Native Animals /Birds/Reptiles in you backyard

[Franco]

One of the pair of eagles that fly over our property. This one came down closer for a look :

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[north-north-west]

I've only had sea eagles and the occasional owl here, much to the relief of the butcherbirds, miners, magpies, kookaburras, galahs, corellas and anonymous lbbs.

But this morning I had to spend half an hour repairing the garden beds dug up by an echidna. Hope it had a good feed. And then took an injured spur-wing plover to the vet. No obvious wounds but its legs weren't working, so presumably it hit the car or a big tree while dodging the miners or magpies, who do tend to be very territorial.

Never a dull minute.

[taswegian]

Saw a Sea Eagle on way out today.
saw a few of these on a Myrtle along the Minnow today

Fascinating how they get out of that menagerie.

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Cicada

[cajun]

Looking pretty happy

Kooka with rat

Looking very satisfied.

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Kooka with not much rat left

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[Neo]

Crieky!

[north-north-west]

A young bluetongue has just woken up from his/her winter hibernation, in the tarp stowed behind my outside armchair.
Now to discourage those blasted kookaburras from getting anywhere near the poor thin g until it's grown enough to take care of itself.

[north-north-west]

And when I got up and went out for a little fresh morning air today, there's a wallaby in the yard. Not sure which of us was the most surprised.
Also wondering how it got in . . .

[Franco]

from the last few days

This is Charlie last year almost to the day. Playing in the sawdust

The top one is Charlie and her 5 months or so joey.I have known Charlie since she was about 3 months old.
The azure kingfisher was spotted for the first time yesterday about 1 meter inside our property.
That blue tongue lizard is the first one I have seen here in almost two years. Spotted first by my cat two days ago.

[taswegian]

Swallows have hatched and are lovely to watch as they sit huddled together waiting for a feed.
I just focused on them pressed the shutter and parent flew into the picture

[Orion]

The azure kingfisher was spotted for the first time yesterday about 1 meter inside our property.

Isn't that a Blue-winged Kookaburra?

[taswegian]

This ain't wildlife but surprised me no end early last weekend
Another popped up after this, making it 6!

[Franco]

The azure kingfisher was spotted for the first time yesterday about 1 meter inside our property.

Isn't that a Blue-winged Kookaburra?

They are about 1/3rd of the size of a kookaburra.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=azur ... 80&bih=633
I suspect that I had seen them here before but just assumed it was a kookaburra further away than it really was.
We have a few kookaburras here most days.

[Orion]

We have a few kookaburras here most days.

I envy you.

[Franco]

There are ups and downs living in the country but since moving here if nothing else I have come to know a bit more about animals , particularly birds.
I have lost the exact count but I have spotted on my property (or above...) over 50 types and at least half of those I only identified after looking at the shots on my computer.
I still have to identify the animal that crosses the property most nights living, a so far , unidentified poop.
yesterday I missed that animal by minutes because the poop was still warm (I did not have to touch it just put my finger close enough. A fly hovering over it gave me the idea that it was very fresh)
One from yesterday, about 3 meters from where I sit (through the window)
A white throated treecreeper :

[Franco]

About 5 minutes after I posted the above, Mr Grumpy landed on his favourite spot to have a good look around as he does every half an hour or so.
The spot is a few meters past the pole in the photo above, so I took the photo sitting down .

A very common New Holland honeyeater, the only one out of 8 types I have identified here that does not always dart around in a mad rush.
After dinner I took my cat up to the dam, about 150m away. We passed Charlie who had a good look at us and the a kookaburra landed on a branch nearby having a bit of a laugh. On the way back the kookaburra flew to the other side of the track but closer, maybe 5 meters away and turned to see us down the hill. Passed Charlie again ,only a few meters away. This time her joey was out but promptly jumped into the pouch. Charlie was bothered by Sonny, so hopped away, I called out , she stopped.
Not bad for a wild animal.

[Franco]

I shot this one today high up on a tree by our dam
any idea ?
About the size of a pigeon.

[corvus]

Nice Pic, could be a Spiny-cheeked honeyeater

[Franco]

Hi Corvus,
that could be it, I haven't seen a photo of one of those as bad as mine to compare...
So far I have identified 8 types of honeyeaters but (from the bushes around the cabin...) but not tha one.
Another suggestion I hav was for a treecrawler but the orange around the eye does not seem to match.

[Franco]

A friend of mine suggested a fan tailed cuckoo and that does look the part. We do hear a cuckoo here at times but I have not been able to identify one.

[corvus]

Just looked that one up in my book and think I agree that it is a Fan-tailed Cuckoo

[highercountry]

The Fan-tailed Cuckoo arrives over here in East Gippsland in Spring.
It has an unmistakable call.
In the Simpson and Day, Birds of Aust Field Guide they describe the call as a "mournful descending trill" which sums it up perfectly.

[Franco]

We have here a cuckoo bird that does the cuckoo sound but I have not been able to find it.
I have listen to the fan tailed cuckoo sound on You Tube but it did not register. Still I hear sounds all the time that I have no idea what bird makes them...
Anyway , I am pretty sure that we have identified the bird.
Thank you.

[Franco]

After almost two years here , last night I saw my first koala on one of our trees.
For some reason, as I was walking up the path, he made a sound similar to the love call they make so I went to have a look.
It was almost dark so I just had time to take a quick look, go and get the camera and grab this shot :

it's a terrible shot but made my day.
This morning he was gone.

[cajun]

Not an Animal / Bird or reptile, but I think he is pretty cool anyway. Good to see them back as we saw very few of these last year.

St Andrews Cross

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[Moondog55]

A couple of ravens have moved back into the big old nest in out front yard and they have chased all the magpies away

[Moondog55]

I have started digging out a big hole in the front yard, I am putting in a 200litre tub for a bog garden/ frog habitat and a small trickle waterfall to keep the water moving so mozzies don't take over.
Hopefully it will be finished before next breeding season

[Franco]

We have a frog pond and a fish pond but this frog I found it in the orchard a few days ago:

[MickyB]

One of our tadpole ponds - an ice-cream container that I've accidentally left out in the garden.

(Possibly) Mum or Dad hiding in a nearby bromeliad

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[ofuros]

Oooo, nice frog pics bushpeople.

[Franco]

This is from the neighbour's pond but that duck and her 10 ducklings were on our frog pond about 1 hour before.