's cockatoo

These gentle, gleeful birds once watched over Perth like sentinels but they are now endangered as their habitat disappearsThe Australian bird of the year poll is on nowGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA friend sent me a video of some Carnaby's cockatoos in her backyard the other day. A family of five were feasting on the golden orbs of a native banksia, squawking and cackling among themselves, the tree bowing under their weight.As they finished their banquet and leapt for the skies, letting out their woozy, fluting call, I felt a heat rising in my chest and my eyes welling with tears. It was a feeling somewhere between nostalgia and love. Their yearning sing-song, I realised, was the soundscape of my childhood. Continue reading...