We've all seen @Gockie's pictures of Kookaburras, parrots and lizards in her yard. I came across this one today down near North Sydney in the Harbour. Not sure if you can pick it but it is a turtle. I have seen seals and penguins in the harbour but never a turtle. I've come across echidnas, wombats, brown snakes, black snakes, carpet snakes, pygmy possums, alpine drop bears, glacial worms, brush turkeys etc. Is it lost or have they been hiding all this time? What creatures have you come across unexpectedly?
I wasn't in the 'burbs but in Beechworth woods and watched a koala stroll past literally in front of my feet (can post video). Blind freddy could see how vulnerable most of these critters are, they don't exactly move fast.
We have a mob of about 6 wallabies in our rear paddock (we live on 5 acres in Brisbane). Most days, one or two will jump our 1.2m chain wire fence to each the grass around our house. Apparently because the grass is greener on the other side.
Used to get woken up by a resident possum who enjoyed playing on the fly screen of the bedroom window that was right near my head. Not a pleasant sound to wake up to - especially when he got into a turf war.
These are the more notable animals I remember seeing in my 2121 postcode (Epping and North Epping) homes. Its a very green and wildlife friendly area as Lane Cove National Park surrounds North Epping. We are right near a green corridor here, I was surprised when looking at the contract when buying - on the face of it I simply thought its suburbia but its really close to bushland. * Kookaburra family (they even come right up to you). 3 or 4 Baby kookaburras... so cute! * King parrots in green, red and mixed green and red (the less shy ones will go onto your arm and eat out of your hand) * Rosellas * Scrub turkeys (one strolled up my side street yesterday, and they are sometimes the first thing I hear in the morning). There was a baby turkey too. * Possums and a baby possum (so cute!) What was less cute was the dead possum by my entry steps around 2 years ago. * Spiky looking lizard * Another lizard (rather large and chunky looking), resembles a snake but with legs * Tawny frogmouth in the huge tree * Cockatoos * Rainbow lorikeets
Just this morning before leaving for work... Also I saw a >1m long lizard on top of someone's flat topped garage or large shed that was just tucked in to the bushland. I went Omg. ...
I'll add to our backyard list (the kids named several of them too): Tawny Frog mouth Powerful Owl Cockatoos Corellas Magpies (Waddle, Giggle, Gargle, Google & their kids) Blue tongue lizards Rozellas Butcher bird Coel Ringtail possum Brushtail possum Bush turkey (Gobble & Goblet, the chick) Frog @kierank - well you did say you were a few wallabies short in your top paddock
See plenty around Manly- Blue tongues, water dragons, Kooks, possums, cutest little bunnies, huge arse goanna's, hedgehogs and plenty of random brush turkey (still haven't been able to catch one yet!). Found this little critter happily helping him to scraps last night; Having always lived in suburbs close to the city back home, still pretty cool to see these kinds of creatures surviving amongst the humans. Especially rainbow Lorikeets ($600 back home) and the better-than-an-alarm-clock Kooks.
When our son renovated his house, he had a whole family of possums who'd been very happily living there for a few years whilst it sat empty. They used a possum trap we have and relocated them to our block (same street) but this one clearly is wondering what happened to his old house. He was sitting there thinking "I used to live in this bedroom".
Amongst others, we have had a pheasant and a goanna. Neither have lingered long enough to be caught on camera nor to find their way onto the BBQ. That is a pet snake on my arm. (Someone else's pet) We used to have several wild snakes and possums until we got the Jack Russells. Now they mostly stay away.
Being a very short walk from @Gockie but closer to the national park we also have an echidna who lives on the side and a powerful owl that is doing a great job keeping the possums at bay. Often we are woken up to the sound of our local water dragons splashing in and out of the pool. Wish it was after 4.30am though.
Unfortunately, most of the wildlife I see is roadkill. On the way to Wagga Wagga yesterday I saw a beautiful parrot headbutt a ute. I stopped to move it under a tree. I think it was still alive (only just). I dodged a very cheeky bird walking slowly across the road on the way down and saw it dead on the roadside on the way back. Looked like this I saw a dead goanna, several dead kangaroos - one had been decapitated, a baby bunny or kitten - not sure which, a dead fox, an echidna, a kookaburra. Am really looking forward to the inland railway - I really hope it reduces roadkill. Sorry to be the dark one, not trying to be a drag. I used to feed mince to the kookas when we lived in the bush.
