Vik's Gallery:   Pheasant Coucal (1/3)

CUCULIFORMES: Cuculidae

Centropus phasianinus  

A Coucal and Bull Story.

Recently, at the remote location of Port Warrender, WA, with my camera in hand I was stalking a Pheasant Coucal through a stand of mangroves when I unexpectedly encountered a feral bull.

The animal was as surprised by this meeting as I was, and being of the school that believes attack to be the best form of defence, it immediately started charging.

With a somewhat different philosophy, I responded almost as quickly with a strategy of flight. My lead was small and seeing nothing nearby robust enough to climb or hide behind, I thought escape from a goring or worse was unlikely.

I was running in sandals across a patch of small round boulders and inevitably I fell. With the clatter of my camera equipment on the rocks adding to the noise of the bull's hooves, I looked up to see my pursuer halt two metres short of me.

The bull surveyed the pathetic mess in front of it for several seconds, and then turned slowly away and trundled off heading inland.

With relief I took stock of the damage which amounted to one dented camera and chipped lens, two bleeding knees, a scraped foot, a scratched up tripod, and the loss of a Pheasant Coucal photo opportunity.

The camera still worked, and with a shaky hand that proved the value of built-in image-stabilisation, I took a photo of the bull.

This birdwatching can be a dangerous lark.