Sunday, June 20, 2004

The blue-faced honeyeater

The call from the garden unfamiliar. Go searching. Stand still. Find it bouncing in one of the palm trees. Back to the birdbook. Find it in amongst the honeyeaters.

An amazing name. Entomyzon cyanotis. White belly, olive back, a "conspicuous facial patch". Blue. Cyano, from the Greek kuaneos.

An amazing call. If a whistling kettle uttered discrete noises on the way to reaching orgasm this would be what they were like.

Queet. Queet. Queet.

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