Robert Adamson, an esteemed Australian poet, left a lasting legacy with his final book, ‘Birds and Fish: Life on the Hawkesbury.’ Filled with selections from his writings on the natural world, this posthumous work explores themes of animal behaviour, recognition, and human interconnectedness with the environment. Adamson’s encounters with animals, from cassowaries to injured lorikeets and a misidentified bowerbird, shaped his philosophical reflections on the nature of existence and the search for connection.