Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Rod Out back wrote:
You might find this amusing... snip I rode over to him(Bike), and in the middle of a bare area of ground in front of him was a plover, sitting on 4 very large eggs. I *loved* the story of the plover! Thank you! I had an experience of my own when I was about fourteen. Always a nature nut, I spied these plovers doing 'nesting' sorts of things down the bottom of the crown land that backed onto our place. One morning, I could've sworn I saw something small moving around between the plovers' feet. I told my Mum I was going down to get a look at the baby plovers and (fortunately) she came to watch. I waited until Mr and Mrs had gone off shopping and then snuck down to the bare patch of ground where I thought the nest was. Sure enough I spied about four of the most adorable chocolate and cream striped babies! They were all crouched on the ground as if trying to press themselves into it. I'm sure they believed I couldn't see them! Well, I was just a kid and only human: I picked one up. It was utterly adorable and quite confident to sit on my hand unrestrained. I was admiring it when something pierced my consciousness (LOL! Something was *about* to pierce my stupid *head*!!!) Mum was bellowing 'Patricia! RUN, you stupid child! The birds are back!' I looked up, straight into the red, flaming eyes of Mr Spurwing Plover! He comin' at me at a rate of knots and he was aimin' at a spot exactly midway between my gormless eyes! I could *see* the spurs on his wings (I've often wondered whether they can actually erect these during moments of Great Passion...?) Anyway, I dropped the baby and sprinted back to Mum (with great alacrity, she says, having sprouted Fred Flintsone legs on the way - you know how Fred's legs turn into propellers when he's in a Big Hurry?) The plover parted my hair for me, but no damage was done and I had the satisfaction of having seen the babies Up Close. It was years later before I realised what damage I could have done in interfering with the babies - I've never done anything that stupid again! (Well, almost never...) Halfway back to the shed with the mob, I ran across a Banded lapwing (related to the plover - smaller) that took off from a similarly bare area of ground. It took me nearly 10 minutes to finally see the eggs; they were no more than a few feet from me. It reminds me of those picture books that had the hidden images that you needed to twist your eyes around to see. I see the lapwing was back to the nest before I was 30 yards away as I rode off.... Yeah, a pair of plovers laid eggs in the middle of my school's playing fields. They were absolutely undetectable, but the birds patrolled the area continually. Boys from the school took great delight in swinging at them with a cricket bat as they tried to drive intruders away from their nest. One of the birds wound up 'broken' and the other disappeared. I assume the nestlings died... Why don't people teach their kids to see wonder in Nature instead of a chance to kill something???? snip Trees here are a mix of Coolibah along the creeks, with some River Red gums and Bloodwoods for good measure. The bloodwood photographed against a late afternoon sky with a few dark clouds in the background look a treat. We have a broad variety of acacia species (boree, gidyea, mimosa, etc), and even some hakea, including a few Hakea Lorea (Bootlace Oak??) that I noticed for the first time last year(I actually have some pics of their flowers somewhere). We also get Whitewood, and Beefwood, although both these trees are restricted to areas on the property where the soils are favourable. Also native sandalwood along creeks, as well as bush orange along the harder red soils. A lot of bush passionfruit vines, and an assortment of other species that I dont know the correct species of (Dogwood, Suplejack, etc). Grass types are mostly the 4 varieties of Mitchell grass, which is a very drought-resitant native grass. Wow! I'll be up next week! D'you get many birds? Anything unusual? Most of the property (75,000 acres) is open undulating downs country, lightly timbered. There is a large creek system running through the centre of the property, and so there is a lot of timber through this area. I have had arguements with people that are adamant we must have cleared our country; however this is not the case in our area. We are on the edge of some very open rolling downs country that has a very loose ashy black soil. As you get closer to the creeks, the soil becomes more sandy, although stays soil rather than sand. This whole area was under an inland sea millions of years ago, and one paddock at our southern end is a treasure trove of mud-stone rocks containing fossilised crabs, amenites, nautiloids & countless types of shells. We have even found a fossilised pine cone. WOW!!! I'd *love* to see those! Have you catalogued what you've found? Ever had a paleontologist over for a barbie? Could be interesting, y'know... Interestingly, the loose ashy mitchell grass downs country is about the only place where you will find a Collets Snake, which is a close relative of the King Brown & Red-Bellied Black Snakes. Collets are very shy, and no doubt lethal if they bite. They live in the large cracks that develop as the ashy soil dries out. Local Parks Officer told me very few people have seen them in the wild. Very pretty snake. **WOW**!!! Gee, got any pics? I'll see what I can do about some pics of all this; including the plovers guild if they are still there tomorrow. Cheers, Rod....Out Back. Thanks for a brilliant post, Rod! I never cease to be fascinated by Other People's Gardens and your backyard sounds a lot like the sort I'd like to have! Please give my best to Sgr Toiletto Frogoli and his dear Aunt Psycho! ;-D -- Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Stuff Snipped Here
Interestingly, the loose ashy mitchell grass downs country is about the only place where you will find a Collets Snake, which is a close relative of the King Brown & Red-Bellied Black Snakes. Collets are very shy, and no doubt lethal if they bite. They live in the large cracks that develop as the ashy soil dries out. Local Parks Officer told me very few people have seen them in the wild. Very pretty snake. **WOW**!!! Gee, got any pics? I'll see what I can do about some pics of all this; including the plovers guild if they are still there tomorrow. Cheers, Rod....Out Back. Thanks for a brilliant post, Rod! I never cease to be fascinated by Other People's Gardens and your backyard sounds a lot like the sort I'd like to have! Please give my best to Sgr Toiletto Frogoli and his dear Aunt Psycho! ;-D -- Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia Trish, Thanks for the kind words; I appreciate them. I doubt our home is ever going to win Home Beautiful house of the year, and parts of it are what may be described as delapidated (as many outback homes). However, it is home, as well as home for all the wildlife who take advantage of it. Most days this is a joy, but the damn christmas beetles and these bitey little mini-bugs (they go through gauze with ease) are making life a bit of a trial at present. It gets very dusty in dry weather, hot in summer and very cold in winter, but I wouldnt swap it for anything. I had an interesting 'Episode' with Mrs Psycho this morning..... I emptied our her private swimming bath (large peanut paste jar with rainwater in it), and filled it up again. For reasons unknown to us mortals, Mrs Psycho decided to spend the day camped beside the jar; probably to keep an eye on it. She watched me refill her jar, but didnt budge an inch...The jar sits on a ledge outside one of the doors to the house; the coldroom door is just beside her ledge. Some nights there are up to 5 frogs in the jar together having a soak(I have pics of this), despite there being an ice-cream container of rainwater on the floor nearby. 5 is getting to be a bit of a squeeze, and this is after we upgraded to the largest peanut paste jar they make! As I was about to leave, I (stupidly) tapped her on the head with my pointy finger. Before I could get my hand away, she had latched on, and had her jaws over the first knuckle! I was so suprised at her quick reactions, I didnt do anything for a moment. In this time, she wrapped 2 chubby little hands around my finger, and proceeded to get another knuckle down the gullet. As I looked in surprise and horror, she was eyeing off the next knuckle, and obviously thinking about it. I wondered about how she might cope when she got to the hand... It was about this time, I started to wonder if she might win! I started waving my hand about, and this damn frog was firmly attached to the other end! Anyway, after I had waved the hand around a couple of times, I put her back down in the jar of water, and she decided to let this dinner opportunity go. After returning my finger from her gullet, she proceeded to croak at me indignantly, and then sank into the water for a restorative soak. I fed her 3 large hawk moths as a peace offering, which she ate with great relish. I think I took 5 minutes washing my finger after that. I see she is still out there this evening; glaring at all who venture out to the coldroom. Weird, dangerous, and scarey animal. It's probably why I like her... I was wandering over to the laundry pre-dawn this morning at 5am(mustering), and I saw a big fat frog realising the mistake of jamming a big green christmas(stink) beetle into his gob. He had just encountered that horrid moment when you realise what an awful mistake you have just made. As with all nasty battles, the fighting degenerated into chemical warfare, of which the beetle had plenty. A very hasty reversal of the whole swallowing effort, and the beetle ran away unharmed. When I returned some 5 minutes later, the frog was sitting with his tongue still hanging out. I gathered he didnt want it back any more... I expect he wont be doing THAT again for a while! We did have a fossil expert here living in the other homestead for a few years. He was very informative, and did a lot of assessments of what fossil were in the area. I do have pics of most of the animals described, although none yet of Mrs Plover. I do have a pic of a Collets snake that I took at a reptile exhibit at an ag show 2 years ago. Ours are the same as this one; just more inclined to bite, as the show ones were bred in captivity, and handled regularly. Problem is (and this is going to sound stupid), but I dont know how to post them to a binary newsgroup, and link them so people here can view them. If anyone can give me a quick rundown of how to do it, I'll post a few pics for you. I'm using Outlook express V6. Cheers, Rod. |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Rod,
Post it to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens When you create the post, type all the text as normal, there is a paper clip at the top of the new message toolbar. Click on that and it will come up with a box : 'Insert Attachment' - no, it's not a Lorena Bobbitt command either, you just have to browse your files till you find the folder / file you want to attach, double click the file, make any more amendments to the post and send the message. The image size is better if it's 100kB or less for all users to download in under a day. Looking forward to the posts. Good Luck, Jock Alternately, M$ says this in their help menu: To insert a file into a message Click anywhere in the message window. On the 'Insert' menu, click 'File Attachment', and then find the file you want to attach. Select the file, and then click 'Attach'. The file is listed in the 'Attach' box in the message header. Note You can also add a text (*.txt) file into the body of your e-mail message by clicking the 'Insert' menu and then clicking 'Text from File'. "Rod Out back" wrote in message ... | Stuff Snipped Here | | Interestingly, the loose ashy mitchell grass downs country is about the | only | place where you will find a Collets Snake, which is a close relative of | the | King Brown & Red-Bellied Black Snakes. Collets are very shy, and no | doubt | lethal if they bite. They live in the large cracks that develop as the | ashy | soil dries out. Local Parks Officer told me very few people have seen | them | in the wild. Very pretty snake. | | **WOW**!!! Gee, got any pics? | | I'll see what I can do about some pics of all this; including the | plovers | guild if they are still there tomorrow. | | Cheers, | | Rod....Out Back. | | Thanks for a brilliant post, Rod! I never cease to be fascinated by Other | People's Gardens and your backyard sounds a lot like the sort I'd like to | have! | Please give my best to Sgr Toiletto Frogoli and his dear Aunt Psycho! ;-D | | -- | Trish {|:-} | Newcastle, NSW, Australia | | Trish, | | Thanks for the kind words; I appreciate them. | | I doubt our home is ever going to win Home Beautiful house of the year, and | parts of it are what may be described as delapidated (as many outback | homes). However, it is home, as well as home for all the wildlife who take | advantage of it. Most days this is a joy, but the damn christmas beetles and | these bitey little mini-bugs (they go through gauze with ease) are making | life a bit of a trial at present. | It gets very dusty in dry weather, hot in summer and very cold in winter, | but I wouldnt swap it for anything. | | I had an interesting 'Episode' with Mrs Psycho this morning..... | | I emptied our her private swimming bath (large peanut paste jar with | rainwater in it), and filled it up again. For reasons unknown to us | mortals, Mrs Psycho decided to spend the day camped beside the jar; probably | to keep an eye on it. She watched me refill her jar, but didnt budge an | inch...The jar sits on a ledge outside one of the doors to the house; the | coldroom door is just beside her ledge. | Some nights there are up to 5 frogs in the jar together having a soak(I have | pics of this), despite there being an ice-cream container of rainwater on | the floor nearby. 5 is getting to be a bit of a squeeze, and this is after | we upgraded to the largest peanut paste jar they make! | | As I was about to leave, I (stupidly) tapped her on the head with my pointy | finger. Before I could get my hand away, she had latched on, and had her | jaws over the first knuckle! I was so suprised at her quick reactions, I | didnt do anything for a moment. In this time, she wrapped 2 chubby little | hands around my finger, and proceeded to get another knuckle down the | gullet. As I looked in surprise and horror, she was eyeing off the next | knuckle, and obviously thinking about it. I wondered about how she might | cope when she got to the hand... | It was about this time, I started to wonder if she might win! I started | waving my hand about, and this damn frog was firmly attached to the other | end! | Anyway, after I had waved the hand around a couple of times, I put her back | down in the jar of water, and she decided to let this dinner opportunity go. | After returning my finger from her gullet, she proceeded to croak at me | indignantly, and then sank into the water for a restorative soak. I fed her | 3 large hawk moths as a peace offering, which she ate with great relish. | I think I took 5 minutes washing my finger after that. | | I see she is still out there this evening; glaring at all who venture out to | the coldroom. | Weird, dangerous, and scarey animal. | | It's probably why I like her... | | I was wandering over to the laundry pre-dawn this morning at 5am(mustering), | and I saw a big fat frog realising the mistake of jamming a big green | christmas(stink) beetle into his gob. He had just encountered that horrid | moment when you realise what an awful mistake you have just made. As with | all nasty battles, the fighting degenerated into chemical warfare, of which | the beetle had plenty. A very hasty reversal of the whole swallowing effort, | and the beetle ran away unharmed. When I returned some 5 minutes later, the | frog was sitting with his tongue still hanging out. I gathered he didnt | want it back any more... | I expect he wont be doing THAT again for a while! | | We did have a fossil expert here living in the other homestead for a few | years. He was very informative, and did a lot of assessments of what fossil | were in the area. | | I do have pics of most of the animals described, although none yet of Mrs | Plover. I do have a pic of a Collets snake that I took at a reptile exhibit | at an ag show 2 years ago. Ours are the same as this one; just more | inclined to bite, as the show ones were bred in captivity, and handled | regularly. | | Problem is (and this is going to sound stupid), but I dont know how to post | them to a binary newsgroup, and link them so people here can view them. If | anyone can give me a quick rundown of how to do it, I'll post a few pics for | you. I'm using Outlook express V6. | | Cheers, | | Rod. | | |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Jock wrote:
Rod, Post it to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens When you create the post, type all the text as normal, there is a paper clip at the top of the new message toolbar. Click on that and it will come up with a box : 'Insert Attachment' - no, it's not a Lorena Bobbitt command either, you just have to browse your files till you find the folder / file you want to attach, double click the file, make any more amendments to the post and send the message. The image size is better if it's 100kB or less for all users to download in under a day. Looking forward to the posts. Good Luck, If the pix are snakes etc wouldn't it be better in alt.binaries.pictures.animals? There's also alt.binaries.birds for bird photos, they are crying out for posters there. |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
"Jock" wrote in message ... Rod, Post it to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens When you create the post, type all the text as normal, there is a paper clip at the top of the new message toolbar. Click on that and it will come up with a box : 'Insert Attachment' - no, it's not a Lorena Bobbitt command either, you just have to browse your files till you find the folder / file you want to attach, double click the file, make any more amendments to the post and send the message. The image size is better if it's 100kB or less for all users to download in under a day. Looking forward to the posts. Good Luck, Jock Jock, Thanks for the instructions, but one question. How might I be able to alert people in this newsgroup that I have posted a particular message with pictures? Is there a way to post a link to the message I sent to the binaries newsgroup that points them straight to it? Plan B is to simply let people here know when I have posted something. Thanks in advance, Rod.......Out Back. |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
just a post here or wherever saying it's there....
People can go look if they want to. Jock "Rod Out back" wrote in message ... | | "Jock" wrote in message | ... | Rod, | Post it to alt.binaries.pictures.gardens | When you create the post, type all the text as normal, there is a paper | clip | at the top of the new message toolbar. Click on that and it will come up | with a box : 'Insert Attachment' - no, it's not a Lorena Bobbitt command | either, you just have to browse your files till you find the folder / file | you want to attach, double click the file, make any more amendments to the | post and send the message. | The image size is better if it's 100kB or less for all users to download | in | under a day. | Looking forward to the posts. | Good Luck, | Jock | | Jock, | | Thanks for the instructions, but one question. How might I be able to alert | people in this newsgroup that I have posted a particular message with | pictures? Is there a way to post a link to the message I sent to the | binaries newsgroup that points them straight to it? | | Plan B is to simply let people here know when I have posted something. | | Thanks in advance, | | Rod.......Out Back. | | |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
IAWB .. whatever flavour of binaries blows the hair back. There are
gazillions of them but not everyone subscribes to them. Jock "Barbara" wrote in message ... | | If the pix are snakes etc wouldn't it be better in | alt.binaries.pictures.animals? | There's also alt.binaries.birds for bird photos, they are crying out for | posters there. | | |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Jock wrote:
IAWB .. whatever flavour of binaries blows the hair back. There are gazillions of them but not everyone subscribes to them. I was just mindful of keeping on topic in each group. There are folks who would scream if say, snake or animal photos, were posted in a garden binaries group. |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
true.
Jock "Barbara" wrote in message ... | Jock wrote: | IAWB .. whatever flavour of binaries blows the hair back. There are | gazillions of them but not everyone subscribes to them. | | I was just mindful of keeping on topic in each group. There are folks who | would scream if say, snake or animal photos, were posted in a garden | binaries group. | | |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Rod Out back wrote:
snip I had an interesting 'Episode' with Mrs Psycho this morning..... snipped intriguing story of Mme Psycho Frog and Rod's finger Pppppbbblllftt! You should've warned me! I spat coffee...! We did have a fossil expert here living in the other homestead for a few years. He was very informative, and did a lot of assessments of what fossil were in the area. The inland sea aspect would be fascinating! Fancy finding ammonites in the Outback! I do have pics of most of the animals described I went and had a look at the Frogoli family pics (thank you!) - I have *never* seen such hilarious photos of frogs before! This is the sort of thing that captures the imagination and gives a face to the conservation movement (don't you think?) Can't wait to see more pics from you! (Got'n'y birds of prey?) Sadly, most kids in Oz never *see* a Green Tree Frog, let alone realise they have funny habits and are worth watching. Belatedly, we're starting to educate them (the kids, not the frogs) in schools, but I think your point (in another post) about owning field guides is well made! Any kid can look up a picture in a book - it doesn't need brilliant reading skills - and can have the satisfaction of a) having figured out what he saw and b) knowing he's seen something special and worth taking care of. It's a shame that so many of us seem more occupied in giving the kids the latest electronic game - I often think a pair of binoculars would do them more good! I also take your point about people confusing native with introduced species! I've been stunned to find how many people living in my street have no idea of the difference between Indian Mynahs and Noisy Miners!!! AND - the family down the road *rewarded* their cat for killing a Noisy Miner because it was 'one of those bl**dy pests!' How can that be? I heard a useful tip about snails the other day! (This is good, because it doesn't pose a threat to the Blue Tongues!) Scatter el cheapo kitty litter about your snail-prone plants - it makes a bit of a mulch and deters snails because of its dessicant properties. I haven't tried it yet, but will - snails are munching on my tuberous begonias and my Sydney Rock Lilies! Thanks again for the pics, Rod! :-D -- Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia |
Rod's Backyard was Cats etc
Very worthwhile stuff snipped here
I heard a useful tip about snails the other day! (This is good, because it doesn't pose a threat to the Blue Tongues!) Scatter el cheapo kitty litter about your snail-prone plants - it makes a bit of a mulch and deters snails because of its dessicant properties. I haven't tried it yet, but will - snails are munching on my tuberous begonias and my Sydney Rock Lilies! I have heard this same remedy; the absorbant kitty litter dries out their mucus faster than they can make it. A neat solution. Kitty litter also works great in BBQ's, and cleaning up oil spills in the garage. Thanks again for the pics, Rod! :-D 3 more pics sent to alt.binaries.pictures.animals. 1 Echidna (called Mr Prickle) who keeps an eye on termites for us, 1 Northern bullfrog I saw in Rockhampton in Feb, and 1 Striped Burrowing Frog. Cheers, Rod......Out Back P.S. Having some probs getting stuff off the video camera; it seems to be more bit hungry for disk space than I first imagined. There is another way of getting them to disk, but I am nearly finished the bookwork for 2nd quarter last year, and shouldnt get distracted.....Yeah, right. |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:31 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter