thpinkpussycat

Okay we have heard all about the spider and the snakes, but what about the other wildlife, the nicer wildlife (if any!).
Here in the UK we have a large garden which attracts squirrels, birds, hedgehogs, frogs and the like. What wildlife do you get in your typical Aussie back garden (other that the creepy crawlies!! :scared: )?

CasG

Sorry cannot really help, except for knowing about some of the birds which will frequent our Aussie gardens - Cockatoo, parrots, rosellas, honey-eaters for eg.

I do know a man who can help though - Tonyk38 - he'll be online about 11pm, and is an expert on all flora and fauna.
So keep the thread bumped up and he's bound to answer - in fact I'll ask him to.
Cas x

thpinkpussycat

Thanks Cas

The really nice thing about this forum is that there is always "a man that can!"

Grayling

You may get possoms and the odd flying fox. Even a koala if you are lucky.

You will probably get nothing if you keep cats.

One thing to remember is that a lot of these 'cute' animals will try and rip your face off (including Koalas) if you should try and pick one up. :scared:

Don't confuse them with the ones to be found in 'petting zoos'.

Happy hunting

G

aussie73

In OZ even the cute fury animals can be dangerous, koala bears have razor sharp claws for climbing trees which can tear your flesh to shreads if you piss them off , also Kangaroos can give you a very nasty kick in the stomach or the groin region. Tasmanian devils look like cute little creatures but if you pat one it can bite your finger clean off. :scared:

ProofReader

Agree with Grayling, "You will probably get nothing if you keep cats."

In our cat-free back yard, we enjoy loads of lizards and water dragons of all different shapes and sizes and many species of birds (unfortunately, this includes bloody crows ).

As a creek forms two of our boundaries, we get the odd duck or two and have even seen the occasional carpet snake (have seen two or three in 27 years!) Bush turkeys, egrets, cockatoos, lorikeets, parakeets, king parrots, rosellas and kookaburras are regular visitors, as are flying foxes (fruit bats) at night.

Possums are around and love bouncing around on rooves. In the middle of the night, when all is quiet, it can sound just like an adult striding along the roof! Luckily our roof is possum proof, so we don't get them in the roof space (loft). Also, as our roof is not immediately surrounded by too much tree/branch clutter, we don't suffer their annoying presence on the roof.

A few years back, before this suburb became quite so built up, we used to see an occasional fox too.

In more rural areas, you would probably see koalas, kangaroos and possibly wombats too.

Don't always assume that that 'mouse' you see is a rodent. It could be a small marsupial, for example a pigmy possum!

Well, that's a small slice of our back yard for you. Hope it helped!

Shellfish

(unfortunately, this includes bloody crows)

I love crows. I saw a programme about them and they are quite amazing birds and extremely intelligent. It showed how when a crow was given a glass bottle with food at the bottom (too far for the crow to reach) and a piece of metal, the crow 'fashioned' a hook out of the metal and was able to reach the food. I have a new found fondness for them

We get possums despite having cats as they get locked inside after dark as required by law!

Professional Princess

Well said.

As an ex vet nurse, I have strong views on people that export their cats to oz and proudly announce how much of the local wildlife their cat has killed.

One woman said: 'My cat managed to kill a black glossy cockatoo and two lorikeets last week.'

I was horrified. As one vet that I worked for on the sunshine coast said to me, cats dont belong in Australia. If people will bring them over, depending where you live, do not let them kill wildlife. Keep them in.

As mentioned by someone else, small endangered marsupials have been killed by cats.

And no matter how much fun it is to see your cat killing lorikeets, how much fun would it be to see a dingo rip it apart. Thats nature after all.

The most heartbreaking thing I ever saw was the remains of a sulphur crested cockatoo, that a neighbours cat had killed.

Its no wonder local people get pissed off.

darkless

I have to admit that we are bringing our two Cats to Australia, but the thought it dragging a beautiful Lorrikeet home would devastate me. I welcome all advice on how to prevent this. One of our cats is very much a house cat and doesnt really like being out, so she will not be a problem. The other is a little more adventurous and likes to go out at night. I will have to change his habit in OZ so that he is in at night (especially if it is against the law - dunno if it is in WA). We will also strap a bell to his collar in the hope this may prevent him getting too close to birds etc.

I welcome any other sensible advice.

tonyk38

Well said PP. Although cats don't do as much damage to native Aussie wildlife as foxes and dogs (including dingoes), there is no question that they are awfully effective at keeping your garden strictly wildlife free.

A lot of folks have posted about the stuff they get already in their gardens. I would add to that that it often depends where you live. In the middle of a new estate you're probably not going to see a great deal. But as in the UK, if you live in the sticks, you'll most likely get lots more.

If you want to attract birds to your garden, stick up a bird table or two (with a smooth pole to stop cats), plant native trees and shrubs, especially flowering ones, and maybe even put out nectar feeders for the honeyeaters.

A 'native' garden will also encourage other wildlife and if you want to get a better idea of the mammals that may be visiting your garden, take a quiet peek at night with a powerful torch as most Aussie mamals are nocturnal, especially the possums, monotremes (I knew a bloke who had platypus at the bottom of his garden), and even small wallabies, bandicoots, antechinus and of course Flying Foxes and other bats.

Ceri

not really a typical Aussie backyard ( we're backing right onto bushland/reserve), as a lot of people in Brisbane live in built up new estates and don't tend to get wallabies or koalas in their gardens.

Koalas
possums
wallabies, come out each night from the bush to eat our grass
and all the usual lizards and little green tree frogs ( including being over run with pesky cane toads)
birds , plenty, don't know where to start on this one, cockatoos, plus the odd black ones ,King Parrots, lorikeets,Galahs, sacred Kingfishers, Treecreepers, Drongoes, kookaburras of course.. the list goes on
( P.s plenty of cats running around our land , my cats are kept in, but our nearest aussie neighbour who has a load of cats are outside ones.. and we get plenty of wildlife in). I think we are about the only ones I know in our street that actually keep our cats in .. so much for poms bringing cats in to destroy nature ( our neighbours are all Aussies..lol)

cheers

cadman

We have a cat here in the Uk, not taking it to Oz for exactly these reasons.

Ceri

Here's one of our wallabies on our land , not a good photo they only come out at night to feed.
The Swamp wallaby

Ceri

what is wrong with building (or buying) an outside cat run for them ( you can get some really nice ones here) Or just keep them in like I do. The problem in our area , and many other koala and wildlife areas is dogs not cats, which have a taste for koalas, a koala is too big for a cat, major threat of wallabies and koalas are dogs here ( second killer of koalas after road deaths and disease number one). I agree that cats should be kept in if you're livning around nature, as mine are. But Dogs are a major threat to many of these creatures, Koalas especially

cheers

koala in our front garden ( this is the tree I want chopped down, it's too close to our house .. storm reasons). Haven't many photo's on this computer, these are old ones which I've posted on here months back

tonyk38

Thanks for the picture Ceri!

I would've misidentified it as a Whiptail Wallaby because of the face stripe. I thought Swamp Wallabies had dark faces.