"I'm a tree. Stop looking at me. Just the end of a branch, nothing to see here..."
Favourite native bird, possibly favourite fauna full stop although those little bilby looking mofos that ■■■■ themselves to death are cool too, the antichinus
"I'm a tree. Stop looking at me. Just the end of a branch, nothing to see here..."
Favourite native bird, possibly favourite fauna full stop although those little bilby looking mofos that ■■■■ themselves to death are cool too, the antichinus
"I'm a tree. Stop looking at me. Just the end of a branch, nothing to see here..."
Favourite native bird, possibly favourite fauna full stop although those little bilby looking mofos that ■■■■ themselves to death are cool too, the antichinus
This story made my day. It was just posted on facebook by one of my better half’s yoga mates. The featured Tawny was blown out of its nest in yesterday’s high winds and the vet advised her to place it in a plant pot and tie the pot back onto the tree and, lo and behold, Mum and Dad were back today.
Best news I’ve seen online in a while, but then I love tawnies too.
There are 3 regular adult tawnies in the tree outside our kitchen window and one has sat in the same spot for ages. I thought he was a bachelor lacking imagination but it turns out he’s a she. Two chicks make 5 tawnies in one tree.
Kids are growing up in a hurry. Finally in a different higher part of the tree, so I assume their maiden flights occurred last night. Mum has left them alone a few times but stayed nearby which was a personal relief because the ■■■■■■■ noisy miners are just waiting to gang up on them.
We used to only ever get Galahs, cockies, eastern and crimson rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, the occasional corrlla and major mitchells (of the parrot family), but we’ve recently had a pair of King Parrots move in somewhere nearby recently. Much more confident around people than the rest, not sure if that’s common or if someone’s feeding them. I think this is junior (to the right. I think the one on the left is a human fledgling).
They really are a magnificent looking bird, the adults are gloriously bright.
King parrots are pretty comfortable with humans as a rule, regardless of whether they’ve had much contact. I have a couple of pairs who show up once a month or something, and they’ll eat from my hand, while the crimsons who are around every day still bolt if I get within a few metres of them.
Spent about half an hour tonight watching a Powerful Owl tear into a possum on a dead gumtree out the back near the clothes line. I’ve been hearing a weird birdcall at night, went out with the spotlight to see what was making it, and there it was. Biggest owl in Australia, wingspan pushing 6 feet. Awesome critters. I’d never seen one in the wild before, it was pretty special to spot one in my own back yard, and to get such a good view of it for such a long time.
that’s awesome. i had one out the back of my place about a year ago, just perched on my neighbours antenna.
i was laying in bed and heard the hoot about 3am, went out and saw it. it took off after a little while and the power, yet silence it flew with was so impressive. one of the coolest animals i’ve ever seen. been hanging to see it ever since without luck.
Spend 30 years populating the area around your house with mature gum trees, and then making sure that some of the trees develop nesting hollows. Then take care that nobody in your area overuses rat bait and ends up wiping the owls out through second hand poisoning. Put a leash on that feral old farmer two blocks over who routinely shotguns birds of prey out of the sky because he thinks that they kill lambs, and because the Dept of Environment are run by a pack of National Party hacks who don’t believe in wildlife and who’ve let him get away with that for 70 years. Also, cull the introduced trees from your garden, cos they tend to have branches that are more close together than gums etc, which means the possums can take cover in dense foliage where the owls with their large wingspans have trouble following. Suppress traffic noise and artificial light as much as possible, as their senses are extremely keen and it disturbs their sleep & nesting.
Besides all that, they actually do range pretty widely and will go quite far into the city. I’ve seen a photo of one taken in Ivanhoe, and apparently one made it to St Kilda East a while back, and even Flagstaff Gardens once. But there’s a lot more possum-friendly environments out there than there is owl-friendly environments these days. The lack of old growth trees with nesting hollows is the major problem for them.