Neighbour Steve and Birds

Last Sunday, about midday, I took a jar of honey across the road to give to my neighbour Steve and his wife Anne. They weren't home so I left it at the front door. There had been a cool change the previous night and the weather was cool and drizzly so I cancelled my plan to go to 'Sunset' and do the two bee hives there and extract the honey that afternoon, as I had the bees in my yard the previous day. I was happy to do something else, honey seems to have dominated me lately.
I found my woodsplitter and made a start on the felled dead tree which I'd like to have done by the end of January so the wood will dry out with the heat of February and March so that we can use it next winter. On about the fourth round I noticed Steve's Land Cruiser drive past and I thought to myself I hope he goes in the front door so he sees the honey. The jar I left had a plunger type lid not a screw top, and it occurred to me that the lid may rise up and ants might find a way in.
As I swung the splitter into the the next round of wood the handle gave way and split lengthwise. I knew it was wonky, I'd bought a new hanlde months ago which was sitting near our front door and I remembered the wedge was in the box with the shoe polish.
Walking back to the house I stopped at the shed, thinking I'd have to burn the wood out of the hole in the metal splitter before I could put in the new handle. Contemplating lighting a fire when fire restrictions are in force, I banged one half of the splitter handle onto the other half which was still inserted in the splitter. The noise it made had a lovely ring to it, like that which aborigines make with their beating sticks, so I kept it up and found a nice rythm.
Enjoying my own little corroborree as I was, I looked up from my drumming to see Steve walking towards me. He'd come down to thank me for the honey and followed the noise around to the shed.
Steve's a good bloke, in his fifties, small in stature but with a big heart. His hobby is riding his pushbike for fitness and I see him more often in his lycra on the bike than I do in his 'Gem's Painting' van or his cruiser. He and wife Anne have no children but they're devoted to their three miniature spaniels. They're keen gardeners and I pick in their garden now and again.
Steve thanked me for the honey and agreed that I should get away with lighting a little fire to burn out the splitter, seeing it was drizzling and the ground was wet nobody would panic if they saw smoke. As we talked I could hear shrill bird calls high in the treetops and I said to Steve, "I think they're lorrikeets but I haven't been able to get a good look at them, the bellbirds are chasing them so they don't settle."
"They're nasty bastards, bellbirds", said Steve. "I saw them the other day attacking a sparrow's nest and dragging the baby sparrows from it. Mate, I don't like sparrows but that was awful. I tell you what though, those big black birds, you know those things with the yellow eye, they're the worst, they're cannibals!"
Steve was talking about currawongs and his excitement grew, "Where we used to live in Montrose I saw them raiding other nests and eating the babies of they own kind! Cannibals!"
I was looking up again trying to see the lorikeets. Steve continued, having thought of something else, "Were you home yesterday? You didn't happen to look up into the sky about 12.30 did you?"
"No, I was busy mucking round with bees and honey."
"There were heaps of crows, hundreds, four hundred or more, flying around and around, way up high, diving down, going back up, round and round. I've never seen anything like it before. It was amazing."
"Gee I wish I did see it, but I didn't. I've seen a huge flock of ravens feeding in Fialla's paddock on my way home up the hill into town. A big flock of what I think are straw necked Ibis were there three days in a row too. And at the same time hundreds of swallows were in the air above them and a large flock of starlings. Gembrook is teeming with birds at the moment. Maybe many have moved in cause we've had rain and it's so dry elsewhere."
"It could be, but those crows were spectacular. Thanks again for the honey. I'll catch ya later and we should get together for that drink soon", Steve said as he moved off.

I hope to do a mid summer bird report post soon.