More on Australian birds.

I am going to tell you all today about our largest birds excluding sea birds excepting our Pelican, a delightful bird.

We have ten all called by all manner of names I shall do 5 today with their English names here first up we have the Magpie Goose a noisy creature and not found in the state of South Australia thanks to human settlement and drought they were also poisoned and shot I read in my library

They are also under threat from the water buffalo that we imported from Indonesia for the north of this land.

These birds honk so a little noisy and no exotic plumage like our parrots but they play an important role in our eco system; as do most water fowl.

Next there is the Southern Cassowary often called the Australian Cassowary or Doubled-wattled Cassowary.

I mentioned this bloke in an earlier blog post, I only mention him here as I am doing this post on our ten largest birds.

This feller is a loner most of the year and can often give you a bit of a fright if you are in the rainforest, hissing if you get too close to him.

Then there is the Cape Barren Goose or pig goose

They are unique to Australia and among the least numerous waterfowl in the world today.

A fully protected bird as at one time they were eaten rather a lot by us humans until the seal industry started up here.

An odd thing is they rarely enter the water.

A strange one this the Australian Bustard found now mainly in the north and New Guinea otherwise known as a wild Turkey not to be confused with our bush Turkey; rarely seen these days sadly.

The Brolga Queensland’s national bird is among these large fellers I blogged about this one before suffice to say it dances and can be confused with the Saurus Crane as they are very similar in appearance.

It stands a tad higher than a full grown steer.

The Saurus Crane was only discovered in Queensland in the 1960’s as it was further north, they can also be found in India, South East Asia and the Philippines as you can see there are similarities.

Now the Black necked stork AKA the Jabiru or policeman bird can be seen here quite regularly strutting around foraging a very common sight here like the Sacred Iris who is usually here in the cooler months.

comments most welcome

Are you batty well I think I am at times?

So just to start off a bit about our Magpie foreigners please note this is not a bat (you knew that I know lol) but I do like the old Maggie and we have four races of them here in the Antipodes (were we called that good heavens lol) this particular species is the white back pictured below but we also have the black backed, Tasmanian and western Magpie.

The Bat at the top is the Arnhem Sheathtail Bat.

When I lived in NSW I used to feed them amongst other birds and to be honest not one Maggie ever swooped on my head as they are prone to do; they do this in the breeding season around June.

I used to feed them chopped or minced beef or whatever meat available, and found if you do this you gain their trust.

Yeah well back to these bats the Arnhem Sheathtail Bat is very rare only 11 specimens have ever been sighted as the name suggests it is only been seen in the northern territory of Australia 11 is not many is it and it appears only 2 were ever sighted which leads me to believe the other 9 could well be in Queensland or New Guinea.

We do have 65 species of bat living here 8 of these are fruit bats usually known as flying foxes yeah I know a bit about them jokers seeing as they used to rob me of my green seedless grapes.

They also rob local orchards of their fruit we have a name for them I’ll keep it to myself lol

A little info worth remembering the fruit bat or flying fox in Australia carries Rabies and yet yes they can be handled with complete safety.

Mind you I like the little fellers for all that they look much the same as the Ghost Bat.

These ghost bats may look similar but they are carnivores indeed cannibals as well as they are not worried about eating other bats obviously not a criminal offence in bat land.

Marsupials the Opossum

Marsupials are not only found in Australia and New Guinea or even Borneo they can also be found in the Americas in certain places Argentina for instance in the main Opossums; they do however look like ours here in Australia.

We just call them Possums but be warned they can and will live in the roof of your house; I had a family of them once who lived in the roof sadly I had to get rid of them humanely of course the noise and smell was quite horrendous.

At that time they were used in the training of greyhounds a practice I deplored so I got my local council in to do the job.

Possums can scratch nastily as well but are very cute to look at especially when the whole family Mom Dad and six littlies trooped through my bathroom under the eaves.

They love apples so one can try their luck by tempting them with an apple just watch their claws.

My neighbour told me that I disturbed them by lighting a fire as they were living in the chimney; yes it got a tad cold in New South Wales in the winter not like Queensland where I now live.

At any rate here is a picture of a couple cute huh remember the young when born have a difficult task ahead of them climbing from the vagina into the pouch not all make it and Mom does not help one bit sadly, it always seems longer for a Joey or naked roo to make that trip as well but that’s nature folk

One tough pussy cat

A hiking party was preparing to climb the Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss alps well maybe it should be called the European alps so this guy he got up pretty early to climb up to this massive peak; carrying the usual food, ropes, special equipment and some emergency food supplies.

After a pretty strenuous effort the group made it to the top did all the usual congratulations and stuff but a faint mewing sound was heard and their spirits at the achievement was shattered just a tad.

It seems our guy’s kitty who he left behind at the hotel whilst he climbed 14,780 metres with his buddies had wondered what had happened to his breakfast so just followed the climbers up to the peak; no emergency supplies for this wee beastie no sir.

Well it could have happened I guess or could it lol.

The Idaho Weasel well a slight exaggeration

It seems this dear little thing real name of Princess toned down a tad to Skeeter and pictured here has many names not all nice ones either.

I tell you what she has a devilish look in her eyes if you look close enough as well.

In the main I gather she is named Weasel-Face, Dog-Butt, Mutley, and Flea-ball I guess she scratches herself a tad.

Seems she is the sole property of a guy known as the Geezer around or near Payette Idaho.

Also a Diva so yep she has to be temperamental as well; a heavy load for a wee dog to handle would make her temperamental I guess.

At the moment she is being looked after by a friend of mine; an easy touch my friend when it comes to animals since I have known her she has cats (I love cats) and get this at one time reared a squirrel known as Rocky the Rodent lol.

Aww Rocky now he is cute I reckon

What say you readers?

I do believe Rocky is still sighted on occasion as well, I never asked Rockie’s gender I guess it was male but in these shots of him he (I will call him he) sure does look hungry I think;

good job Skeeter was not around then as the attention Rocky got would definitely have upstaged her for sure

On another subject altogether now The lady in Question sells books and the site to buy them can be seen on here on the righthand side under links of interest a good idea to check them out if you do a lot of reading it is simply called Bonnie's Books and all info is on there.

I really got a smile out of this

Sent to me by a reader in the end I even commented on it I just could not help myself
The lady who sent me this lives in a very quiet country town in NSW Australia.
I have been to it and I guess it is rather a sleepy place but pleasant enough; well I thought so, in fact there was a time when I used to go there every 9 months or so; on business usually.
Back to the story about this cat; cats are very intelligent animals as I found out for a fact being a cat lover as well as a dog lover well ok any animal then.
I love lizards but I guess they are not everyone’s cup of tea.
To think this cat just hops on and off the bus just like a human really got me a chuckle I hope the Bus company Chairman does not read the article in question I mean he would want it to pay a fare.
This is good publicity for your company Mr Chairman so don’t even think about it.
I am more concerned about the name he has been given I mean his legal owner’s will have already named him; this will prevent a court case I hope; you got it MISTAKEN IDENTITY isn’t he cute these images courtesy of the British Daily Mail as is the story I have written it from.

Australian wildlife part five

I might concentrate on our feathered pals in this post as our birds here are really beaut all colours old world type of birds live here also.
Yep even the Magpie and I like magpie’s scavengers though they are.
They look just the same as the old world ones as well.
We have many sea birds of course but we also have lots that dwell inland ranging from the elusive large flightless cassowary that lives up way past me in north east Qld they are fruit eaters but will at times rob you of your fruit in your backyard; you have been warned.
The males bring up the chicks whilst Mom goes and gets herself knocked up again; this can happen several times strange; I did hear one once when up north in Townsville and it sounded like the sound of an approaching truck.
Much better looking than the Emu I think it has a blue head with a black body



It will hiss at you to try and scare you but lately I have been reading that some are getting quite bold so look out.

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is only found here and not to be mixed up with the Palm Cockatoo also black but without the coloured tail and which can also be found in New Guinea a neighbour of ours to the north.
We get white ones of course and also smaller Red/Grey ones commonly called Galahs; Galah is Australian slang for a foolish person as well
Pictured here is the Palm Cockatoo

And below is the Red tailed Black Cockatoo both beaut looking birds in my opinion.

To wind up here is a picture of a male Australian king Parrot a gorgeous looking bird if ever I saw one

Wildlife part four

I have decided to number these posts on Australian wildlife now it makes it a lot easier for me when saving it etc.

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The Tasmanian Devil not found on mainland Australia at all and is carnivorous he/she likes their meat but is a marsupial so has a pouch for young it is not very big;
I did read in a book they were shy creatures but I saw one once and it growled all the time mainly over food.
It does live near humans as it scavenges for a feed but they will kill their own kind to protect its food etc; it also screams as well as growl so I am certainly glad we have none wild here where I live.
Here is a picture of one below just like a little Terrier dog in a way



I thought it quite cute in a way.
Much better than one of these fellers pictured here and the female is the most deadly believe me.



This peoples is the renowned Sydney Funnel web Spider so called because at one time it was only found in a 160 Kilometre (100 mile) radius; not anymore of course the last time I saw one it was a good 4 hours drive from Sydney.
They have this nasty habit of jumping from the ground and their bite can kill but not always; they live in the ground I used to spot them when I lived in a Sydney suburb, I found pouring kerosene or methylated spirit down the hole brings them up kill them quick was always my motto and always will be.
It kills the male after mating by the way.

Then we have Queensland’s official bird the Brolga pictured here doing it’s mating dance for which it is quite famous.



It really is just a crane; I used to have a crane visit me everyday without fail for a feed and it was so picky it would only eat meat seed was a no no with this metre high beauty.
If I never got up to feed it; it would come and honk at my door so funny to watch and hear.
This is the type that honked at my door.



And nothing like a cassowary at all the famous of which is of course the Emu; strange creatures there are some Emus here further north but be warned some of them will bite you, one bit one of my sons once well so he said at least.




And just to round off part four here are two pictures of Lizards the Thorny Devil and the Bearded Devil; great camouflage on that Thorny one I thought; they are usually found in the centre of Australia
This is old thorny you can pick them up at first glance it looks like a Cactus I know and Beardy is underneath I hope you enjoy this post and its so much better to do than political posts as well

AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE

Australia has quite a bit of wildlife some very unique


We have roughly speaking about
450 species of mammals, 300 species of lizards, 140 species of snakes, 2 species of crocodiles freshwater and saltwater Crocodiles,
2,000 species of bony sea fish, 100 species of sharks,
50 species of rays, 750 species of birds, 2,000 species of flies,
5,000 species of bees, 110,000 species of insects and 110,000 species of insects and 2,000 species of spider.
So we have a few I guess I was not aware we had so many types of flies I must admit but I do know they can be very irritating and a few of them bite just like a horse fly, there are a few bigger ones to be seen and felt in March so we simply call these March flies; in the Australian bush at times one can be covered in the things I’ve eaten a few in my time I know that
Mammals include our whales and we have quite a few of them; amazing animals really and are usually quite friendly towards us; sea lions and seals we have in abundance; did I hear somebody say penguins yes we have quite a few of them also mainly fairy Penguins there is an Island off the Victorian coast with a colony of these along with seals etc; there is also a barely surviving colony of fairy Penguins in Sydney they call them Sydney penguins.
One mammal is the Dingo or wild dog native to this country although some think they are not; they have been here for 15,000 years ago according to our Koori people or indigenous people so if they are not native to this country then the info I read on this is sheer garbage; ah reading on it’s a theory in other words a load of rubbish.
Pictured here is the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo)

We have the distinction of having longest fence in the world just to prevent Dingoes from killing stock; this fence runs from south Australia/NSW and the NSW/Qld borders whether the fence proposed and being built I think by the Bush administration in the USA is or will be longer I do not know frankly I don’t care how long that fence will be I am talking Australia here

Crocodiles here in Australia can only live in the tropics the ones in zoos in the Southern states and in temperate to cold climates live in heated enclosures they are not like the Alligator in that regard I assure you, I know there are some species of crocodiles that live in America but they are not like ours at all in that respect.
They only live in the hot north of this land a long way up past the tropic of Capricorn; the saltwater variety is known as the Estuarine crocodile the freshwater type is known as the Johnsons crocodile, the salty as most call the saltwater type can survive quite a fair way up a river so be warned as it’s the deadliest of the two; it can grow up to seven metres in length about twenty four feet for the benefit of the few people still on their old measurements.

The animal that we seem to be famous for is naturally our Kangaroo also a Mammal commonly called a Roo by most; the Roo belongs to a group of animals known as Marsupials (Macropods); ; now mammals which lay eggs and there are only two by the way the Platypus and the Echidna these are known as Monotremes.
Roos live in groups of ten or more are called mobs some can number up to fifty herbivores they live on grass etc and can go for sometime without water if they have to.


There are many types of Roos far too many for me to list here but there are tree climbing Roos I know.
Another favourite is the Koala sometimes called a Koala bear which it is not; they might look cute but quite a few of them have sexually transmitted diseases so you have been warned.
I am just highlighting a few species of wildlife we have here of course but we do have many colourful birds Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Parrots etc oh and many honey eaters not Humming birds they are only found in the Americas.
My favourites are lizards we have many ranging from the Goanna down and poisonous snakes and spiders abide here this includes the dangerous funnel web Spider
Some are pictured here this one is a Goanna at a BBQ area



Next up this magnificent blue tongue



I shall post more on our animals as I get the time but I do hope you enjoy what I have written and illustrated

Updated details for this blog

This was originally a private blog but at least three folk e-mailed me and said they could not get on it for various reasons I looked into this and found that other blog owners were getting similar mails to mine.

I noticed that one person never bothered at all so in the end I decided to make it a public blog like my other one.

So now you folk who wish to read it can just by looking at it on the net like anybody else.

Really this was not my intention but that’s life folks if you wish to comment you can; if you do not have a blog user name you can always make an anonymous comment and leave the initial of your first or Christian name as I was always taught to call it a Christian name and I refuse to change my ways at my time of life.

It will be in the main about wildlife from all over the world although I shall try and concentrate on Australian wildlife as it is unique in regards to other countries; but not all of course

More on wildlife

Amazing simply amazing

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A Baby Elephant born in a wildlife park in Africa; there was one I saw but I could not obtain the code to get it sadly; much better than this but still you gotta take the rough with the smooth right; yep course you have life was not meant to be easy who the hell said that I really dunno but they sure were right I know that.

I have got one trick up my sleeve though you may be able to see it if you click on this link give it a go ok and then view the other one below here enjoy.

More on wildlife

Australia Zoo

This is a great place slightly overrated perhaps and expensive but what places are not these days?

Featuring Steve Irwin sadly now deceased.

Close to Brisbane Qld and me really; I found this clip on You tube made by a couple of Canadians on tour have a squizz.

Looked like he was teasing that Croc to my way of thinking.

Did you know and other facts on wild life

Primates
A third of the world's primate species now face extinction. Scientists warn that our closest relatives, the great apes, could be extinct in 20 years' time.
Pictured below a Chimpanzee.



This is not an Orang-utan by the way but they are the only great apes to live outside Africa. There are aproximately 65,000 orang-utans left in the wild. Of these, only 7,300 live in Sumatra. The rest are spread over the three or four subspecies in Borneo.
I can recall in 1956 when they were living on the Malay Peninsula as I was there at the time also Tiger who still live there but are doomed for extinction; it seems Kelantan officials are killing them off with the assistance of the Malaysian Army.
This is not the days of the British Raj when animals were slaughtered on a whim.
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African Elephants are the largest living land mammals

. Of all its specialised features, the muscular trunk is perhaps the most extraordinary. It serves as a nose, hand, extra foot, signaling device and tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, and digging. The tusks are another notable feature of both males and females. Elephants are right or left-tusked, using the favored tusk more often, thus shortening it from constant wear. Tusks differ in size, shape and angle and researchers can use them to identify individuals.

Whales are the largest amphibian mammal whales also have the largest brain I read somewhere pictured courtesy of you tube is a Humpback a gentle creature enjoy.

I shall add to this as I come across the info if I remember

A follow up

Not such a happy visit after all.
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This visit did not go down so well so I cleared off back home she did not want her picture taken it was arranged to go for a beer with them that was knocked on the head; my daughter put them up plus myself but there were some unknowns in the place.

To be brief a boarding house except for her regular guy who boards there and kindly gave me his bed.

I quite liked the guy but I have met him before and we got on ok very good of him to let me use his bed I reckon

So sadly no pictures at all oh well such is life.

It rained all the time we had an enforced late start I was ready at the crack of dawn they were not.

My daughter kept telling me my brother in law gave her a $200 Doona he said it was news to him she tells so many tall story's I guess she cannot figure out the true ones now ; I'm certainly glad I don't live with her but I must admit she fed me well and I appreciated that.

Personally I don’t give a flying fig regarding her lies or the problem with my Sister.

An assurance to my regular readers of my Blogs

I shall still be writing posts to both blogs but only the folk I have designated will be able to view them on this the new one; I think you all know who you are I have done this to stop certain folk from seeing it as best I could for certain reasons; I think you can all guess them after me informing you what happened to my other blog.

My other blog of course will be my main one and you will all get updates from it so rest assured on that matter.

Thank you all for your patience in this.

The Whizzer

It seems I am off the hook at last

Blogger finally unlocked my other blog thank heavens thank you Google Blogger