r/australianwildlife

We have a 100 hectare ex-cattle property bush block that we have been regenerating as a wildlife refuge for 14 years. Our reward has been the return of abundant native wildlife, birds and plants. We have wombats, kangaroos, swamp and red neck wallabies, bandicoots, lyre birds and hundreds of other species.

It's been cold at wet, and during my daily walk my dog got very interested in a fallen tree. Looked inside to see this fellow, looking very comfortable.

Note for those who may criticise (from past post experience): I treat the wildlife on my property with the utmost respect. I use a 600mm telephoto lens so I don't need to get close to animals. My dogs are trained to have immediate callback, so they never harass animals. I do tree plantings, weed control, and feral animal control to ensure the wild animals can live as naturally as possible.

Is this a ring-tailed possum? We've seen one around and we believe we hear one come home to sleep in our roof every morning. The scats originally were all separate, but now they're clumped together which seems to be too big for a possum to pass? Thanks!

Hi all,

I thought I would start here for an idea on which animal these may belong to!

- Found in a hollow gum tree, 1m off ground.

- Cream coloured

- About 6cm long

- looks like 20-30 in the clutch?

- couldn’t tell if hard or soft, but they’re not shiny.

I was thinking snake due to size of eggs and amount, but I’m just not sure what snake would lay 1m off the ground? Would love some insight! Cheers!

"Conservationists once asked: what is a bird without a tree to nest in?

This year, we may well wonder the grim inverse – what is a tree without a bird to nest in it? I can tell you. A tree without a bird is a miserable thing – and in a broader ecological sense, a tree without a bird could be in trouble.

In Australia, birds act in many roles that mammals or insects might fill elsewhere, from pollinating flowers to spreading seeds to keeping trees free of sap-sucking insects.

Bird flu doesn’t just threaten birds and mammals – it could well affect entire ecosystems."

Penny Olsen Honorary Professor in Ecology and Evolution, Australian National University

Complete article: https://theconversation.com/from-the-coasts-to-the-plains-bird-flu-could-threaten-not-just-birds-but-their-homes-289709

Had to share this

Xylocopa bombylans or the Peacock Carpenter Bee foraging on Mother of Herbs or Plectranthus amboinicu