# Local wildlife! **URL:** \ **Category:** Not Games\ **Created:** [29 May 2020 00:26 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168 "2020-05-29T00:26:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 00:26 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/1 "2020-05-29T00:26:27Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Where on Earth are you!? Show us the sights from your part of the world](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/where-on-earth-are-you-show-us-the-sights-from-your-part-of-the-world/1129/91): > [@Where on Earth are you!? Show us the sights from your part of the world](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/where-on-earth-are-you-show-us-the-sights-from-your-part-of-the-world/1129/91): > > The really good thing about being just outside High Wycombe is that we have red kites ( _Milvus milvus_ ). They were reintroduced in England in the 1980s and, now that poisoning vermin on farmland is illegal, are thriving. > > If it’s daylight and not raining and I look at the sky, I usually see at least one kite, often more. There are lots of birds in the hereabouts. A red-wattle bird lives in my garden and tries to monopolise my _Grevilleas_ against the frequent depredations of little honeyeaters, blue-faced honeyeaters, rainbow lorikeets, and (in Spring) noisy friarbirds. Black cockatoos occasionally monster my _Banksias_. White ibis stalk my lawns in the early morning, but seem to avail naught against the army grubs. Magpies and pewees make sure that the dawns sound properly Australian. I see cattle egrets on the pastures, black ducks, wood ducks, waterhens and sometimes swans on the river (but I never see spoonbills here any more, perhaps because of the feral geese). Sometimes an osprey will fish the river, or a Brahminy kite fly over. We get white-breasted sea-eagles occasionally, and sometimes, for a rare treat, see a wedge-tailed eagle. During the bushfires I even had a satin bowerbird come to my dog’s foot-bath for water. But my favourites? Tawny frogmouths: ![382302_10150361229563107_154088956_n](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4a4206a753bd63b92fedb1af7592dfd86a5d4e70.jpeg) ![P1030232](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c22e8b39e3b450f92b14222484cb4d4cc1d289d6.jpeg) ![1268544_10151656281673107_1080182268_o](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/7/7970f8bf71e970e77058d9e2fce701244fe2d7e4.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 00:34 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/2 "2020-05-29T00:34:51Z")
Oh, alright! Obligatory photo of macropods: ![10896196_10153082391133107_666586445106011500_o](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/5/568d9c162d46301c79596343c386715a9b5679e9.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/whswhs/32/2794_2.png) [@whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/whswhs)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 00:38 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/3 "2020-05-29T00:38:49Z")
I don’t remember that “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” has a verse about frogmouths. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 01:15 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/4 "2020-05-29T01:15:24Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > Tawny frogmouths: _Podargus strigoides_, since Roger asks. The photo in my second post depicts two _Macropus rufogriseus_, three _Macropus giganteus_, and a _Homo sapiens sapiens_ × _neanderthalensis_ ---
**Author:** ![pillbox](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/pillbox/32/1031_2.png) [@pillbox](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/pillbox)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 01:49 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/5 "2020-05-29T01:49:54Z")
I’m no animalologist but I’m not really sure what we might have around here that’s interesting enough to write home about, much less post on a forum. There’s a beautiful bird that’s nesting in the neighbors yard that, if I can, I’ll take a picture of. But I’m delighted to see some furry objects foreign to me! ---
**Author:** ![Marx](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/marx/32/28667_2.png) [@Marx](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Marx)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 02:53 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/6 "2020-05-29T02:53:05Z")
Okay, a few local-to-Ontario bits of wildlife: ![IMG_20200416_141851](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f006bed1890cd4d6fa634e44455a8a53e324a8a5.jpeg) ![IMG_20200522_145052](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2b9b414f8f252e1a90876fdb2b168a4e9a103d0f.jpeg) This is one of the (two) groundhogs (_buttus extremus cutieus_) that lives in our backyard. His/her name is Bert, and he/she is responsible for maintaining the backyard and eating any vegetables from our garden that we don’t really like. ![IMG_20200405_115429](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/7/772609f9049c22e89fcd0d11b9b665b50704ecb2.jpeg) Lots of ducks, primarily mallards I believe (_notrabbitus seasonus_) live in many of the waterways all towns. There are also geese, but those things are _mean_ and I refuse to take pictures of the angry snake-birds. ![IMG_20200312_085236](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/5/5a46a47caaa8110ef5e17efdc09a135ca5add455.jpeg) An enormous number of buns (_lagomorph bun_) live in the area we live in. Here we see a lowly “duke bun”, the largest of the bun species (as we all know, the smaller the bun, the more noble… we have once seen a king bun in our front yard). ![IMG_20190627_201113](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e1012fbd05d6d5f5e1c4f7177066817547bd4ad5.jpeg) ![IMG-20190709-WA0004](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/d/df45d6e41ea043e7a609c414b48b2ce8d9a34d76.jpeg) Lastly, a considerable number of skunks (_smellus kittenus_) live in Southern Ontario and near our home. They are adorable and completely harmless as long as you don’t move. Other than this, there are deer (in smaller towns) and raccoons (in bigger towns), and recently there’s been a fox that has moved into our neighbourhood but he moves to quickly for us to get a picture of… yet. His name is Theo and we love him. He is super cute. ---
**Author:** ![whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/whswhs/32/2794_2.png) [@whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/whswhs)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 03:06 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/7 "2020-05-29T03:06:44Z")
> [@Marx](#): > > Lastly, a considerable number of skunks ( _smellus kittenus_ ) live in Southern Ontario and near our home. They are adorable and completely harmless as long as you don’t move. _Mephitis mephitis_ is charming, when observed from a safe distance. They may look like kitties, but that rolling gait of theirs is quite distinctive. It’s a curious thing that skunk-based cartoon characters tend to be lovers—both Pepe le Pew and Miss Ma’mzelle Hepzibah are born romantics. ---
**Author:** ![whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/whswhs/32/2794_2.png) [@whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/whswhs)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 03:33 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/9 "2020-05-29T03:33:21Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > On the other hand it does have one about captive indigenous people, who are directed to be let loose because they are no use. I cannot dispute the justice of that observation. ---
**Author:** ![RogerBW](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/rogerbw/32/3_2.png) [@RogerBW](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/RogerBW)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 07:58 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/11 "2020-05-29T07:58:31Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > Tawny frogmouths Better than most birds at looking like a bit of tree. We get some crows (but I think they compete with the kites), magpies, once in a while a patrol of ducks in formation; closer to the ground, robins and dunnocks and occasional finches and bluetits. The actual ground environment is more urban, so occasional rats, and there’s a cat called Wilson who is the terror of all things small and squeaky. (And indeed he’s taken a swipe at everyone I know who’s met him, except me.) ---
**Author:** ![whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/whswhs/32/2794_2.png) [@whswhs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/whswhs)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2020 08:11 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/12 "2020-05-29T08:11:24Z")
Around here I’ve seen geese flying overhead (and being very loud!) and we have sparrows nesting in a birdhouse on our balcony (there when we moved in), robins all over the place, and red-winged blackbirds (elegant little guys with red and yellow epaulets). We haven’t as many crows as in Riverside, but I hear their voices from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [22 December 2020 22:51 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/13 "2020-12-22T22:51:12Z")
This isn’t a very good photograph, but there was a female Pacific koel on my garden gate yesterday: ![IMG_5798](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/6/60696d426a5aae4f8dc94f94dbf9f6f3efe356ff.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [22 December 2020 23:04 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/14 "2020-12-22T23:04:37Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > During the bushfires I even had a satin bowerbird come to my dog’s foot-bath for water. Since that sort of thing didn’t happen unless there were pictures: ![IMG_4781](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/d/dd341be296a1cbad2db2831b31e650be4760a44b.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [22 December 2020 23:09 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/15 "2020-12-22T23:09:59Z")
And so as not to give the impression that it’s all about the birds, here’s my new lodger, an Australian house gecko. He is a surprisingly noisy roomie. ![IMG_5717](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/3/3d343f13f72880d58634d74bc6df613fb5891ae1.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![RogerBW](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/rogerbw/32/3_2.png) [@RogerBW](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/RogerBW)\ **Post date:** [23 December 2020 00:08 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/16 "2020-12-23T00:08:00Z")
That’s three separate non-venomous creatures (assuming I’ve got the right gecko species). Are you in a weird non-venom-favouring microclimate or something? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [23 December 2020 02:01 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/17 "2020-12-23T02:01:03Z")
Not particularly. [Eastern brown snakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake) are common here. This is where you get the [northern funnel-web spider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadronyche_formidabilis). And I live close to the centre of the range of the [giant stinging tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_excelsa). That is, in these parts we have the world’s second-most venomous snake, most venomous spider, and second-most venomous tree. They are just rather shy and not especially photogenic. It’s generally fine so long as you don’t touch anything. @DamnTheMan laughed at me for refusing to touch anything when we were hiking in New Mexico, but it gets to be a habit. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [25 December 2020 20:32 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/18 "2020-12-25T20:32:51Z")
Rainbow lorikeets playing at being feathered Christmas-tree ornaments: ![IMG_5830](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/2/22d2499e7f5d4c32e98a1581e9b7a13db7bcf99e.jpeg) ![IMG_5831](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/3/3d81092619fa1003c89825c74060ada2c61ab751.jpeg) And fleeing from paparazzi: ![IMG_5832](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/a/af699a23e4677fd58700493a5d8c2b252884e723.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [27 December 2020 13:33 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/19 "2020-12-27T13:33:21Z")
If you take enough photos you get a good one: ![lorikeet](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/5/58f5e3777c93897ea37b3225b8cce0638cd340a2.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![JGD](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/jgd/32/619_2.png) [@JGD](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/JGD)\ **Post date:** [27 December 2020 14:16 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/20 "2020-12-27T14:16:40Z")
How common are such brightly-coloured birds in your area, as opposed to well-camouflaged ones? ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [27 December 2020 14:37 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/21 "2020-12-27T14:37:17Z")
Nothing else is quite as brightly coloured as a rainbow lorikeet– there are no rosellas hereabouts. But we see galahs and fig-parrots from time to time, and rainbow bee-eaters are pretty colourful (though more elusive than the lorikeets). There are bright blue wrens and kingfishers. Quite a lot of birds are conspicuously white, black, or black-and-white. There are grey and striped birds too, of course, ranging from black ducks to those frogmouths I showed you before. But on the whole the diurnal birds don’t seem very keen on camouflage. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [3 January 2021 04:02 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168/22 "2021-01-03T04:02:38Z")
Here’s another local with misplaced ideas about being camouflaged: > **spider concealed as a courtesy to arachnophobes** > > ![IMG_5913](https://discussion.tekeli.li/uploads/default/original/2X/3/3ab1a254e28fc6e68dc621f37526011fcebbadee.jpeg) [Next page](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/local-wildlife/1168.md?page=2)