ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Open the flood gates
let the water run free
Let the creeks fill the rivers
So they all flow to the sea

SHARING THE WATER

‘The waters of the Onkaparinga
Create the place where I choose to linger.
The young fisher boy fills two hooks with bait
While across the river I watch and wait,’
says Cockles.

‘Every weekend, he is here on his patch
Of shining water, where I share his catch.
Then seeing the movement of the boy’s hands,
I fly over blue water onto the sands,’
says Cockles.

‘Under the water the silver fish flash
In the sun; then come out with a splash.
I waddle closer. He reels in the line.
I’m always patient, there’s plenty of time,’
say Cockles.

‘There’s fish for me and enough for the kids
To take home in buckets covered with lids.
My friend leaves; I return to the water
To catch my own fish, just like I oughta,’
says Cockles.

‘I can now fish in the Carrickalinga,
Or the Bungala and the Waitpinga.
The only place I choose to linger
Is in the water of Onkaparinga,’
says Cockles.


The pelicans, although tagged by the Adelaide Zoo, are totally free. This winter a lot headed north to Cooper Creek and very old nesting sites.

Must have missed this one when it was posted but its words paint such a great picture -even though you put the photos in. Most of us I would think are familiar with the pelicans behaviour and this just captures it so well. They are such ungainly birds on land and yet ships of the air, graceful and streamlined in flight.

The name you gave your Pelican in this intrigued me Eliza - why Cockles? I might be reading something into this that isn't here but cockles are a shellfish eaten in UK but not sure if they are here. The colour of their shell perhaps? Not that it matters I was just curious

Cheers

Maureen

maureen we have cockles, pipis, ubygars, all are bivalves the same as yours in England
and an enjoyable read thanks

bill w

hello Maureen
and William,
This pelican, tagged by the Adelaide Zoo 503, got his name because he like the bait (cockles) as much as the fish he shared. He caught his own Bream as did the lad catch his. In between when hooks were loaded he waited very close by and received a cockle on the rocks. In the picture below he didn't get his cockle, because of the interloping, uninvited seagull!

The Zoo Tags the wildlife to record the habitats, habits and numbers.