Russell's Bird Magic Moments
Incredibly, I've had birds land on my head on three different occasions. The first was when a willy wagtail landed on the top of my head while I was standing and looking at a small waterhole just outside Alice Springs. One second it was there, the next it was gone. It left me with a feeling of being truly part of the natural environment. That was sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
The third was when a spangled drongo came and briefly landed on my head while I was passing through a walk-through aviary on a private visit to the Territory Wildlife Park.
The second, the only one for which I have a photo, was on a visit to the Territory Wildlife Park at the end of our 2002 Kakadu Light trip. We were visiting the Flight Decka "display of free-flying birds of prey demonstrating diverse natural behaviours". The ranger giving the display had a spare glove and asked if anyone was interested in giving it a go. I volunteered. Sure enough, one came down and landed on my gloved right hand (you can see the bird but not that it's onmy hand in the photo), but then then its mate came down and landed on my head. As you can see from the photo, the ranger thought it was a bit funny. All I could think of was to call out and ask someone to grab my camera and take a photo. Fortunately, someone did.
Click on the photo if you'd like to see a larger version.
The 2014 version of the trip where this happened is already a definite departure.
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