TheBanyanTree: Sounds (and sights) of nature

[Sally Larwood]

This is fascinating Anita.  Thank you for describing your new surroundings.  It all sounds wonderful ( minus the snakes ) but it's sad you've moved so far away.  I haven't seen you for ages and Zoe is growing up so fast.

Sal 

Sent from my iPad 

On 24/03/2012, at 1:06 PM, "Woofie" <woofie at WOOFESS.COM> wrote:

> Good grief Anita! I was there last week, or rather just near you in St Andrews and Panton Hill. Have friends who live on top of hill at St Andrews and they got married in Panton Hill Winery. Folks... it is beautiful country up there. Currently it is all green and lush - a far cry from a few years ago during a 10 year drought and an horrific fire. Attached is pic of view off the country near Anita's. It is not an award winning photo, it is just green. The green in Victoria was mesmerising for me because it is in stark contrast to the grey dust of SW Australia.
> W:)
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> -- 
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> Best regards,
> 
> Woofie mailto:woofie at woofess.com
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> -----Original Message----- From: Anita Coia
> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 3:48 PM
> To: thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com
> Subject: TheBanyanTree: Sounds (and sights) of nature
> 
> 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