The wild life
A European tourist made a very good observation: she said that Americans and Aussies go to Europe for the lovely old architecture and history, and Europeans come to our countries to enjoy nature, because that is something they don’t have much left of. We are enjoying the natural life of Australia very much however. They have over 700 species of birds, and while some are pesky little thieves, many are a lot of fun to watch.
The kookaburras were the ones we really wanted to see and we have seen plenty, and heard more of them, with their maniacal little “laugh”. They are very dignified looking birds though. ”Merry, merry king of the bush” describes them very well.
There is another one, much like the kookaburra in looks, but smaller and very intense blue. I believe they call it a kingfisher.
There are several species of doves, and my favorite is the emeral dove. She is pearly pink on her breast, and emerald green on her back and wings.
This morning at breakfast, we watched as two crested dove males had a showdown. They fanned out their tailfeathers and drummed, and circled one another warily. We never did see the female, and since the male aggressive behavior soon fell apart, we think she must have left. They looked evenly matched, so maybe it was too tough of a choice.
We never did see a cassowary, and were somewhat disappointed until we found out that they can be dangerously aggressive, and it doesn’t take much to set them off.
We have seen many varieties of parrots, but the prettiest ones were the ones sitting in a juniper tree eating the berries. They were scarlet on their breast, and dark Christmas tree green on their backs, and that was a terrific sensory experience–the mountains for a backdrop, the tree full of parrots, and the sharp scent of junifer as they ate the berries.
Then there are the animals. We have seen several kangaroos and wallabies. These are the ones we most wanted to see, since to us, these are the ones that most symbolize Australia for us. The main difference in kangaroos and wallabies is that the kangaroos can only eat grass, and thus suffer during a severe drought, which is going on here now. The wallabies can live off of a much more varied diet, and so survive hard times much better. They are not very shy animals, and will lay around in the evening munching on the grass.
Also, many have become tame, due to wildlife rescue efforts. Lots of kangaroos and wallabies get hit on the highway, and if someone can manage to rescue the joey, it can be bottle fed and returned to the wild, and isn’t much afraid of humans. It made me wonder what Oz would be like 500 years from now, if these animals are getting killed on the highway, and the joeys are being tamed by rescue efforts. Will they become more like dogs?
We spent a week in a platypus viewing camp, which was a very interesting experience. These are amazing little creatures. They have a classification of their own, since scientists couldn’t quite agree on where they belong. They seem to be mammals, since they have warm blood, fur, and feed milk to their young. But, there the resemblance to a mammal ends, for they lay eggs and have a venomous spur on their back feet, which would seem to put them into a reptile category. They are about the size of a housecat and swim around looking for mainly insects and worms to eat. They are very shy, so it is a treat to get to see one. We saw two.
One night, we stayed at a camp that has scientific research going on with sea turtles. They are studing the loggerheads, green turtles, and flatback turtles that come in from the ocean to lay their eggs on the beach. People became so interested in what they were doing that they came onto the beach and wanted to watch, but the rangers knew they needed to control things better when 25 turtles came up to lay eggs one night, and 24 swam away without laying them because of all the people. Now they take people out in small groups and strictly control the light (it scares them and/or confuses them). Once the turtle gets about 20 eggs laid in the hole she has dug, the lights won’t disturb her and everyone gets to watch. This was fascinating, and after all the hard work of digging a hole, laying the eggs, covering the eggs, and them crawling across that expanse of sand, she was totally worn out, and we all cheered privately as she swam away. These sea turtles are all endangered species, so the scientists are helping to save them, by helping to ensure that they can still have places to lay their nest.
Then there are the koalas–not koala bears–I got a funny look when I said that. They are very quiet and docile animals during the day, and sleep for at least 20 hours of the day. Then at night they start grunting like pigs, and sqealing, and it sounds like they are stripping all the bark out of the trees. In the morning they are quite sleepy again and it looks as if you could go pet them, but that is very inadvisable, as the only real defense they have is a very sharp set of claws.
We also got to swim around on the Coral Reef, up near Cairns in the far north of Queensland. Gene took scuba diving lessons, and me and the girls went with him to snorkel on his last day of lessons. The colors really are that intense. I thought they just touched them up like they do the pix of Mars or Venus, but it is like an undersea garden down there. We lost our underwater camera, but were able to purchase some photos of all the strange critters down there.
Tags: Australia, Travel
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