Jana Randell reports that she and a friend were cycling home from Civic along the bike path in O'Connor when they saw a distressing spectacle.

"We noticed a duck [a young male Wood Duck, Chenonetta jubata] rummaging in the long grass. It looked as if it was soaking wet [but the wetness turned out to be oil], feathers stuck together and unable to fly. We knew something was wrong. We managed to capture him with a shirt thrown over his head to keep him calm until we arrived home.

"We called ACT Wildlife and were given contact details of a local carer who is experienced with ducks and treating birds that have been exposed to oil. We both have experience in wildlife care, so were confident following her advice, and used a planet-friendly dishwashing detergent to bathe the animal and cut through the oil. It took four thorough baths and scrubbing sessions to get rid of the oil, but he seemed happy enough to be splashing about in some warm water.

"After two days in our care, the duck was finally clean from the oil, and had enough time to dry and preen his feathers. He looked like a new duck! We released him back to a wetland near where he was found; normally an animal would be released as close to where it was found, but in this case we felt it was safer to release him to a different watercourse, as we weren't sure where the oil came from.

"We still don't know the type of oil, or how he managed to get completely soaked in it. It could have been a vegetable oil from a restaurant, or household waste that had washed into the drain.

"This is an important reminder for us to make sure we dispose of oils and chemicals responsibly, and shows how easily it can affect wildlife when it ends up in our stormwater drains. For injured wildlife in the ACT, people should contact ACT Wildlife for advice and care actwildlife.net.au 0432 300 033."

The poignant final picture of the series that the rescuers have sent us is entitled "Flying Again" and shows the once-grounded but now liberated bird flying away to resume its life in our bird-blessed city.

Segueing seamlessly into a new topic, we note that Wood Ducks nest in holes in big old trees. Now, when a major tree in what real estate agents would describe as his "tree-lined" Scullin street was felled and removed, Robert Roach filmed the whole operation.

"Nothing remarkable about that," I hear the curmudgeons, the miserabilists among you mutter.

"We live in times in which phones and nifty cameras have so many of us capturing all sorts of everyday things going on in our lives."

But you have jumped the gun, curmudgeons, because Roach then did something eccentric. Thinking of the film of the occasion (a major undertaking, finishing in darkness, involving men with chainsaws, a busy Bobcat, and one of those ferocious juggernauts that chews trees up into chips) a kind of "requiem for a tree", he felt the film footage deserved some dramatising, enhancing music.

And so, deftly dubbing from CDs, he has created a 26-minute DVD in which the poignant lumberjackery in his street is set to the music of Jean Sibelius, the composer of the moment.

The Finnish hero and genius (1865-1957) is the composer of the moment because, as glowingly reported here, this year is the 150th anniversary of his birth. Canberra has already begun to bristle with performances of his works. Next week's concerts by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra will boast his Fifth Symphony.

Roach has not made the DVD to sell. He just thought it appropriate for the tree and liked the challenge of doing it. He has been kind enough to send us a copy. In it he has the timbermen working to various Sibelius favourites and finishing, in the brooding Scullin darkness, to Sibelius' mighty Finlandia as the Bobcat hurls what's left of the late tree's trunk into the woodchipper.

We pass this on to you not only because these are Sibelian times but also because what Roach has done in dubbing music to film of an everyday occasion seems like something we might all imitate. Not much of what we film (so many selfies, epic portrayals of the restaurant meals we are about to eat, third-rate sunsets, etc.) has much innate pizazz or pathos about it. But the right music (and somehow the Sibelius classics have fitted a Scullin afternoon and evening beautifully) may make it into something profound.

But be careful, because, of course, some sorts of music (and especially Australian country music sung by Australians doing embarrassing impersonations of the Texans they worship) will spoil everything it is allowed to touch.

Meanwhile, ahead of next week's concerts, the CSO's publicist reports that: "For each of the concerts featuring Sibelius there are only a handful of A-Reserve seats left . . . I'd like to be able to say that the concerts featuring Sibelius are selling better than other concerts, but all concerts are selling equally well. We attribute this success to the amazing artistic work of Nicholas Milton."

Yes, we agree, maestro Milton could work wonders with any music ever written, even putting lipstick on the pigs of Australian country music.