Australian Atheists Forum

Still weeding through pics as I get happy with the new PC, and these popped up.

They record a phenomenon I haven't seen or heard of, before or since.

The male of the butcherbird family who "owned" us, killed a speckled dove, then dragged it to the back stairs to present to me.
Must have decided he owed me a feed.

I'll take my small good things as they come.

While I had to go through last night's camera footage for Unpleasant Reasons, there was at least this...
Here's an ancestor I prepared much earlier.

Irrev-Black wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 2:29 pm I'll take my small good things as they come.

While I had to go through last night's camera footage for Unpleasant Reasons, there was at least this...

And I've done a few more nights... little blighter spends more time in that backyard than Dog does!

More Ancestor Bandy
And this rando we met while out walking.

Along with Stripe and Joey X, I now have Big Boi, surely he is the father. What a beast. I just read up on the danger of attack. It's pretty low, they might treat you as a rival male if they are confused for a moment and they think you want to shag a female roo. The advice is, don't fight back, fall on the ground and roll yourself into a ball and they'll go "WTF?!? That's not what I expected in a fight" and lose interest pretty quickly. Females can attack to protect a joey, but it tends to happen in crowded places.

Dog was agitated about another WRONG down the back near the creek.
I always treat her warnings as substantiated: today she showed me a Grey Goshawk.

My backyard visitors this morning. I posted the close-ups to pixelfed. Nice to be in the bush... or very near it.
https://pixelfed.au/i/web/post/698655161264414138

For as long as I've lived in my current abode (circa 2002), I've had a jumping spider (probably Hypoblemum albovittatum) hanging around my kitchen, mostly near my sink, on the Venetian blinds above it, and on the adjacent appliances.

When I see them, I talk to them as I would a pet and try to make sure my actions in the kitchen will not harm them.

Here are some photos I've taken of these adorable tiny critters (3-4 mm in body length) in the past.





Their lifespan is only 2-3 years, so it obviously wouldn't have been the same one for over two decades.

Today, I noticed them on the top of my coffee machine, and I had the pleasure of watching them interact with their reflection in the chromed base of the bean holder for several minutes.

When I first saw them, they were about 2 cm away from their reflection, and then they slowly inched (centimetred? millimetred?) forward.

When they were about 0.5 cm away, they jumped at their image, and then immediately jumped back to a "safe distance".

After a minute or so, another "attack" was mounted on the "intruder" with the same retreat.

Third time lucky! With a slower approach, they found that they could wave their pedipalps at each "other".

I walked to Quirriga beach in Murramarang National Park yesterday with visiting family, it was a great wildlife day. The mass kangaroo/wallaby sightings on the way are a given, but we were also treated to the sight of a pretty big pod of dolphins spread across the bay. I thought there might have been 20, it was hard to count as they came up for a breath at different times.
I was also charmed by these slightly goofy looking birds. A bit of web searching indicates they were pied and sooty oystercatchers (2 of each). Many other birds spotted along the way but not photographed - wrens, herons etc.. I've heard from several sources that bird numbers have been much smaller since black summer bushfires of 2019-20, but they are gradually coming back. There are sections on the river where even mangroves with their roots in mud and tidal waters were burned.