While Homo sapiens might think he’s the cleverest species on earth, I wonder sometimes if we still have a thing or two to learn from animals.

Think about it. No meerkat would dream of frolicking in the open knowing predators were lurking, and yet we’ve reached the stage in our evolution where we’re heard to boast—boast, no less—about not wearing a mask during a pandemic.

So this winter, I decided to take a leaf out of the playbook of our feathered friends and

#91 Migrate North for Winter

It was serendipity, really. There was an excellent reason to travel north to Sydney for a few weeks during the worsening pandemic down south, and I figured that migratory birds wouldn’t do this if it were dangerous, so why not give it a go?

Years ago, when I was young (not free, just young), retired people I met would mention they wouldn’t see me for three months because they were wintering in Queensland. When I was a child growing up in western Victoria, the older people in my life didn’t travel to exotic places like that. If they left bitterly cold Ballarat during winter, it was to go to their bitterly cold holiday home in Torquay or Lorne. The glamour of an ocean view was enough back then.

But time moves on, so now I’m free (not young, just free) and it’s my turn to experience the heady excitement of sun in winter. And let me tell you, being able to wander the streets of a city with the warm sun caressing your back in July is quite wonderful.

So I indulged in some psychogeography on my walks,marvelled at the clever logo on the tool box of a decorator that effortlessly demonstrated his skills—

and sipped ginger and liquorice tea on the deck—all the time noticing, with awe, that every single photograph includes sunshine and shadows!

I’m back home now, where even the tiniest sliver of sun couldn’t emerge through this morning’s fog—

leaving me with no more than a memory and a photograph of recent outings—

These migratory birds are really onto something.

And to think we use the term ‘bird-brain’ pejoratively!