For the last 12 months of so I have been hearing a bird call which simply doesn’t belong in suburban Sydney. Sure, we have this forest-y area down the road, but this bird sounds like the forest it escaped from was one in Malaysia or Singapore or Indonesia. It sounds like it should have a huge beak and bright colours.

All through last winter, every time I heard the bird I felt sort of sorry for it- the jungles in Malaysia or Singapore or Indonesia or wherever it was this bird escaped from was bound to be warmer than our winter.

But, it did last through the winter and during the day I still hear it intermittently.

Last night I was next door having my regular Thursday night gin and tonic (without the gin during February- Febfast) and chit chat with my neighbour (while our respective kids were at water polo) when I heard the calls again.

I commented as such to my neighbour.

‘There’s that bird again. It sounds like it should have a big beak and colours and live in a jungle- or at least one of those big free flight aviaries like in KL or Singapore.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Listen,’ I say, ‘that bird.’

She listens hard and then laughs, ‘Jo, that’s our bird machine.’

‘What the f…?’

‘Our bird machine- it keeps the cockatoos away from the tomatoes and strawberries.’

My neighbours’ husband is a Sag and the ultimate in accessories man. If there is a gadget or a power tool, I reckon he has had it at some point…but a bird machine? And why one that sounds like a toucan?

I was devastated- for 12 months I had built up this picture of this lonely, brightly coloured, big beaked, jungle bird shivering through the Sydney winter and calling aimlessly through the scrub and the gum trees for a friend that would be just as brightly coloured and big beaked as he was.

I actually liked my version of the story a little more than the reality…but then, that’s the way I think- that’s the way my Mercury operates. And tonight is my Mercury Return, when Mercury returns to the exact point it was at the minute of my birth. Like your Solar Return and Venus Return, Mercury returns to its birth point annually.

Anyways, will pop something up later about how to read your Mercury Return chart.

For now, want some more info on Mercury in Pisces & how this brightly coloured bird thinks? Check out last years post “When You say Nothing at all”…