Up close and personal

One of the good things about being a wildlife carer, especially if you're part of a network, is that you get to see a lot of animals that other people don't get to see up close and personal, even if they visit a zoo.


I've mentioned the tawny frogmouths before. These two aren't actually the same ones as in my previous entry. Moe and Curly have gone to another carer who has more room for them and we got these two in exchange. I'm in the process of building a 3m x 2m x 2m aviary, so hopefully the tawnies we now have will stay with us for a while.


There used to be this perception of Australia that it had kangaroos hopping down the middle of the street and everyone had one as a pet. Well this little fellar isn't a pet, but you wouldn't think so to look at him. In fact the bag hanging up next to him contains another joey.


These are probably one of Australia's most recognisable birds, especially their call. What? You can't tell what they are? They're young kookaburras.


Now I can fully understand if you don't know what these are. My first thought when I saw their noses was that they reminded me of the weasels from Wind in the Willows (the David Jason version). They're bandicoots a kind of marsupial (related to possums and kangaroos) that feeds on the ground. They use those long noses and front claws to dig and have a backwards facing pouch (unlike possums and roos) so that it doesn't fill up with dirt when they dig.

The roo, the kookas and the bandicoots were all photographed at Natasja's place (our co-ordinator) when we went to exchange the tawnies and pick up some lorikeets on the weekend. The pictures below were taken at Alf and Liz's place yesterday. Alf and Liz are raptor carers and live on about half an acre. Some of the aviaries on their property are huge, and they need to be because of the size of the birds they're caring for.


This is a boobook owl. They're also known as a mopoke because of the sound they make. Tawnies are sometimes referred to as mopokes as well, mainly because people don't know the difference. I reckon they're just as cute as the tawnies.


Last but not least, a one winged wedgetail eagle. She can't fly obviously (if she tried it'd probably be in circles), but other than the amputated wing she's a perfectly healthy bird and so will be used for breeding. You can tell from the size of that ladder just how big a bird she is.

While on the subject of eagles, Liz was telling us about another eagle she had a few years ago that had one eye and so couldn't be released. That particular bird used to follow her everywhere around the yard during the day and was a pretty accomplished flyer. Even though she couldn't hunt properly because of the missing eye, she still had the hunting instincts. She used to fly off and steal tennis balls from the kids up the road while they were playing. The kids were regular visitors and thought it was pretty cool having their ball stolen by something other than a dog.