This is Screech.
For the last couple of months we've had a very diligent Tawny Frogmouth pair sitting on their nest close to the house. We've watched with anticipation and were finally rewarded by seeing a little bundle of fluff popping his head out of the nest.
Then last weekend - DRAMA - I walked outside to see a massive monitor making his way towards the Tawny tree. Screamed at hubby to come and help, we tried to avert disaster, but the monitor was way too fast for us and scaled the tree.
Mumma Tawny was very panicked, as the monitor came closer to the nest she flew off into a nearby tree. She gave me a look of absolute desperation HELP ME! (yes, she did!) but the nest/monitor were way too high for us to do anything. Hubby tried to throw things at the monitor, but I stopped him as the monitor's life is no less precious than the chicks - I didn't want to see the monitor get toppled out of the tree and hurt or killed. Plus hubby damn near hit my car with a rock. ;\
I put some eggs around the base of the tree so the monitor could see them, in a vain attempt to lure him away from the chick. We had to go out briefly, so wished the Tawnys good luck. Alas, when we came back, the nest was empty :_|
Went about our afternoon chores when suddenly I spotted baby Tawny! Sitting on the ground next to the tractor. We dropped everything, made him a makeshift nest and put it up in the tree, then caught him and put him in the nest. We saw Mumma and Pappa Tawny watching nearby.
Cut down a long story, Bubba kept jumping out of his nest over the next three days and Mumma and Pappa abandoned him, so the decision was made to bring him inside to keep him safe from both the monitors and our dogs. (our four young ones would kill him).
He will be released as soon as he can fly properly and learn to catch his own bugs (I am catching them for him at the moment). He's all puffed up and hating me in the photo, that's a good thing, we don't want him imprinting on us. He's feeding really well though (I hate you, I hate you, yum, yum, more please, I still hate you).
Hello Everyone! 
I know I promised I wouldn't leave it so long last time, but we had another tragedy and I have been staying away from the computer. Another great big hug for the lovely Tas, who has been sending me such lovely messages of support - a very special, caring, lady
Our dear little 10 year old Pomeranian went missing last month and a little over a week later we found her remains - we believe she was taken by a dingo I spotted across the road when I was out searching for Smudge (our little dog).
Smudge was my heart dog and I have taken her loss very, very badly. She was my little shadow, but somehow she managed to slip out of our gate and go wandering in the paddock up the driveway where the dingo grabbed her.
I spent all of the week she was missing going crazy and plastering the place with flyers in letterboxes, vets, shops, listing her on facebook, etc, etc. It was devastating to find her remains, but I am grateful we had some resolution, as I had some awful phonecalls from people telling me of a dog fighting ring in the next (rural) suburb and that she would have been used as a bait dog. Of course whilst she was missing there was some slim hope that we may get her back, but it was torture thinking of her being scared, cold, hungry and mistreated.
We also have a little 10 year old chihuahua, Smudge's "sister", they have been together since 8 week old pups and never seperated, so she was pining very badly for Smudge, so much so that she didn't want to eat and just spent all her time under the bed. In desperation I took LuluBelle (the chi) up to the RSPCA for a meet and greet with a little 10 year old scruffer who had been dumped. Lulu was terrified being at the RSPCA with all the dogs barking, so they suggested I took Squirrel (the scruffer) home for the day/night to see how things went.
Things went very well and the next morning I took little Squirrel back to the RSPCA to bust him out of jail forever. He has now been with us for two weeks and has settled in like he has always lived here. The change in LuluBelle has been amazing, although she is not particularly bonded to Squirrel, it seems having another little dog (all our other dogs are large) has been what she needed.
Anyway, this is Squirrel:
He was in a pretty bad way when the RSPCA got hold of him; he was infested with fleas and is bald on his back from flea dermatitis, had a mouth full of rotten teeth and his (remaining) fur was badly matted. I've been bathing him in a herbal dog shampoo for dermatitis twice a week and already it's made an amazing difference to his coat. He's also had a hair cut since this photo, so he can see better out of his eyes.
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