Last night I saw the most extraordinary thing. The shuttle bus to the Cairns Night Zoo stopped to pick up another passenger in the middle of the Cairns downtown area.
A small parakeet, in flocks numbering in the thousands, was racing round and round the block! Right down the street, anywhere from one to 5 meters above the ground. They came in wave after wave of dozens or even hundreds of birds, at incredible speed, weaving and dodging among the people and cars in the street.
And the waves never seemed to end. I asked the driver what was going on, and he told me that these birds like to race around the block at this time in the evening. They start up some time after the sun sets, and keep it up until it becomes too dark for them to see well enough.
I stood in the middle of the street as these flocks flooded the space around me. I tried to reach out to touch them, but they were far too agile and quick for that.