When you’re walking a track in the middle of the bush and a cockatoo lands next to you and says “Hello” (I kid you not) it’s something special. “Oh hi” I said as he walked a little closer. “Hello”! I gave him a nut and we talked as if old friends. Soon I realised he was a decoy sent in to befriend me. One by one they came. Dropping like snowflakes in front of me. Hungry for a taste of the nuts I had on offer….

Now the autumn maize is growing,
Now the corn-cob fills,
Where the Little River flowing
Winds among the hills.
Over mountain peaks outlying
Clear against the blue
Comes a scout in silence flying,
One white cockatoo.
Back he goes to where the meeting
Waits among the trees.
Says, “The corn is fit for eating;
Hurry, if you please.”
Skirmishers, their line extending,
Shout the joyful news;
Down they drop like snow descending,
Clouds of cockatoos.
                                                   – White Cockatoos, Banjo Paterson