Like many Australians, I’ll be spending part of my summer holidays by the sea. Australia has the sixth-longest coastline in the world. More than 80% of the population lives near the coast. The coast is embedded deep in our psyche.
If, this summer, you spend any time in Westernport, or Port Stephens, or Eighty Mile Beach, or Toondah, or any of a dozen other coastal locations, keep an eye out for a mottled brown bird with a long, curved bill like an ibis.
It’s about the size of a chicken, and when the tide is out you might see it feeding along the water line, probing for crabs and other invertebrates. Or if the tide’s rushing in, you might see it flying along the coast to a resting place on some group of secluded rocks, calling out its name the whole time: “Cur-lew! Cur-lew! Cur-lew!”
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