Bandicoots & koalas, will come

July 3, 2020 Gracia & Louise

Of late

An Eastern barn owl (Tyto alba delicatula) sighting, in our urban garden, early in the morning, and an Eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii), before the backdrop of stop motion night sky, remind me that I need to cushion myself less to winter, and see things that are bigger, more important, and (hopefully) timeless.

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Going beyond the frame of the domestic window, Louise and I recently took part in a Koala Clancy Foundation tree planting day, on private land, with a band of conservation volunteers.

With a tap-tap-whack of the mallet, we helped create what will be a corridor of 500-plus trees for wild koalas. In years to come, they will serve as a link to the granite peaks of the You Yangs. In four years, those River red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) will be feeding koalas, and in a thousand years, how majestical they will be; we hope. With each mulch, we wished each tree good growth.

It felt good to be able to spend a little time planting what we hope will thrive, and as it was easy enough to continue observing social distancing, we booked in for a second planting day with the group.

At morning tea break, as we stood looking out at a flutter of diving Welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena) in their metallic-blue coats and tried to grow our twitcher-wings, two Wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), Australia’s largest bird of prey, glided overhead, felt before we consciously saw or knew them. Recognisable by the wedge in their tails, they were a beautiful transformative hover overhead. We also saw a Whistling kite (Haliastur sphenurus), and a White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) atop a tree, upon our arrival. Their presence, like that of the Eurasian barn owl glimpsed through the window, remains with us still.

The Wedge-tailed eagle is one of 24 diurnal (day-active) raptor species in Australia. Like other birds of prey, it has a hooked bill and large talons. It can weigh 4kg, measure 1m from head to tail-tip and has a wingspan of up to 2.3m (females are larger than males). The nests are so large that smaller birds, like finches, can nest in the underside, benefiting from the protection from predators offered by the eagles!Nests are usually built in the tallest tree in the vicinity, commanding an impressive view of their territory. In parts of Australia where there are no large trees available, the eagles will create nests in shrubs, on telegraph poles, on cliff faces and even on the ground. A pair may have up to 10 different nests within their territory, and will often use a different nest in different years.

Bush Heritage Australia

Here are some of groups you may like to donate your time or money or both towards:
Koala Clancy Foundation
Bush Heritage Australia
The Tasmanian Albatross Fund (Incidentally, our last EOFY dontation.)
Friends of the Earth (Australia)
Wilderness Society
Pay the Rent
Wildlife Victoria

Head to CharityGuide, “your Guide to 65,715 Australian Charities…. [, and] find your new passion. Explore and evaluate Australia's wealth of charities with [their] free and detailed analysis”.

Image credit: Ian Brown via Australian Geographic