That’s not a bird!
Long-nosed Potoroo, Adelaide Zoo
On my visit to the Adelaide Zoo last week I spent some time in a walk through aviary. I wanted to get some more photos of the birds in their collection so I could share them here.
After several minutes in the enclosure my attention was drawn to the wooden walkway I was on. A small furry creature had jumped up on the walkway and came to investigate my shoes. It was a Long-nosed Potoroo, a small Australian mammal the size of a rabbit. He sniffed quite deliberately all around my shoes before hopping off to get a rub and a scratch from some children who had just entered the aviary.
This species of potoroo is found in Tasmania and in small numbers on the mainland, mainly coastal NSW and Victoria. It is not entirely nocturnal (unlike many of our mammals) and lives on fungi, insects, seeds, fruit, and vegetation.
Now to appease the birders who come to this site, here are two photos of birds I took only a minute or so before the potoroo came into my life.
Female Eclectus Parrot, Adelaide Zoo
Male Eclectus Parrot, Adelaide Zoo
Galahs lose their home
Galahs at nesting hollow
A few months ago I wrote about a pair of Galahs investigating a hollow in a large tree in our garden. Every day or so they would come and do a little more in the hollow. I even saw them lining the nest with fresh gum leaves. But it didn’t happen. Their happy homemaking never resulted in the happy – noisy – squawk of little ones.
In the meantime I noticed that they would come every few days, sit at the entrance and screech loudly into the hollow. This behaviour puzzled me. I wondered if some other creature – an owl perhaps – had taken up residence.
A few nights ago I found out what had happened – and I have photographic evidence of who had taken over their cosy love nest. The photos below tell the story.
Brush-tailed Possum
Brush-tailed Possum
Pandas at the Adelaide Zoo
Panda at the Adelaide Zoo
Yesterday morning I had a specialist medical appointment in Adelaide so I took the opportunity to visit Adelaide Zoo in the afternoon. It had been many months since my last visit and I hadn’t yet seen the two pandas added to the collection late last year. I deliberately left it a few months to avoid the early rush. Despite this, I still had to line up for about ten minutes behind a line of over a hundred eager panda peepers.
The new enclosure for them is most impressive and you can get excellent views of the two animals as they move about their new homes. After viewing them for about twenty minutes – and taking numerous photos – I moved on to other enclosures, especially those featuring birds. I wanted to take more bird photos to share here on this site. More of that in the days to come.
Panda at the Adelaide Zoo
Panda at the Adelaide Zoo
Panda at the Adelaide Zoo
The problem with cats
7 Comments »24th March, 2010; Category: Animals
Feral and domestic cats are responsible for the decline of many of our native bird, mammal and reptile species in Australia. Irresponsible cat owners who let their animals roam freely are to blame. You can’t blame the cats; they are natural hunters and will seek any source of food.
Local council restricts cat numbers
In the light of my first paragraph it is then pleasing to hear that Mitcham Council in suburban Adelaide last night passed a bylaw restricting the numbers of cats in its area.
In addition to the two-cat restriction, Mitcham cat owners will be required to register and microchip the animals. Cat owners are permitted to own more than two cats if they can convince the council they are not impacting negatively on the community and they are properly cared for.
You can read the whole article here: Adelaide Advertiser.
They didn’t go far enough in my opinion. They should have also provided for compulsory desexing of all cats registered.
Black-tailed Native-hen, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Black-tailed Native-hen, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Over recent days I have been sharing photos of some of the birds I saw during a visit late last year to the Monarto Zoo which is about a ten minute drive from our home in Murray Bridge.
During one of the bus trips through the park visitors are taken past a large lagoon. This is filled from Rocky Gully creek which flows through the zoo. I use the word “flows” loosely; it only runs after good rains and is quite often a dry creek bed for much of the year.
The zoo management has dammed this creek at one point to provide a semi-permanent water hole for the giraffes and zebra. When it contains water it attracts small numbers of water birds, including this one Black-tailed Native-hen shown in the photo above. Native-hens are widespread throughout Australia except the far northern coastline, the eastern seaboard, drier inland areas and it is also absent from Tasmania. (The similar species the Tasmanian Native-hen is endemic to Tasmania.)
It is quite unusual to see just one of this species. They are more often seen in small flocks and, when conditions are right, they can erupt into an area and breed rapidly, and can then number in the hundreds or even thousands.
Giraffes near the waterhole, Monarto Zoo, South Australia
Giraffes near the waterhole at Monarto Zoo, South Australia