TheBanyanTree: Sounds (and sights) of nature

[Theta Brentnall]

All your wildlife sounds lovely, Anita, with the exception of the 
snakes.  We have rattlesnakes here, but I haven't seen one in years.  
I'm not afraid of snakes, but I saw a show on Australian snakes that 
gave me nightmares for days afterwards!

I'd love to have parrots on my deck, though!

Theta

On 3/23/2012 12:48 AM, Anita Coia wrote:
> Thankyou Theta for that lovely piece 'Song of Spring' - I also enjoyed your
> follow-up and related to the cacophony of sound that can wake you before you
> really would like to be woken.   I have to admit I'm quite glad that we
> don't have the coyotes lurking around, though some locals would have you
> believe the mythical 'Aussie big cat' (some variation on a panther) is
> lurking unseen in the undergrowth.  However I'm pretty sure that our
> neighbours' pets who occasionally slip their confinements would not still be
> around if that was true.
>
>
>
> Since we moved to Kinglake, on the top of a mountain (Australian standard -
> only about 550 metres above sea level) and surrounded by National Park and a
> couple of large bush blocks, I have really been struck by how much you can
> hear when there is no man-made noise to drown it out.
>
>
>
> Some days, when the forest is still, I will hear a distant roaring sound,
> much like an aeroplane heading our way, and then the leaves high in the
> canopy in one group of trees will start to tremble and finally the gust of
> wind will hit.  It's amazing to me that I can now actually hear a wind gust
> heading our way!
>
>
>
> At night we too have two or three different types of frogs yacking away
> around our dam, particularly after a big rainfall.  It's very soothing to
> hear them, even though it sounds like a party that just never ends.
>
>
>
> Some mornings I wake to a 'whooshing' sound and leap out of bed to stand on
> the deck and watch the passing hot air balloons, making their way across the
> pink sky above the treetops as dawn breaks.
>
>
>
> The birdlife is lovely too, with the populations slowly increasing in size
> since moving back after the 2009 wildfire that destroyed much of the local
> wildlife.  The magpies are used to us and we don't get swooped, but we do
> hear them every day. Not so great is hearing the whinging of the young
> magpies, who seem to be dependent on their parents for an inordinate length
> of time, and follow them around begging for food.  When they are scouting
> our rockery for breakfast just after dawn, I want to go out and wring their
> necks!  The currawongs are much more pleasant to listen to, though adult
> magpies also have a lovely warbling song.
>
>
>
> The parrots are much more civilised and less piercing in their calls, apart
> from the sulphur-crested cockatoos with their awful screeching - luckily we
> don't see too many of them.  The King Parrots and Rosellas and others have a
> much gentler call, and they seem to prefer a sleep-in.  We often see the
> King Parrots waiting on our deck patiently for breakfast, even though we
> rarely feed them. They seem quite interested in what we're doing and are
> very tame.  There is one in particular that will walk right up to our glass
> doors and tap on them.  If you take them some seed, the more experienced
> ones will sit on your arm and eat it right out of your hand. Otherwise, they
> eye off whatever we have left lying around on the deck, as if to say 'Well,
> if you aren't going to feed us, I might take a bite of this shoe/jacket/rug
> and see how I go.'
>
>
>
> My favourite bird though, and the one we are least likely to see, is the
> Lyre Bird, a really interesting creature and excellent mimic.  I know we
> have a local pair, as we saw them when we moved here in early July last
> year, and I know they take a hiatus over summer as the latest youngster is
> being raised, and while the adult male is regrowing his tail, which falls
> out just after breeding.  I think they usually start to make an appearance
> again about now, with their calling most active during winter when courtship
> starts again.  You always know you are listening to a lyre bird when you
> hear a number of different bird calls emanating from a single spot, as
> though one bird from each of many species were having a loud exchange about
> local bird politics.  One of their favourite places seems to be our little
> fern gully, which is nice and sheltered and has excellent acoustics, so they
> can revel in their own delightful sounds.
>
>
>
> Living up here also enlightened me to the fact that there are native
> Australian cuckoo birds, which we have heard occasionally at night, along
> with owls which we have not yet identified.
>
>
>
> While we don't have coyotes, wolves or any other large canine-type
> creatures, we do have foxes and deer and probably a few wild dogs and pigs,
> though the fires may have cleaned them out.  I discovered a dead wallaby in
> our paddock near the dam a couple of days ago, possibly the victim of one of
> the Tiger Snakes that live around there.  There were no wounds that I could
> see on what looked like an otherwise healthy wallaby with a thick, shiny
> pelt.
>
>
>
> Over the last couple of days, I have watched the carcase change orientation
> and move slightly as what is probably a fox, and not a big one, tries to
> drag the body off out of the open.  The fox is not having much luck. The
> wallaby has moved barely half a metre, though it has done almost a full 360
> degree turn as the fox tries to drag it by the head (I am guessing!).  The
> problem for the fox is that he is trying to pull the carcase in the
> direction of the fern gully, which means he will have to cross a drainage
> ditch and a dirt and gravel driveway, and I can't see it being a very
> successful enterprise.  The carcase is still intact, so it may in fact be a
> female fox trying to drag the body to its den to feed its young.
>
>
>
> Or possibly the Tiger Snakes have mutated and grown REALLY big and are
> trying to stockpile food.  Ugh!   I am really not a fan of snakes, but it
> puts my fear of huntsman spiders into perspective.  Tiger snakes are one of
> the most venomous snake species in the world.  I believe they don't produce
> huge quantities of venom, and will only bite when they feel they have no
> other option, but the venom they do produce is highly toxic, containing a
> cocktail of neurotoxin, coagulants, haemolysins and myotoxins, producing a
> fairly serious and rapid attack on a number of bodily systems.  Untreated,
> mortality is estimated to be 40-60% if you're an adult, but fortunately
> pretty much all hospitals carry the antivenin.  You just have to get there.
>
>
>
> It does lead me to wonder what kind of predator the Tiger snakes used to be
> up against, that they would need such a vicious weapon.  They do prey on
> frogs and hang around water sources, so maybe they were preyed on in ancient
> times by some kind of giant Mesozoic water dweller.  During the 2009 fires,
> some people sheltered in dams (and survived) but even in the face of a
> bushfire I would hesitate to jump in with those snakes...
>
>
>
> Anita
>
>