Wildlife in your backyard

Some Australian Wood Ducks landed on my roof over the weekend, and decided to take a crap in my porch. I really should clean the porch some time....
 
PAT said:
I know what you mean. I live in a leafy suburb so we get a lot of visitors in the backyard here as well. Melbourne is a really great city for wildlife. So much parkland means a lot of habitat. You don't need to out to the countryside to see flying foxes, possums, parrots, waterbirds and so much more.
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I think nature is trying to prove my point because a pair of tawny frog-mouths have moved into my neighbours back garden.
 
PAT said:
I think nature is trying to prove my point because a pair of tawny frog-mouths have moved into my neighbours back garden.
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Oh nice! I once saw a tawny perched on my metal clothes dryer spinny thingy in my back yard. Maybe I have a pic somewhere.
 
nanoboy said:
Oh nice! I once saw a tawny perched on my metal clothes dryer spinny thingy in my back yard. Maybe I have a pic somewhere.
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I just remembered when there was a baby one that must have been just starting to fly on a log near my parent's house when I was younger. I just found a photo of it. For such a young bird it was really aggressive so I didn't get any closer than this. We found it when we were showing some relatives from Holland around the farm so they loved it.
 

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PAT said:
I just remembered when there was a baby one that must have been just starting to fly on a log near my parent's house when I was younger. I just found a photo of it. For such a young bird it was really aggressive so I didn't get any closer than this. We found it when we were showing some relatives from Holland around the farm so they loved it.
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Awesome pic! Whatever became of the baby after that?
 
nanoboy said:
Awesome pic! Whatever became of the baby after that?
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It was there for about a week (I felt a bit like a child Gerald Durrell going back to check everyday) and then I like to think it flew away but I don't actually know. There were always adults around this area so I assumed its parent/s might have been close by.
 
I actually keep a list of the wild things that show up in my backyard or around my house. To date, it includes:

- Barn owl
- Great Horned Owl (which was sadly hit by a car and killed)
- Fruit bats (they ruin many of our peaches much to my dad's rage XD)
- Deer mouse
- Blind snake (They come out when it rains, and once they came out of the drain. I guess for other people it would be a nightmarish thing- I was just fascinated XD)
- Corn snake
- Monarch butterfly
- Rhinoceros beetle
- Long horn beetle
- About three or four species of bee, including honey bees, carpenter bees and other smaller, black ones.
- Praying mantis
- June beetles
- Black and brown widow spiders
- HUGE black caterpillars
- Opossum
- Skunk (never seen one but you smell them all the time XD)
- Snowy egret
- Crested caracara
- Turkey vulture
- American kestrel
- Cottontail
- Grey squirrel
- Milk snake
- Nightjar
- Osprey (they live in a nearby lake, but sometimes you see them gliding over the house)
- Some sort of parrot (which you hear flocking in the morning but rarely see)
- Feral cats
- My own cats

Speaking of which, my cats once caught a mystery mammal which they ate leaving only the terminal portion of its tail. Its fur was red with darker rings around it. To date, I don´t know what it was (although I have my theory). I searched the entire house and backyard looking for more remains but they are five cats, so... nothing else left at all.
 
Ok, so this one is not strictly in my backyard but in a reserve near my house (I have to walk through it to get to the supermarket) and it's also the first time that I've seen this species in the wild. I was walking through the reserve and some gumnuts or bark etc. fell near me so, naturally, I looked up straight away and had to do a double take because right above my head were a pair of gang-gang cockatoos. I watched for about 10 minutes as the three pairs groomed each other and fed from the tree. They're so quiet and peaceful. Almost the exact opposite of other similar sized cockatoos.

I had my phone on me so I took a few photos but it doesn't have any zoom so the cockatoos are quite small. I've attached the best photo.
 

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PAT said:
Ok, so this one is not strictly in my backyard but in a reserve near my house (I have to walk through it to get to the supermarket) and it's also the first time that I've seen this species in the wild. I was walking through the reserve and some gumnuts or bark etc. fell near me so, naturally, I looked up straight away and had to do a double take because right above my head were a pair of gang-gang cockatoos. I watched for about 10 minutes as the three pairs groomed each other and fed from the tree. They're so quiet and peaceful. Almost the exact opposite of other similar sized cockatoos.

I had my phone on me so I took a few photos but it doesn't have any zoom so the cockatoos are quite small. I've attached the best photo.
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That's awesome! Tawny frogmouths AND gang gangs? Cool pic!

I saw a crimson rosella in my neighbour's yard earlier this week, which is quite rare. I probably did not mention it earlier in the thread, but I saw an azure kingfisher last year on my metal clothes drying spinny thing. (What's the proper name for that again?)
 
Adam Khor, do you think that the carcass that you found was from a monkey of some sort? Or maybe a coati?
 
nanoboy said:
That's awesome! Tawny frogmouths AND gang gangs? Cool pic!

I saw a crimson rosella in my neighbour's yard earlier this week, which is quite rare. I probably did not mention it earlier in the thread, but I saw an azure kingfisher last year on my metal clothes drying spinny thing. (What's the proper name for that again?)
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Clothesline? Do you live in a very suburban area? That's why I'm surprised when I see new things where I live because it's pretty built up.

And that's quite the mystery you've got there Adam.
 
Clothesline! Yeah that could work. I live in a very built-up area, but, there are a few parks (recreational, not national) a few minutes walk away. There are loads of trees, so that helps with animals. Here is a pic of the view from my back porch.
 

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Wow, that's a nice panoramic view! Nanoboy, is your house situated on a hill or slope or...? That seems high up... or is it just me?
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Wow, that's a nice panoramic view! Nanoboy, is your house situated on a hill or slope or...? That seems high up... or is it just me?
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Yeah it's on a slope, so my neighbours at the front of my house probably have an even better view. :D

I'll see if I can dig out a better pic.
 
nanoboy said:
I probably did not mention it earlier in the thread, but I saw an azure kingfisher last year on my metal clothes drying spinny thing. (What's the proper name for that again?)
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I think the name you are looking for is a "Hills Hoist" cloths line. :)
 
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