The next morning, we sat outside the van with coffee and toast, watching a pair of Leadbeater cockatoos foraging nearby. The salmon-coloured feathers on their heads, necks, underbelly, and underwings blended softly with the clear white of their outer wings. The male had a high comb tinged with a more aggressive pink and yellow, while the female was less elaborately coiffed. The white feathers on her head pointed smoothly backwards like a bonnet. She was a demure lady, her mate a strutting show-off. Simon quietly pointed his camera and took a photo seconds before they flew away, squawking. Then the air was full of them, a salmon-pink flapping, screeching crowd making for the tops of the trees.
We sat in awed silence for a moment, before turning back to the contract spread out before us. Th
