Sulphur-Crested Alarm Clock

Our house is in a great location where there are a number of big eucalypts on other blocks which house a remarkable variation of bird life, from galahs and other parrots through magpies and noisy minors to the odd crow. There's also a migratory drongo who often nests in what I describe as my "kitchen tree" - the beautiful smooth, snowy-barked gum tree that I can see from the kitchen sink.

In the pre-dawn and at dusk things can get a little noisy as the birds come to life with all their different calls, skimming across the space outside our back windows and playing in the trees. It's lunch-time currently, but being an overcast day the birds are enjoying the cool - I can recognise about 5 different bird calls sitting here at my desk - Magpie, crow, peewee, a flock of parrots, and the one that's around alot, but I don't know what bird actually makes that noise.

This morning I was woken from a deep, untroubled sleep by the raucous call of what I presumed to be a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. I didn't get up to check (the only reason I would have got up would have been to wring its scrawny neck), but am reasonably certain that's what it was because we do have a pair of them who seem to visit from time to time. Actually, I can hear him now, but he's not as close as he was this morning. I'm absolutely certain that given the decibel level of the calling this morning that he was in my kitchen tree if not on the back verandah (i.e. just outside the bedroom window).

For those who aren't familiar with the call of the Cockatoo, let me first explain that they are a parrot. A large one. They screech with a cracked and raspy voice. How many worse noises are there to wake up to?

... Approximately None!