Showing little fear of foreign ducks and domestic visitors, a Dusky Moorhen paddles in circles before upending for eatables in a lily pond at Brisbane's Botanic Gardens. In stark contrast to their shy cousins in the tropics, these plump Australasian rails display an alarming lack of concern for bigger bipedal beasts and set up shop in spots that offer clear views of their curious family values.
Away from the nest, however, the birds are quarrelsome and at some parks, congregate in numbers so rude the waterside appears to be littered with busy black-brown bodies. It's a sight far removed from the hunger elsewhere that consumes fauna too friendly for their own good and the hatred for what remains of feathered life in a city that crows its success in keeping its citizens clean, green and safe from the dangers of creatures too wild for the frail sensibilities of a barely civil society.
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