The Australian Wood Duck

pays us an occasional visit in groups of two or three ducks. They waddle

across our land generally amongst the taller grass looking for insects and

things to eat. They do not normally swim in the water of our ponds as black ducks often do.

See the website: Images for australian wood duck.

This big post has been in the ground  for  30 years  from 1984. It is

used to  form the edges of a  Garden  Room outside our bedroom.

The top of the post has rotted away leaving a 150 mm depression in

the top of the post. A pair of birds has made their  nest in the top of

the post.  The eggs have hatched out to give little babies which are fed by

the  parents flying back and forth. See the photo below.

The Blue Faced Honey Eater is a a brightly coloured, bold and

loud bird, found in the bush as well as in town. It grows to

26cm. The adults have a distinctive blue skin patch around

their eyes. It has a bright olive back with a black head and throat.

Its underbody is white. Young Blue Faced Honey Eaters have a green

facial  patch.

Very occasionally, koala bears  pass through our land on the way to other places.

They eat the leaves of a  certain kind of eucalyptus tree. There are hundreds of kinds of

eucalyptus trees in Australia but only a few  species that they feed on. Read more at this website.

Wallabies: There are many wallabies on our land …. even present during the day.

You could be having lunch outside  and a wallaby jumps along a boundary fence nearby.

You might come home at night and a wallaby jumps  down the driveway ahead

then jumps off to the side among the trees. One morning about a year ago, Harriet

came quietly to me at about 7.30 am to me  in the kitchen and silently motioned

me to come quietly up to our bedroom. We have  glass all around our house and

our bedroom looks out over a pond with water and water lilies. See the photo

below.  A sloped bank rises up about 2.00 metres high to to flow into the slight

slope of our land. On top of the bank was a really amazing scene. A mother

wallaby was bent down feeding on the grass. She had a  full pouch  with a little

joey with his head out, looking at the world. When she finished feeding, she

jumped down the land with about five other wallabies. It was just beautiful to

be so close to a wild animal yet would not have seen us as the glass  wall would

show reflections the surrounding bush.

The pond outside our bedroom. We have seen black ducks  swimming in this pond amongst the waterlilies.

Mother possum with a  little baby  possum on her back

One morning a few  years ago I was in my office. My wife had gone to work  and I heard a

little sound out in  the front arbour area. I went out and here was the little baby possum

on the brick  paving at the front door. I realised he must have fallen down from his mother

who slept up in the outside /\  of the top projecting ridge beam. I picked him up and placed

him on one of the arbour vines with the hope he could back up to his mother. I went back to

my office and soon heard a bigger sound. I went back out and here was the mother possum

down on the paving getting the baby onto her back. She climbs up one of the  arbour

vines to reach a 50 mm wide timber edge on the  front /\ window. She walks along this ledge

for a 2.00 metres then turns around and starts going the other way. The bush trees are reflected

in the glass so run in and get my camera and get this photo.

Red-tailed black cockatoo

The red-tailed black cockatoo also known as Banksian  or

‘Banks’ black cockatoo, is a large black cockatoo native to Australia.

Adult males have a characteristic pair of bright red panels on

the tail that gives the species its name.

Read more on this website

Rosella parrot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Ranging in size from

2637 cm (1014.5 in), rosellas are medium-sized parrots with

long tails. The feathers on their backs show an obvious scalloping

appearance with colouring that differs between the species.

All species have distinctive cheek patches. Sexual dimorphism

is absent or slight  males and females generally have similar

plumage, apart from the western rosella. The juveniles of the

blue-cheeked species, and western rosella, all have a distinctive

green-based plumage, while immature plumage of the

white-cheeked species is merely a duller version of the adults.

See images of Rosella parrots at this website

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The Australian king parrot

This morning in October 2015, this beautiful parrot pays us a visit by

sitting on a branch over one of  our ponds. The bright red and the brilliant

green feathers stands out  amidst the grey – green leaf foliage. This parrot

is normally found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the

eastern portion of the  Australian  continent, including eucalyptus wooded areas in

and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest. They feed

on fruits and seeds gathered from trees or on the ground.

See images of King parrots at this website

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