No I’m not referring to my messy husband and two ‘leave it where you used it’ sons, I’m referring to our Willy Wagtail couple and their 3 chicks, Daniel & Daniella and their baby skinks and the daily kangaroo parade. We have enjoyed watching the frantic nest buildings of the Ma and Pa Willy’s on our exposed eaves, thus followed by their stoic, one minded nest sitting shifts.
Team Willy, in a David and Goliath effort constantly attempted to hunt off our resident, non chalant magpies day in day out, much to the magpie’s dissatisfaction (it’s hard to hunt for grubs from the vineyard when you are getting swooped relentlessly). Only one week after hatching, we were amazed to see the large, fluffy babies out of their nest, shaking their tail feathers, foraging around on the ground and flying off when disturbed. Fast work indeed.
Daniel and Daniella are our resident Cunnningham Skinks, who’ve set up shop in our woodpile. They’ve been there for a couple of years now and have treated us with several offspring. Occasionally, the big ones scare the poop out of us when we walk absent mindedly into the shed to grab a hammer or spade and they’ve been blissfully sun baking on the cement. Their noisy scurry out of sight activates a primal reverse jump and expletive to boot.
We love all the wildlife around here including the usual procession of kangaroos moving through our shared patch. We find that after being here 20 years, that the trees and shrubs planted have grown well and provide a haven for a great variety of busy and chirpy, nectar seeking birds, many more than when this was an open cultivation block sown with phalaris.
