Look Wut I Got! (Scroller and Photo)

[monstersinthedungeon]

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). 

[azureline**]

Oh, lovely thing for you to do!

[latina4621]

yes i know they are not an owl, but i call them that anyway

many years ago i  looked after a Boobook owl

[monstersinthedungeon]

yes i know they are not an owl, but i call them that anyway

many years ago i  looked after a Boobook owl

Must admit I often find myself calling him an owlet in my head - e.g., better go and feed the owlet. 

I love the Boobook's call, we often hear them around here, but have never seen one.

[debra9275]

They are so lucky they chose your garden to nest in monsters. Good luck with him, I hope it all turns out well.

I didn't know what a monitor was either

[catsnknots]

Monitors can get HUGE.. and stones and hoses will not stop them if they are on a mission.. 

You did the right thing to let nature do what it does, it is heart breaking to watch sometimes.

Good luck with the little ball of fluff.... go to the pet store if you need to, they will have baby mice that you can feed it as its appetite grows. 

[monstersinthedungeon]

Cats, I reckon this monitor was at least 1m long, I know they can grow a lot bigger, but that's big enough for me!  Not sure what kind of monitor he was, but he was very beautiful (apart from the fact he was going after our Tawny!).

I have already been to the pet store and spent a FORTUNE on this little bird - I can't bring myself to feed him live mice, but he has been enjoying (defrosted) frozen pinkies, also made him up a sort of mash that I squish into balls and soak in water (found the recipe on the 'net), made from lean heart mince, wombaroo insectivore powder and other goodies. He gets bugs caught by me, mealworms from the petshop and I'm just about to go up there now and buy some live crickets and woodies, 'cos my insect catching skills are not fabulous and it takes me hours just to get him a handful of bugs.

He enjoys dead Christmas beetles, but the live one I fed him he spat out, obviously didn't like the feel of their prickly little feet in his mouth!

[cat_mioux]

Cuter than cute! :-x

[catsnknots]

lol.. I bet his parents crushed up those little bugs for him before he scoffed them down... won't be long and he will have to learn to do it himself  (or herself) 

It costs a fortune to look after natives.. I so hope this works out well... you might even have him turn out to be a permanent guest if he likes you enough... he might just want to live in your back yard. 

[mainecoon1]

Oh what a cute bird

We rescued an Eastern Water Dragon this morning  I have not been able to get out to the top part of my garden as I broke my heel bone but this morning I decided I was going to give it a go and have a look at my veggie patch

To my horror I found the dragon all tangled up in the bird netting it looked dead so I called my OH to get the scissors so we could cut the net.  As OH pulled the net away the Dragon blinked so it was alive but we did not know how long it had been tangled for so did not give it much hope.

After cutting the netting away it just fell to the ground and lay there then all of a sudden it shot up and ran away fast so with a bit of luck it will be all right.  It was about a meter long and was beautiful, I have never been that close to a dragon before, I am just so glad I decided to go up there otherwise it would have died for sure.  My OH is going to go to Bunnings to get differrent stuff to cover the veggie patch so nothing can get caught again.

Like you monster I hate the idea of hurting any animals as they all have their place in the environment.  I hope screech is able to fly soon so he/she can go free, it always makes me sad when I see birds in cages.

[debra9275]

I was thinking about you and your little bird last night and I was wondering if you still see the mum or dad hanging about your garden??

You're very dedicated doing the bug thing. I'm not sure if i could do it, but maybe I would if a life was depending on it