Wednesday, June 04, 2008

LOLduck morning

A minute ago I was sitting in the lounge room reading a novel about a charismatic Melbourne rabbi (as you do) when I began to hear a faint, weird, high-pitched noise, almost exactly halfway between a stutter and a croon.

Kids out in the street?

Feline intestinal disturbance?

Radio next door?

Nope, it was definitely coming from the chimney. Last time I heard a noise in the chimney it was a disoriented mouse, and the time before that it was swarming bees.

Went outside to have a look. Rushed back inside to get the camera.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are they wood ducks, perhaps? Every year, a few of them land at Chez Ocky to check out a hollow tree nearby (good nesting spot). Unfortunately for them, the hollow is already taken by an aged and grumpy possum.

I have watched two ducks peer cautiously into the hole, then back out very quickly, chased by the flailing arm of Mrs Possum.

Sometimes there is a third duck, and I assume he is the Real Estate Agent duck, showing the young couple around. "Here's a lovely old hollow, plenty of room for the kids. There's a tenant there at the moment, but she'll be moving out soon."

Ampersand Duck said...

Oh, I love that idea, Ocky.
LOLDuck indeed...

[doorbitch is, agonisingly, OTGKMFVT. I'd like to think it's a very rude acronym.]

Anonymous said...

Looks like Wood Duck (aka Maned Goose) profiles to me too. I can't think of anything else that quacks that's likely to inhabit one's chimney.

There's a certain Melia tree outside the Benham Bldg at Adelaide Uni that hosts a clutch of Wood Ducklings most years. Had the pleasure of watching one season's offspring jump & flutter from their nest several years ago....

The Feral Abacus

Anonymous said...

Australian Wood Ducks usually like hollow tree branches - but I suppose beggars can't be choosers. Well spotted

Anonymous said...

I'd be feeling a bit spooked if ceiling duck was peering down my chimney...

the feral abacus

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Heh!

They've gone. It was just a stopover.

I think.