Little bird lost - and then found

The other day while hiding inside out of the heat watching the cricket we heard a loud rip and crash.

A large branch of a Blakley's Red Gum had crashed to the ground taking with it on it's way a branch of a White Box and a good few meters of the fence line separating the House Yard from the Lower Nursery Paddock - one of the paddocks that our sheep lamb in.

We popped our heads out to take a look, sighed and then went inside again out of the heat.

The next morning while it was still cool we decided to inspect the damage and to clear the fallen timber from the fence line. The Lad got to with the chainsaw and soon we had a great pile of future winter fuel to show for our efforts.

Thankfully the fence wasn't in too bad  a condition - all the wire was recoverable and after The Lad got to work with the gripples (they are handy thingies for joining fencing wire together) and fence strainer, we again had an intact boundary. (Skilled isn't he?)

Soon we realised there was a more serious outcome of  the fallen tree...

We found this little fellow on the ground out of its nest. A baby Dusky Woodswallow had lost its nest and its parents. I took it inside and gave it a little water. When it looked like it had revived I took it outside again and set it up in the shade while we continued the tidy up of the fallen tree.

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We could see its worried parents flying around and calling to the little bird. The baby bird called back.

Soon it was up on its feet. It somehow climbed down from the little 'nest' I had made it in the shade in the top hollow of an old tree stump and was again on the ground.

Soon we saw it climbing, very ably up a Rough Barked Box tree near the chook shed, all the while with its parents cheeping (encouragement?).  Soon we lost track of where it was.

Did it make it to a safe place where its parents would continue to feed it?

Whatever the outcome we were amazed at the persistence of the parents to find their baby.We were amazed that after such a long period the baby bird was still alive. (We estimate that it was out of its nest for about 24 hours). We were amazed that the baby bird had the strength and skill to climb the tree.

Nest

Above the chook shed towers a Rough-barked box tree.

It provides shade for the chooks in a hot summer and a nesting spot for a Dusky Woodswallow.

Amazingly the bird has nested in the peeling and deeply fissured bark, not like other birds nest, in the fork of a tree,  in a hollow, in a nest hanging from vegetation...

I think you'll agree that  building this nest was an achievement as was spotting it!  Amazing twitching Lad and amazing photography!

Breakfast Twitch at Highfield - you're invited!

White-browed woodswallow

Apologies for the almost daily blogging... there is so much happening in the garden, with our animals and generally on the farm - like a Breakfast Twitch!

Like stomping around farms and bushland looking for birds? How about breakfast and a comedian with that?

On the 8th November (7.30am- 10.30am) we are hosting our first event. The Breakfast Twitch at Highfield is an event of the Riverina Highlands Group.

Comedy writer, author and bird watching enthusiast, Sean Dooley will be our guest presenter at the bird walk at Highfield. Laugh while you twitch.

Gang Gangs

Highfield is a special place. Highfield is a farm and a conservation area. Two-thirds of the property protects critically endangered grassy box woodland and the species that depend on it including many beautiful birds. To date 86 different species of birds have been seen at Highfield including all those pictured here - all photographed at Highfield. Check out our birdlist.

Red-rumped parrots

Everyone is welcome to attend, we just need your RSVP for catering purposes and $5.00 (proceeds to Landcare) if you are not a member of Riverina Highlands Landcare group.

If you'd like to attend email me - louisehighfields@gmail.com and I will provide directions to Highfield for you and recommendations for accommodation in the local area.

Rainbow bee-eaters just back from their winter holiday in Queensland

Don't know if you are in my neck of the woods? Highfield is about half-way between Sydney and Melbourne and about half-way between Wagga Wagga and Tumut in the Riverina Highlands. We are not far from the Hume Hwy and just off the Snowy Mountains Hwy. For Canberra dwellers - we are just two hours away.

Hope to see you at Highfield on the 8th November. Come to the region for the weekend, there is plenty to see and do around here.

(PS: as I type two Diamond Fire-tails have resumed making their nest in the peach tree right next to the verandah)

Squirrel glider

Today whilst out in the back blocks of Highfield we had the privilege of meeting one of Highfield's threatened species - the Squirrel glider.

 By rights we shouldn't have seen it at all as the Squirrel glider is a nocturnal creature and we were out and about in bright morning sunlight. And, we wished we had seen it in better circumstances... the poor little delicate beast was injured. It lay on the vehicle track and it was only because of The Lad's careful assessment of the ground we were driving over that enabled us to spot it. It was on the ground wiggling and on closer inspection the top inch or so of it's very fluffy tail had been stripped of its fur - that seemed to be it's only injury. We decided that it needed the assistance of  a wildlife carer from WIRES or our local group SONA and so  we decided to pick it up and ferry it  to expert help.

The glider seemed comfortable clutching my t-shirt as if it were hanging on the side of a tree. I put The Lad's hat over it to keep it calm and in the dark as we drove home to raise help. Just as we reached home the little darling gave it's last little shudder - we were too late.

We decided to take the opportunity to take a close look at this beautiful creature. It had incredibly long  and soft grey fur with darker stripes over its face and back. The fur on the tail was especially long. It's feet were intricately padded with long fine claws and between it's front and back legs was a fine and flexible webbing that was it's gliding equipment. The glider's tummy was a lighter brown colour and shorter than the fur on the rest of it's body.  The glider was a female and while her pouch was thankfully empty, it looked as it it had recently housed and suckled two tiny babies as the pouch was distended and the tiny nipples quite firm. A little comfy brown fur could be seen in her open pouch. She was one of the most delicate little animals I had ever seen, it was so sad that we lost her from Highfield.

We read up a little about Squirrel gliders. They live in old growth Box and Box- Ironbark woodland with an under-story of acacias. This is just the kind of country our conservation area protects. They feed on fruit and flowers, the gum from eucalypts and insects.  They nest in tree hollows with another female and a male and, while they start rearing their young in the pouch, after some time the young are left in the nest coming out with mum after some time for nightly Squirrel glider training.

Introduced animals such as dogs, cats and foxes prey on the gliders but they are also predated by large native birds like owls and kookaburras and large lizards like goannas. Whatever animal  injured it must have caught it by it's tail  and brought it to the ground and then left it, or perhaps we disturbed the predator?

We felt so sad that she probably had two babies and other nest mates that would miss her but we were buoyed that it is our property that provides the right kind of habitat for their continued existence.

Read more about the Squirrel glider here  and here.

While I type, as some sort of consolation, another threatened species is building it's nest in the peach tree that is right by the front verandah -  a beautiful little bird called a Diamond Firetail - but they might be the subject of another post.

The ghosts of Highfield

At Highfield the ghosts start appearing in late autumn. There are two types of ghosts out here in the bush.

The first type crawls from holes in the ground and leaves behind strange orange shells.

From their orange shells emerge the thumb-sized ghost moth,

which tap on the window in the evening.  See their little eyes glow?

Then there are the citrus ghosts.

These are my crude frost protectors flung over the baby citrus trees each night when the forecast minimum is 2 degrees Celsius or less. These frost cloths are thin old sheets I bought at the Gundagai Op Shop for $2.00 each.

Do you have interesting wildlife visit your garden? How do you protect your plants from frost damage?

Birds and onions

I love my chickens and I love the wonderful native birds that we share our patch with, I really do!

Myrtle and Mavis eyeing off the baby spring onions

Except when they eat my oniony things! For instance, on Monday morning I emerged from the house to find this.

All my shallots dug up and flung around their little oniony bed. Hmm, a busy tribe of choughs! Thank goodness they had only just started to put down a few roots and no shoots. And there were other casualties in that bed as well.  The shallots were sharing their bed with some onion seedlings  and a row of snow peas that had started to sprout. Gone, all gone.

The shallots have been put into another bed and the soil has been covered with wire to stop the choughs scratchy feet and flicky beaks. Hopefully!

What are choughs (pronounced - chuffs)? Well they are fabulous black and white birds with lovely curved wings and beaks and quite mad red eyes. They hang out in groups and spend a lot of time turning over leaves and other forest litter and they chat to one another as they do. Trevor's Birding has a nice picture of them hanging out together.  They have the most amazing big mud nests. This website has great pictures of them and their nests.

As for my chooky girls, well they like chives,

garlic chives,

and spring onions.

I am guessing that their eggs are going to have a nice oniony taste? Better not make a cake! And better find a solution to their onion tribe snacking.

What irresistible birdie treats do you have in your patch?

Bird watching

Highfield is a special place. Two-thirds of the property is protecting critically endangered grassy box woodland and forest. One of the many benefits is that the bird life that depend on the forest is outstanding  Here are a few of the visitors to the area around the house. How lucky we are to have a ring-side view of these beautiful birds. All photos are by the Lad.

A pair of young Gang Gang cockatoos with their outrageous fluffy top feathers

A Rainbow Bee-eater - this one is probably in Queensland now as they fly north for winter

Red-browed finches having a  two-tiered pool party

Closer but blurry 

A male White-browed wood swallow - handsome isn't he?

A male Fairy-wren moutling - in spring he will blue up again

Bathing Beauties

Our bird baths are a constant source of activity and amusement. Here are some of the bathing beauties that visit.

Diamond Fire-tails

Black chinned Honey-eater and Djirri djirri (Willie Wagtail)

A welcome splash

Djirri djirri  (Willie  Wagtail)

Hooded Robin supervising baby bath

Black Chinned Honey-eater drying off and  Djirri djirri queuing up

Wildlife watching

Following on from yesterday's post  about our fruit raiding wallaby, I thought you might like to see some of the other wildlife at Highfield that we have spotted recently,  mostly from the comfort of our front verandah. Apologies, some of the photos are just a little blurry.

This very dusty wombat was spotted while we were eating breakfast. As a nocturnal beast he was obviously  up very late putting in a few finishing touches to his new burrow. What a dusty bum!

If you look very closely, you can see a possum staring at you from it's tree hollow high up a white box tree.

This possum was spotted by the Lad somewhat incredibly from the ground. He thought he could see a face in a tree hollow and wondered if it was an interesting feature of the tree hollow.  No, it was a possum! Well spotted, an elephant stamp should be issued.

I love how it has its big ear and eye ideally positioned to hear and see outside its hole.  If you look closely, you can also see its whiskers as well.

This very spikey dragon was lounging on a big log soaking up the sun. We have noticed that these dragons adjust their colour a little to suit the environment.  I have seen them with splashes of yellow to match a yellow lichen.

A pair of beautiful bee eaters.

A hooded robin parent supervising  baby taking a bath.

Gardener meets Peach pincher

Our peach pincher, parsley pecking, chive chomping, beetroot biting, spring onion stealing, rose ripping wallaby now visits during the daylight hours as well as at night giving us the opportunity to take a portrait shot or two. Here is  our native neighbour who is as fond of eating from our garden as we are...

I am calling him Old half-ear. He is an old male Swamp Wallaby who has obviously come off second best in a fight or two. We have noticed him on our walks into the Nature Reserve next door, he is always alone and never seems afraid, he has seen it all I suspect.

As well as his tattered ears he has a big scar on his back and lumps and bumps on his tail but I think a proud stance. The fence line provides no barrier, he hops right through.

I am ok sharing my peaches with him now, I have more than I can eat and use anyway. It is possible that, as this property has been vacant for a good while, he has been eating the peaches here for years. Old half-ear may be cross with having to share his peaches with us?

He can no longer get into the vegetable patch - thank goodness, the beetroot are now all our own!

Year of the snake - Day of the snake

So much to post on, so few days! I would have posted on this the day it occurred - Sunday 10th Feb -  which also happened to be the first day of the Chinese New Year and the first day of the Year of the Snake, but I had already posted by the time this happened.

I would have posted the day after - Monday  11th - but that was Harvest Monday and I had something to show for myself and I would have posted on Tuesday 12th, but that was Zucchini Tuesday. So in case you are not sick of me posting every day, here is my Chinese New Year post - you see we had our very own Snakey Day for the first day of the Year of the Snake.

I first came across the snake - a red-belly black snake - when I was heading for the mint bed to pick some for a pistachio lamb kebab.

A good third of the snake's length was slipping over the top of the mint bed and up onto the pier of the house. I wasn't really expecting to see it there, right where I was about to plunge my hand to pick mint, so I can tell you honestly a let out quite a whelp!

I can only assume that the snake was similarly surprised to see me because it spent the next good while hiding from us under the house. The snake decided it especially liked being under the front stairs - comforting for the snake perhaps but not for us.

Shaken (and stirred) I decided to stay inside while my heart rate returned to normal. Instead the Lad kitted up (long pants, boots, mini gaiters and long stick in case) and went on snake vigil. He basically wanted to make sure we knew where it went and we hoped that it would move away from the house, but it didn't for a very long time.

Instead - twice, it decided that it would try to climb the stairs to the verandah.

Not wanting to hurt the snake, or worse anger it so much that it would strike, but also not wanting to share the verandah with it either, the Lad did some vigorous tapping of the steps with his long stick and deterred it from further ascending, phew!

But when it did head off it took its exit thru my now Wallaby-proof vegetable patch slipping over the rocket and parsnip bed and over the Minnesota Midget rock melon. It was amazing to see how if slipped thru the plastic mesh that looked much smaller than the diameter of the snake.

The snake disappeared into a crevice in a eucalypt close to the house. We hope that isn't its permanent home.

Incidentally, my snake-charming husband is actually born in the Year of the Snake, its true!

Now I am decidedly realistic person and not at all drawn to horoscopes whether Occidental or Oriental, but (oh right, here she goes, she just said she wasn't into these things!), I hope seeing a snake on the first day of the Year of the Snake is auspicious. Perhaps doubly so for the Lad? One can hope, it would be some compensation for the fright.

After promising each other not to leave the verandah without suitable boots and trousers, I kitted up the next morning on a peach picking round and, there it lay, just under the outdoor table and chair setting. A little vigorous shouting at it telling it it wasn't welcome resulted in the snake heading off into the grass metres from the front of the house.

Obviously the snake defence devices that I bought just don't work.

A belated Happy Chinese New Year everyone and may your house be snake proof, unless of course the snake happens to be your loved one!

Gong xi fa cai!