From nestling to fledgling
Wildlife Care
“The more we move away from human exceptionalism, the more we can understand animals in their own context, and the more open our minds will be to the kinds of radically different communication all around us. There is really nothing to lose, except our perception of sitting on a throne at the pinnacle of creation. Which was always an illusion any way.”
Raisin, lately. Raisin now. In a blink, Raisin is ready to head to Bat Rescue Bayside. Raisin can fly!
The speed of her happy transformation still astounds. Little wisps of fluff continue to float loose and her darker, striking feathers deepen and extend. A necklace around her throat, a lengthening of the dark wings. She assumes hunting position, and extends her head forward at an angle, making that familiar tawny, branch-like shape. She holds a pose. She blinks and reveals incredible lashes. Her facial bristles are emerging around her eyes. (“Studies have suggested that rictal bristles are tactile and may play a role in nocturnal foraging, although how they develop and are used is unclear”.) These past few days, she has increased her flapping, and she stays on a branch now, having graduated from the fluffy knitted squares befitting of a nestling. She’s transitioned to fledgling and the role of edgling (a young bird that has left the nest) calls.
Practising Master of Disguise Raisin is joined by Grey-headed flying fox pups in care, June, and Harp C. Chord, two Wildlife Victoria rescues. June came into care at four-and-a-half-week-old. She’d fallen from her Mum, near to the Botanic Gardens. Thanks to James and Sophie for spotting and waiting with little June until we arrived, she is an inquisitive and affectionate pup, who doesn’t like to race her meals.
(The last two photos, shared here, are courtesy of James and Sophie, and indicate the efficacy of a cardboard box to contain and keep wildlife safe, without coming into direct contact.)
Harp, followed suit, a six-week-old Grey-headed flying fox pup, named after Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s beautiful and uplifting Nightingale performance, centred around the harpsichord. A little pup who has all the bright light of Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grossi in D major at the close; a musical, old soul, he’s ready to soar. Pictured here, Harp C. Chord and June, together on the airer, in the sunshine. All lightness, brightness, and promise, two buddies, already.
(Thank-you, @melbchamberorch, for inviting us to the mythological brilliance and transcendence of Nightingale, which will forever be twinned with Harp C. Chord and tinkling, dappled light.)
From wildlife to paper animals, in two group exhibitions, one recently opened, the other coming soon, you can see an echidna in Burning Inside at Charles Sturt University (as part of Rona Green Print Folio), and a Kingfisher (from 2004!) at ArtSpace Realm.
Burning Inside
Library, Level 4, Building 13, Charles Sturt University
Wagga Wagga Campus, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW
Friday 14th of November, 2025 – Saturday 14th of March, 2026
Power of Print: Works from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection
ArtSpace at Realm, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood
Monday 24th of November 2025 – Sunday 25th of January, 2026
Power of Print reflects the enormous creative potential that resides in the meeting of ink and printing matrix with paper, and the continued fascination the print medium holds for artists.
The exhibition features 38 original prints by Australian artists from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection dating from 1977 to 2025. Behind the artworks are artists as diverse as the range of printmaking techniques they employ. Threaded through their practices are multiple themes ranging from First Peoples knowledge and culture, colonisation, topography and place, more-than-human responses to biodiversity and relationships with other animals, through to colour abstraction.
Australian print culture continues to proliferate driven by university printmaking departments, organisations and presses such as the Print Council of Australia, Australian Print Workshop and others. As a result, representative coverage of original print making is a vital element of the development of national and regional art collections.
Burning Inside is a defiant, challenging print exchange portfolio and exhibition project created in response to the violent, chaotic, and incendiary times we face. Conceived by Rona Green and Dr. Thomas A. Middlemost in November 2023, the project brings together thirty artists whose works explore the emotional, political, and environmental dimensions of inner fire — whether personal, collective, or symbolic.
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Further contributions by Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, Christina Reid, Cathy Ronalds, Kevin Foley, Seraphina Martin, Aaron McLoughlin, Odin Strbac Low, and Vera Zulumovski, offer interpretations of the theme from wholly individual perspectives. Across various printmaking media, their images convey a burning desire to document accelerating species loss, mourn beloved animal companions, honour figures of personal or shared significance, and reflect on the inner mind.
As ever, please note: you need to be a qualified, vaccinated carer to handle megabats and microbats.
Image credit: N.Tacon [no.12] [1957–1958], Tawny frogmouth from Walkabout magazine: original photographs and associated records, 1934–1974, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and courtesy Tourism Australia
