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

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,
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.
|
|

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.

"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.

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.
|
|

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.
|
|

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.

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 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

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.