The passing parade

I'm always surprised by the number of animals and birds that wander into our backyard.  Some of them are having a stickybeak, some are just passing through, some are seeking refuge; all of them are welcome here. We live in a semi-rural area, at the end of a one lane street with a creek as our back border, so we'd have to expect some visitors, but we get so many!  I guess it's that we're organic here, no poisons around and while we do have Alice, she's well beyond chasing now, so whatever comes, feels safe.

The glorious goose above came visiting just before Christmas.  I noticed her when I was washing up and quickly went out to look at her.  She didn't like me much, she was protecting the chooks from me!  So I left her in peace and she wandered around with the chooks most of the afternoon.  Her gander was calling her from a few properties over and eventually she heard him and flew home.

This little bird is a Willy Wagtail.  There are a lot of them here at the moment.  They fly around like manic little things, fanning out their tails and making a lot of noise.  One of the female Willies is building a nest somewhere out the front and every so often I see her taking pieces of my hanging baskets to build her nest.  

I don't show you the front of our place much.  Here it is.  It feels very private here, there's not much noise and hardly any passing traffic and I guess there are a lot of hiding places for fragile and timid visitors.

These magpie ducks arrived when the creek flooded the first time.  They happily sailed around the base of that old mango tree, quacking and flapping and then left again, never to return.  Hanno walked down to the creek a couple of days ago and threw some sticks off the steps down to the creek.  As one of the sticks landed further over near the creek, he said a huge reptile of some sort started running off away from him.  He initially thought it was a six foot crocodile, but it was probably a very big goanna (lizard).  It's not as crazy as it sounds, we do have a lot of very big lizards around and as for the croc?  Well, we live very close to the Crocodile Hunter's Australian Zoo.  Maybe something escaped and is living along the creek bed.

Here are some of our girls taking shelter under part of a passionfruit vine.  The only thing that bothers them are the snakes and we haven't seen any so far this year.

This little fellow is a bearded dragon.  These lizards live along the creek and come up out of the rainforest to sun themselves.  This one is about 2 foot, from nose to tail.

Almost every day you can stand in the backyard, look skyward and see all sorts of birds such as black cockatoos, rosellas, king parrots, wild geese and ducks and lots of kookaburras, my favourites.  We have a family of kookaburras living here and close by.  I am amazed by the variety of birds, reptiles and animals we're surrounded by.  I hope they always come here because when they do, I am reminded that we're all part of the diversity of this planet.  There are some who would tell you that we're not, and those who choose to separate themselves from the natural world, but I find it reassuring that while species disappear from our world, here, there is still an abundance of life - both wild and tame.  And while we live here, I hope that will remain unchanged.

ADDITION:
Trish just reminded me of this old Australian song that fits this post well:

HOME AMONG THE GUM TREES

I've been around the world A couple of times or maybe more I've seen the sights, I've had delights On every foreign shore But when my mates all ask me The place that I adore I tell them right away Give me a home among the gumtrees With lots of plum trees A sheep or two, a k-kangaroo A clothesline out the back Verandah out the front And an old rocking chair You can see me in the kitchen Cooking up a roast Or Vegemite on toast Just you and me, a cup of tea And later on, we'll settle down And go out on the porch And watch the possums play