They don't sell airconditioners

The sulphur-crested cockatoos that fly over in their hundreds, moving back and forth between wetlands and nature reserve, discovered our mandarin tree. The clever buggers can remove a small piece of peel from a fruit and consume the entire contents through that hole. Unfortunately, they don't pluck them from the tree with anywhere near the same precision, carelessly stripping branches. They also reject the innards of some of the fruits, scattering segments across the ground. Oh, and thanks to their inscrutable pecking order, they don't all eat together. I had to clean up five "picnic sites" along our fenceline. There's not much we can do to dissuade them. Unlike Sand People, they aren't easily startled. These wild examples of the species are as big as chickens - and as game as roosters. You have to step fairly close, waving your arms, before they'll piss off. And, like Sand People, they invariably return in greater numbers. More to the point, we can't monitor the tree from dawn 'til dusk. Farewell, sweet mandarins. No fresh-squeezed juice for Addster this winter.

No. of podcasts on which I was mentioned yesterday: 1.