A Very Special Visitor

Having arrived home late last night after a wonderful holiday, our enthusiasm for our weekly afternoon of voluntary work at the Daintree Cassowary Care Group nursery was not as great as usual.  However, after a pleasant drive north over the Daintree River and the Alexandra Range we were soon busy with a couple of other volunteers potting up plants, taking stock out of the shadehouse and collating a substantial order.  A short time after our tea break I heard a movement amongst the trees and looked up to see a Cassowary not more than 3 metres away.  She (we think she was a young female, possibly about 5yr old) was unconcerned with the sound of our voices and calmly continued her search for fruit on the ground as she walked past our potting bench.  The sight of a Cassowary in its natural habitat is a very special experience….. the blue skin of the head and neck contrasts with the red wattles and the colours gleam brilliantly against the black feathers.  We all stood watching with enormous pleasure as this majestic bird strolled through trees we had grown and planted.  It was a special moment to remember and cheered us all immensely on a drizzly wet afternoon.