Birds

Birds are really cool. Like, really cool. Most people don't pay a whole lot of attention to them, because they're just there. They're background animals. And on top of that, they don't like cuddles that much, and they're not fluffy. Well, most of them aren't fluffy. At least they're not fluffy once they're adults. But that's not important. Why? Because they are cool. So. Here are some photos of birds, and I'm going to tell you why every one of them is cool.

Haters gon' hate

 This is a purple swamphen. Sort of an ugly name for a very pretty bird. Now, he's awesome obvioulsy because he looks pretty. But he's also a really good dad. Michael and I have seen them down at the local park in fluffy baby season. We saw a mum and babies walking around, minding their own business, and then, out of nowhere, another one comes running along. Are they territorial? Will the babies be attacked? Turns out, it was an express delivery of yummy dragonfly to one of the babies.

This guy is awesome for a couple of reasons. He's tiny, he's fast, and his hair is super crazy. He has like 4 side mohawks. How cool is that?

They can open the doors!

 Dinosaur baby? I thought so too. Turns out dinosaurs are extinct though. This guy is awesome because he can go from this adorable in a kind of scary way, to the below photo which is also adorable in a kind of scary way, but somehow a completely different scary way to the first way.

 This guy is scary in a 'I'm going to see you taking some dead mice to feed to some animals in cages and stalk you and then try to steal said mice when you least expect it by swooping at you' kind of a way. Sneaky.

 This is totally cool in many ways. Of course, the eggs themselves are cool, as is the ability to build a nest. The fact that the birds in question built the nest in a basket just seems pretty darn smart to me. These particular birds have been using this nest for a while now and keep adding to it. They've just started nesting again too, which is always very exciting. Also, the parents share responsiblities in the nest, and if you watch it for long enough you can see the changing of the guard.

 It's also cool that they let us get close enough to take all these photos of them. In this photo you can see that the eggs have hatched, and there are two tiny baby bird heads just peeking out from under mum and/or dad. And they go from tiny little birds that somehow fit into those eggs, to flying away in about 2 weeks or so.

 This guy was brought into Kanyana because he was hit by a car I think. And personally, I think the person who picked him up was pretty brave. I mean, look at him. He looks like if he were feeling better, he would just bust straight out of that cage and intimidate you into letting him go.

This is the same bird being examined. Again, the accepting but plotting eyes. He's still beautiful, just in a slightly wary way. Interesting fact; it's not their beak you have to watch out for. It's their talons. Those things can grip through a lot, and just stay gripped. You know those leather gloves that bird of prey handlers wear? False sense of security. Wedge tailed eagles (of which he is not one) have about 2 tonnes of gripping power. I've heard a story of a guy getting an eagle on his arm once, the talon went through his hand. Completely through. Had to knock the bird out to be able to get it off. Cool huh?

I sad...

 This guy looks so sad. Cuddle him. Cuddle him now.

 So if you live in Australia, you've seen these guys everywhere. For people that don't, they're magpies. In spring at Kanyana we get a lot of these guys as babies. And they are the friendliest, most adorable little guys that you have ever seen. When it's feeding time they just crowd around you trying to get your attention. It's adorable.

 This is Henry. Henry is a forest red-tailed black cockatoo. Below is another red tail, showing it off for us. And below that is what the females/juveniles look like. These guys live to about 80 or so. They're very smart, and super friendly. Henry often is around when the volunteers at Kanyana are having morning tea, and he loves to join in the talking. By screeching very loudly. But we don't mind cause we all love him.

 

 As you can see, they're very pretty. Oh, and in the background there is a pink and grey galah. Also long lived and potentially friendly birds. I say potentially, because if you see one in the wild and try to grab it, they tend to bite. And when you see how big their beaks are, you can see why that might be a problem. Of course, most of the time they would just fly away and look at you warily, so I don't see that happening very often. If you do happen to ever find an injured one, just have a very thick towel near by.

Well, that's the end of my post for today. Oh, and this guy is awesome because he just flew up on to my head. I love friendly birds. So next time you see a bird, say hi. Cause they're great. And you should like them.

Animal Awards

Today I was watching a re-run of Oprah that involved amazing animal stories, you know the ones, animals saving lives, interspecies friendships, etc. And it got me thinking; how many of the animals that we see all the time and take for granted are actually really cool, without us realising it? So I decided to trawl through some of my animal photos and give out some awards. And they definitely deserve some awards :)


Most awesome

I'm awesome.

Echidna. I mean, what can I say; they're adorable (if you're not convinced of that watch my puggle video here), they're curious and smart, they're covered in spikes for armor, and they can swim by using their nose as a snorkel. Awesome.


Coolest hairstyle: caterpillar division

I'm going this way now

Fashion, turn to the left...

This guy. I don't even know what kind of caterpillar he is, or what he turns into, but look at his hair! Faux-hawk plus antennae-y things at the front. I wish I could give this guy a tiny little high five.


Most likely to run over your face in the middle of the night

Whatcha sleepin out here for?

Are you in the cage or am I?

Quenda, otherwise known as the Southern Brown Bandicoot. I stayed over at a friend's house once, and we left out some food for the bandicoots. Then we decided to sleep outside, since it was summer and quite nice out there. Then I got woken up in the middle of the night from a bandicoot running across my face. Heh.


Most likely to steal your heart

I sleepy. Cuddle?

Boodie, aka Burrowing Bettong. Look at him, all sleepy and whatnot. He's adorable. You want cuddles? This guy can hook you up.


Most likely to make you paranoid

It's cool, you go have your cup of tea, I won't come inside. Probably.

Huntsman spider. Specifically this huntsman spider who has what looks like a charming coat, perhaps knitted, on her back. It's not a coat. It's her babies. And she's chilling out in the runner of your door. One step away from being all up in your house. Think about that.


Most tiniest turtle

I'm gonna be a big turtle one day!

Not the species, just this guy, who is a baby, and super cute and tiny. Look at him! So cute ^_^


Most unexpectedly vicious

Aint I adorable?

Brushtail Possum. Sure, they look sweet and cuddly, but try to catch one and suddenly you realise that they would prefer not to be caught. Get one in your roof and it will sound like elephants whenever they go in or out. And if one should happen to get stuck inside your house for any reason, be prepared to have to replace most of it. But who can help loving that face?

So next time you see an animal that you are so used to seeing that you barely register that they are there, take a photo for me and think a little about how awesome they are :)

My Trip to Asia and Zoo Review

On July 7th, when it is winter in Aus and freezing, I set of to a little slice of the tropics. (Which you can see here) My first stop was Bali. I didn't go to the zoo there, but I went to the Bali Safari and Marine Park. It seems a little strange that they call it a marine park at all, they just have some aquariums with fish and that's about it. I was imagining a much broader scope of marine animals, but what they had there looked pretty good.

Bali Myrnah birds

The safari ride part of the park was pretty cool. Lots of freer ranging animals, bigger enclosures, some animals like the deer and cow-like ones could just wander around in their sections. The elephant enclosures looked a bit small for such big animals though.

Lion lazing around in the safari section

I was also a little disappointed and upset at the 'take a photo with an Orangutan' section. The Orang in question was clearly just a baby and he was being passed around like some kind of toy. Orangutans stay with their parents for a long time, the longest of any primate other than us. So I had to wonder what had happened to his mother.

Even though that all sounds slightly depressing, the trip there was still well worth it. I got to see some great animals, some of them just running around, like lizards and birds. There was also a water park there for those with young kids or who just want to cool off in the tropical heat.

Random lizard. He was so pretty!

Next stop was Jakarta. I wasn't really looking forward to going to Ragunan Zoo, as I had heard some quite negative stuff about it. I was therefore surprised when it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Some of the enclosures were horrible and small, like those for some monkeys and gibbons, but some of them were actually pretty good, like for the racoons. They had a lot of birds in the zoo (in enclosures, not just free-flying) and I would have liked to see more greenery in their enclosures.

Sad to see such beautiful animals in such small enclosures with nothing to do.

The highlight of Ragunan was meeting Ibu Ulla. She has been living in Jakarta for 60 years or so now, having originally come from Germany. She is 90+ years old, and lives in her own little house inside the zoo grounds. She very graciously agreed to meet with me and my dad, and sat down with us for some iced tea. All around her house are enclosures with Orangutans, which have been bought to the zoo for various reasons including being confiscated pets. Some of them have even been born at the zoo. It was amazing to meet them, but sad to know that some of them have spent a large portion of their lives in these small enclosures, simply because there is nowhere else for them to go.

We spent a little time talking to Ibu Ulla, and then made plans to visit her the next day aswell. When we showed up, she took us on a little guided tour of the zoo in her car (driven by someone else), where we were able to go into non-public areas. The video of the white tiger and of the pygmy hippo were both from behind the scenes areas. She also took us to see the crocodiles, and some more Orangutans in other parts of the zoo. It was a little sad to see some of the enclosures, but if there's one thing that Ragunan has a lot of, it's space, so I hope that the zoo will continue to improve the enclosures that their animals live in.

After the tour, we went back to Ibu Ulla's house, had some more iced tea, and said goodbye. I think she gets quite lonely, as she told us that come 4pm, she's alone in the house as everyone goes home.

As we were leaving, one of the younger Orangs was out of her cage for some exercise. That meant that we got to play with her for a while before we left. She loved making a little nest for herself with branches that were around for her, and at one point I think she decided to see if my pants tasted the same as the leaves as they were almost the same colour. I wish I could have stayed there all day playing with her, but eventually we had to leave.

She loved eating berries that were found on the browse she was given.

Singapore was next, and the zoo that I had been looking forward to most. Singapore Zoo is amazing, from the moment that you walk in and see Cotton Top Tamarins in a little home with no bars or walls or cage doors of any kind, just a little island of vegetation that you can walk right up to.

Why hello there....

All of the enclosures that I saw were beautifully done, and the zoo had some amazing areas to walk in to, such as the 'Fragile Forest' exhibit, where there were free-flying birds and fruit bats, ring tailed lemurs walking around, and if you look carefully enough, even mouse-deer.

Shh! Don't scare her away :)

There were a lot of interactive things all over the zoo, the most common of which was feeding the animals. This cost you $5, and then you recieved some food which you could give to the animals and get close to them. This is a great opportunity for people to get a real connection to these animals, and I'm sure that it made more than one person's day.

The animal shows are something that Singapore Zoo is famous for, and I saw part of the 'Rainforest Fights Back' show, and all of the 'Safari Splash Zone'. I had heard some bad things about the shows in the past, but maybe they have been improved since then. Most of what I saw was pretty good, the animals weren't forced to do 'tricks' as such, most of them just making an appearance. The Splash Zone show was focussed around a sea-lion called Stan, and while he did do tricks, most of the things that he did could have been classified as natural behaviours.

All in all, the zoo was fantastic, and I would love to return there.

Mum can't see me...

A beautiful enclosure.

After the day zoo closed, I then wandered over to the Night Safari. This was a really cool place, although I have a feeling it would be cooler if it was during the week (I went on a Friday) when not as many people would be there. There are 4 different walking paths that you can wander around at your own pace, the tram ride that takes you around to see some of the enclosures, and a show. I didn't get to see the show as by the time I finished walking around and riding the tram, it was quite late.

It was a bit hard to take photos (as for obvious reasons flash is not allowed on your cameras), but the feeling of walking around a place like that at night is amazing. One of my favourites was the walk in bat enclosure, where there were fruit bats and some smaller bats, as well as a few birds. The smaller bats were flying around a lot, and it was just a great atmosphere to be in.


There is still a lot that I could say about my trip, but I'll leave it there for today. I hope that someone has enjoyed this post, even if it was just looking at the pictures :)

-Bec

Puggle

This is Aruba, an adult Echidna

I love animals. Chances are, everyone reading this knows that already, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway. And let's face it, animals, especially mammals, are easy to like.

Take this little puggle for example. I don't know how anyone could see him and not melt. I met him for the first time while he was still in his carry cage, and he did not want to be in there. He wanted to be outside playing with everyone. And he was pretty close to getting out by himself too. Adult echidnas need a stronger cage than a cat carrier, they can get out of those pretty easily. And you don't want a loose echidna. It's not that they bite or anything, they don't have teeth, it's just that they will hide and dig in, and you won't be able to get them out; or they'll rip through things to get out and you won't be able to keep them in. I've even heard stories of echidnas being loose in cars and having to get a mechanic to solve the problem (echidna hiding under seat + echidna being spikey + echidna being strong = mechanic to remove car seat to try to get him out).

Anyway, eventually we put Puggle in a little area to wander around in, which he was much happier about. The second I was in there with him though, he started coming up to me, and for some reason sniffing my shoes. Maybe my shoes smelt like ants, but he was fascinated by them and was forever sniffing, trying to open them with his claws, and licking them. It was adorable to see his little tongue going all over the place, I think there are a few moments in the video where you can see it. At the moment his tongue is only about 5cm long, but it will grow up to 18cm or so by the time he's an adult.

My favourite part of playing with Puggle was getting to pick him up. You have to pick echidnas up by running your hands down their sides from the front until you can feel their tummies and then lifting them carefully. The first part is easy, holding a baby echidna while he's trying to move and explore is a little harder. He was trying to tunnel under my arms, dig and lick through my hands, and in general just being squirmy. Which is adorable. And totally worth a few sore fingers.

If you run across an echidna in the wild, usually the best thing to do is have a bit of a look (because they are pretty cool), and then leave them alone to get back to whatever they were doing. If you think that it might be hurt, or in danger in some way (like you have seen a dog or a fox around) there is usually a number you can call for advice. In Western Australia, the Wildcare Helpline (08 9474 9055) is open 24/7, and the volunteers that staff it can tell you what to do if you find sick, injured or orphaned native wildlife. Kanyana is also a good place to call for advice (08 9291 3900 7 days, 8:30-6:30), and I'm sure that other states/countries all have somewhere that you can call.

Until next time, take a moment to notice the animals around you. Seriously. There are more than you think. : )