Newshound Ady & Flo www.sunlive.co.nz

The partridge in the pear tree is about the only feathered critter without trauma this week, despite the newshounds getting a ticking off last week from the Birdwatch Brigade.

No sooner had the Sun hit your letterboxes, with when Ady and myself accidently cornered a couple of sparrows and re-aligned their wingspans.
Being an obedient sort of bird dog, I immediately dropped it when the boss said 'leave”.

A couple of days later, while playing fetch the ball at the beach, an unfortunate seagull became the victim of an air traffic control mishap, colliding with a high speed projectile from the ball thrower.

Doing what retriever dogs do best, I picked up the seagull, and took it back to the boss for assessment.

How was I supposed to know that seagulls are permanently out of season for retrieval? Anyway it was a happy ending for the seagull, who flew away happily, but was heard muttering some pretty rude words as he left.

But it doesn't end there…later in the week, we had a close call with a pukeko, who was playing hide and seek in the mangroves. He was hiding; we were seeking.

Fortunately again, the pukeko found some last minute altitude as the boss called me back, giving us an explanation about ‘purple chickens' that even the nice people at the ARRC would approve of.

I think we have learnt our lessons now. Although we are curious about the two turtle doves we've heard about in that song. Purely in a professional way,
of course.

Till next week, keep your feathers unruffled, don't get in a festive flap and remember why ducks can't fly upside-down – because they'll quack up.

-Flo