favourite animal you've seen in the wild

29-08-2008

I do spend a lot of time wandering round at night spotlighting. It means I don't get much sleep when I travel: out all day birding then out half the night mammal-spotting. At this time of year the antechinus are coming out in the day quite a bit because they're gearing up for mating (and we probably all know the details of antechinus mating!).

29-08-2008

I totally agree. Even something as common as a sparrow or starling, if you watch them flying from one side of the road to the other it makes you realise how restricted birds in captivity are in terms of space; same with something like monitors, watching them roaming all over the place changes the way you might look at a zoo terrarium's size

29-08-2008

We used to get the occasional echidna at the back of my parent's place on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in SA - fascinating creatures! I remember being woken up one morning by a strange noise outside my window, opened the curtain and found an echidna just outside scratching in the dirt.

I've always had a fondness for Tawny Frogmouths.

We used to go "hunting" them when we were out camping - especially at Hattah Lakes (just south of Mildura in Victoria) - we would often hear them calling, and so would get the torch and see if we could track them down by sound alone. It was always a challenge to find them, since they would blend in to the bark of the tree so incredibly well. We used to do the same with Boobook Owls.

I was also surprised here in Sydney one day when we were just about to get into our car to go somewhere, a pair of Tawny Frogmouth's (I've never seen more than one at a time!) flew up and landed in the tree just above us. I rarely hear them call here.

29-08-2008

You do realise that the Australian White Ibis are almost considered a "pest" at the Botanical gardens? They can become very aggressive.

Similar problems in the Brisbane CBD - I remember the Brisbane city council actually hired a tame hawk a while back (can't remember what kind) to fly around the city and scare off the Ibis - they were becoming too much of a pest.

Australian ibis - Brisbane City Council

Australian White Ibis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... this doesn't apply to all species of Ibis though - just the Australian White Ibis.

29-08-2008

Some of my favourite animals seen in the wild (other than the Tawny Frogmouth and Echidna I've already mentioned) include:

Wedge Tailed Eagles ... my most memorable moment was driving home from Roxby Downs in outback South Australia - I noticed a bird on the side of the road feasting on some fresh roadkill (kangaroo). As I drove past, it stood upright to look at me - it was one of the largest Wedgies I've ever seen and was almost looking me straight in the eye it was that tall. As distasteful as the frequent roadkill in that area is - at least it does attract the scavengers!

I was pretty impressed with the elephant seals we saw in Southern Patagonia early this year, but the Condors (adult and young) soaring just above our boat as they took off from their nest was the highlight of the trip.

29-08-2008

Hi Sim. I did get the impression the Sydney locals weren't quite as endeared to the white ibis as the tourists! Saw several picnics and photo opportunities ruined by swarms of the things descending on unguarded food, bins, children etc... If memory serves the Sydney white ibis are descended from a free range flock established at Taronga in the early 70's using birds from Healesville. Not sure that Taronga advertises that information though!!! Regardless where they came from, I thought they were pretty cool birds - as long as they stayed on someone elses sandwiches!

30-08-2008

Wolves in N-W of Spain. (Zamora province)

30-08-2008

I have two more that i want to add:-
At the sleep out at Randwick at WYD I saw some black cockatoos fly over at the wee hours of the morning and one day when i went to feed our ducks there was a big eagle sittng in the pen with a headless duck in its claw and a head in its beak. I don't know what species of eagle it is and was wondering if anyone could help me. It was huge but not a wedge tail and would have to be native to the Bendigo area.

30-08-2008

You don't get much bigger than a wedgie in Australia (or the world for that matter). Only other contender would be a white-bellied sea eagle, but they aren't as big and don't come down as far south as Bendigo.

Or maybe a lost Monkey-eating eagle? Or a back from the dead Haast eagle??

Don't be silly Haast's wouldn't go for a duck....

31-08-2008

I meant to say...It was huge but not as big as a wedgie. Sorry

02-09-2008

can you give any details of, for example, plumage colour or pattern, leg colour, etc? If you're not used to seeing birds-of-prey up close even the commoner ones may look much larger than expected. The wedge-tail is easily twice as large as any other Australian raptor except the sea eagle (which despite what tetrapod says, is actually found round the entire coastline of both Australia and Tasmania, and also inland where there are larger rivers, swamplands etc, especially in the east). The bird you saw may have been a little eagle, one of the kites, goshawks, or even a swamp harrier.

03-09-2008

I have just seen my new "favourite mammal seen in the wild": a leopard seal at the local beach in Christchurch (NZ). It was a young one about six foot long. Individuals turn up in NZ and Australia from time to time, but this is the first one I've had the opportunity to see. Wonderful creature!
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery

03-09-2008

I would have to say one of the greatest for me was whalesharks at Ningaloo in June this year. We saw 5 altogether on the one day, and swam along with them all!! The first one you see swimming into view, amongst all the fins, bubbles and flailing arms of the other snorkellers is amazing.

03-09-2008

What ended up happening with this animal? Was it unhealthy or just ashore for a rest? Did it return to the ocean?

04-09-2008

just ashore for a rest. It looked perfectly healthy to me, just moulting a little. My only concern for it is that there are lots of dog-walkers along that beach and the usual people who think its a sick or dying sealion and try to approach it too closely. Another guy from work went to see it in the evening and there were only tracks leading down into the sea, so its obviously healthy enough to go fishing.