Part Five: Skulkers and Terminators

With the communal area 'lake' starting to recede, I glimpse a solitary pheasant coucal as he slinks along a still-moist thicket of heliconias, searching for any tasty morsels. He is a reasonably welcome visitor to most private gardens - except when he feasts on our small harmless lizards. However, he is easily spooked and a nearby tree or high fence is essential to escape the sudden yapping onrush of the resident fluff-ball protecting his territory from all-comers.

Although a member of the cuckoo family, the coucal is the only one to build her own nest and not deposit her egg in someone else's. But now, as I watch, with a swift flick of his long tail, the coucal fades into the shrubbery to be magically replaced by a pair of orange-footed scrub fowl – not nearly as welcome as the coucal!

From the top of their pointed brown crests to their strong-clawed orange feet, these birds must surely be the most disliked of all the feathered visitors to Darwin gardens. Their penchant for consistently and repeatedly digging up newly planted seedlings, and for just simply creating chaos and havoc in established gardens is well known and universally deplored. And, into the bargain, their loud, unmelodious gurgles and resonant eerie shrieks and grunts (some women tennis players come to mind!) are enough to scare the living daylights out of any unwary human within earshot. These combined factors place the orange-footed scrub fowl (or bush chooks) at the very bottom of the Mr Popularity list!

Scrub fowl do deserve some sympathy, however, because they are instrumental in keeping the mulch aerated; in addition, they, in common with many other birds, mate for life and sadly we often see a third fowl straggling along behind an obvious mated pair – rather like the elephant in the room that everyone ignores.

Next month: The Fish Eaters.