The natural world - we are all part of it

We have unique wildlife in Australia.  There are birds, reptiles and marsupials here that are not found in any other country.  We used to be part of a huge land mass called Gondwanaland which also included Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, New Guinea and New Zealand.  When the land mass broke up millions of years ago, into what are now those countries, many of the animals started changing into the unique species we have today.  That is why some of our animals and birds are similar, but different.

And what is this, you ask?  It's Alice poking her nose through the bedroom curtains while she watched Koda.

Hanno and I both love animals and we care for those we've brought here to live with us, as well as those that have always been here.  Our family has only lived on this land for 12 years, our backyard wildlife has been here much longer.  It's sometimes a balancing act to keep both the domestic and feral living in harmony because usually when a native species makes itself know to us, it's here for a feed.

A couple of nights ago, Hanno went down to the chook house when it was dark to lock the chooks in for the night.  He saw a rat there, which is fairly normal. He grabbed the spade and as he did, heard a snake hissing.  When he turned he saw in the light of his torch a snake curled up and ready to strike.  He hit the snake with the spade and killed it.  :- (  We have to be careful, we have brown snakes and Taipans here; one bite can be deadly.  But when we looked at the snake the next morning, it turned out to be a small python.  Pythons are one of the Gubi Gubi (aboriginal) totems for this area.

Last night Hanno went out to put the chooks to bed before it got too dark. All of a sudden, he was back in the house looking for the camera.  There was another python there, a big one this time.  Again, not after the chooks but looking to clean up a few rats for us.  Hanno locked the door to the chook house, the snake came out to the vegetable garden and there we left her.

We'll have to think about breaking that food chain.  The rats come at night to eat the chicken feed in the hopper, the snakes come to eat the rats.  When the snakes are big enough, they will come to eat the chooks as well. I think we'll have to take the food source away at night so there won't be a reason for the rats to be there.

I love how Hanno is with animals.  He's quiet and gentle and they seem to respond to that by  slowing down and being responsive.  In this photo here he's training Koda, our visiting Airedale, to walk steadily with the chooks and not to rush at them.  Koda has just recently had chooks introduced at her own home and she's always wanted to chase them.  By the time Jens and Cathy come back in January, I'm sure Koda will be a reliable guardian of the chooks and not a potential predator.

The other wildlife we've had the pleasure to see lately are the birds that come to eat the sunflowers.  The first of these photos was taken last Friday.  It's the very shy blue rozella (above).  It had a nice feed of seeds and then flew off when I went too close.  The next bird is a King Parrot (below) - another one of the four Gubi Gubi totems.  The other two are the wedge tail eagle and the sand goanna (lizard). 

I know about these totems because my good friend Beverly, elder of the Gubi Gubi, told me about them.  She has such a wealth of knowledge and I always learn something from her every time we meet.  Yesterday Beverly came to visit me at the Centre.  She brough some bunya nuts with her.  Bunyas are the native nut from one of the pine trees here.  And as we sat under the tree at the front of the building, with her shelling the hard nuts with her hands, we both had a nice feed of the high protein nuts and talked about several projects we have planned for our community next year.  It was a beautiful and relaxing break from an otherwise hectic day.

We are all connected on this land - humans, birds, wildlife and all the domestic animals.  I have always respected and cared for the animals that surrounds us, both seen and useen, feral and domestic. Over time, Beverly is slowly teaching me the real significance of those connections.

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