Houdini

I mentioned the other day that we had a new addition to the family, a rainbow lorikeet.

If he comes back we're going to name him Harry, after Mr Houdini. The little bugger escaped yesterday. No evidence that Xena or Dizzy got him, so I'm pretty sure he slipped out of his cage and did a bolt. I should have suspected when I saw him putting his head between the bars and doing chinups at the top of the cage.

Looking back, I'm not sure what tune he was whistling at the time, it was either the theme from Mission Impossible, or The Great Escape. Either way I'm sad to see him go, he (or she) was the best looking lori we've ever looked after and he taught us (and our friend Lesleigh) a lot in his short time with us.

I'll be getting the fencing wire out and filling in some gaps in the cage this weekend.

Maybe we should have listened to Messers Cleese and Palin and nailed him to the perch.

I miss him, he was the best looking bird, and most friendly, we've ever had in care, not that I don't enjoy looking after the ugly ducklings. After all, I was one :)

Be careful what you wish for

Yesterday was a training day for BARN members.

Donna and I have been caring for wildlife since about August last year, but it's nice to have a bit of a refresher, there's always something new you learn. Three of the people attending the course were friends of Donna's from college, all of them new members. A lot of the people attending had signed up as support members, but did the course to see what it's all about. Some of those are now thinking of becomming carers after their experiences yesterday. We also had a couple of members from the Pelican and Seabird Rescue organisation.

The course was a mix of theory; such as what the animals eat, how they should be housed, how to assess them, etc, and practical; the hands on stuff.

Everyone had a chance to assess some animals and to try handling them. The possum hold isn't as easy as it looks the first time you try it. Take it from me, the first time I tried it last year the possum managed to turn around and scratch my hand. Everyone that tried it yesterday seemed to manage better than I did.

At the end of the day while we enjoyed the sausage sizzle, Lesleigh, one of Donna's friends expressed and interest in doing a rescue next time Donna or I get called out. She didn't have to wait long before her wish came true as Natasja rang us that evening to go and pick up an injured lorikeet. More on the lorikeet at a later date.

The class during a break.

Brett and Natasja assess Banjo the brushtail, our newest member of the family.


Hands on. Natasja shows members how to assess a heron.


Brett and Natasja demostrate how to assess a python. This same snake tried to attack me through its tank several times last weekend. Thank God for the glass between us.


Binnie demonstrates how to feed a young ringtail possum. There were plenty of offers to take it home afterwards.


Brett cooks the snags while Sam makes sure he doesn't burn them.


It was all too much for some people. Matilda does what kangaroos enjoy the most.

A few changes

We've had a few changes since my last blog entry.

Below is a crested pigeon that we've been looking after for a couple of weeks. He doesn't do much other than just sit on the perch all day. He's definitely eating, drinking and pooing, but apart from that, the only time we see him move is if we get to close to him.



He's now with another, more experienced carer who is assessing him. It seems he may be brain damaged. We know he can't fly, he doesn't even attempt to.

Those of you that have been following this blog from the beginning will know all about Lucky, pictured below.



Well Lucky has finally moved on. Because he's been through so much with us, he's become a bit attached to us. There's no way he could be released from here as he's not feral enough. He'll spend some time with another carer that will help to make him as feral as possible, then he'll hopefully be back out in the wild.

Now that Lucky has vacated the aviary he's been living in for the past few months, Clive has moved in there. The poor little bloke didn't have a good introduction to outdoor living as we had a storm last night, his first in the aviary. He was okay after the storm and we could hear him jumping around and exploring his new abode.

With Clive's old cage being vacated, we had room for someone else, so now Banjo has joined the family. Banjo is another brushtail possum who weighs about 500g at the moment. I'll post some pics of him once he's settled in a bit. We thought we'd give him an Australian name, so we named him after Banjo Patterson.

Wrong identification

We often get called out to pick up a certain type of animal and it turns out to be something different. Someone might ring and say they have an injured ringtail or glider and it turns out to be a brushtail. They often confuse peewees with magpies. I even know of one case where carers were called out to pick up a king brown snake that turned out to be a tiny legless lizard.

So, when I recently came across the picture below I thought it was quite funny, something I, and I'm sure a lot of other carers, could relate to.



However, in the course of looking for the picture again to use it in this blog, I found the following picture.



Seems like this one might circulate for a while in a few different guises. There's more about it here. Apparently the Australian one was not the original.

Incidentally, if that possum in the first picture had truly just been found and was not friendly, there's no way I'd be holding it like that. One hand round the neck and shoulders and the other on the base of the tail so they're facing away from you is the safest way.