Anyone from the Northern Hemisphere who is the least bit interested in birds cannot help but notice the bold quirkiness of Australian avian fauna.

Where else can one have a flock of feathered rainbows (lorikeets) perch all over your head and body while feeding on honeyed bread from your hand? In which other capital city do cyclists and joggers wear spiked helmets in spring to ward off attacks by magpies? Also, if eating al fresco, watch out for a giant thieving kingfisher: the kookaburra just does not give a damn. It would indeed take psychoanalysis to begin to understand these ‘birds with attitude’.

The first part of this little book sets out to explore, in poetry and drawings, the eccentric foibles of some common Australian birds, from the gorgeous tiny blue wren through the beautiful, brash parrots to the intimidating emu, while reflecting on the wonderful generosity of Australian avian fauna.

The second part of the book continues the theme of the somewhat unnerving strangeness of Australian parrots in the mystery novelette, ‘Parrotnoia’. When the Dreamtime world of Down Under – in the form of a large black cockatoo – makes a visitation to a private school in England that harbours delusions of academic grandeur, things take a sinister turn.