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By Catherine Watson
HAVE you ever seen a wombat season like it? In Tank Hill Reserve, they are quarrying like bulldozers and building wombat McMansions.
I first noticed a massive mound of earth and thought the BMX bikers had been at it again, building one of their elaborate jumps. As I got closer, I could see it was a burrow, but not your average burrow. There were four or five cubic metres of excavated sand filled with paw prints.
As I bent to peer into the burrow a spotted pardalote flew out. Huh?
There was another burrow nearby, this one abandoned soon after it was started. I’d seen what looked like a pardalote hole in it. Since then I’ve found a further seven fresh wombat burrows, all of them McMansions. Several of them have pardalote holes.
HAVE you ever seen a wombat season like it? In Tank Hill Reserve, they are quarrying like bulldozers and building wombat McMansions.
I first noticed a massive mound of earth and thought the BMX bikers had been at it again, building one of their elaborate jumps. As I got closer, I could see it was a burrow, but not your average burrow. There were four or five cubic metres of excavated sand filled with paw prints.
As I bent to peer into the burrow a spotted pardalote flew out. Huh?
There was another burrow nearby, this one abandoned soon after it was started. I’d seen what looked like a pardalote hole in it. Since then I’ve found a further seven fresh wombat burrows, all of them McMansions. Several of them have pardalote holes.
Some years ago a wombat started a hole in the paddock behind me but abandoned it when s/he hit a root. Recently there are signs of fresh excavation. The impasse has been passed and there is now a clear curve in the tunnel.
The other day, as I was peering into the hole, a pardalote alighted on a bracken fern less than half a metre from me and watched me intently.
And there it was: a fresh pardalote hole in the fresh wombat hole.
So it’s a thing. Symbiosis. Well, symbiosis for the pardalote, clearly. Does scent of wombat deter foxes and cats? But what’s in it for the wombat? Maybe they just like to hang out with some of the coolest small birds in the universe.
I’ve never heard about an association between wombats and pardalotes so I consulted Dr Google. “Wombat and pardalote”. Plenty of wombats and plenty of pardalotes but not in combination. Perhaps it’s a local thing.
And why the Wombat McMansions? Do they have some sixth sense that has them preparing for Armageddon this summer? In which case, I wonder if there’ll be room down the hole for the dog, the cat and me.
And there it was: a fresh pardalote hole in the fresh wombat hole.
So it’s a thing. Symbiosis. Well, symbiosis for the pardalote, clearly. Does scent of wombat deter foxes and cats? But what’s in it for the wombat? Maybe they just like to hang out with some of the coolest small birds in the universe.
I’ve never heard about an association between wombats and pardalotes so I consulted Dr Google. “Wombat and pardalote”. Plenty of wombats and plenty of pardalotes but not in combination. Perhaps it’s a local thing.
And why the Wombat McMansions? Do they have some sixth sense that has them preparing for Armageddon this summer? In which case, I wonder if there’ll be room down the hole for the dog, the cat and me.
*****
I put the bird baths outside my office window so I could watch the birds while I’m at the desk. Mostly small birds, grey fantails, new Holland honeyeaters, red browed finches, white naped honeyeaters. A pair of spotted doves are regular visitors, and the occasional butcher bird calls in on its way to somewhere else.
The other day I would swear the skies darkened as a Hercules came in to land. It was so big I thought the bird bath might tip over. At first I thought it was a raven but there was a splash of white. A magpie? Too big. Local naturalist Terri Allen identifies it as a pied currawong from my description. “We used to get really excited if we saw a currawong here,” she says. “Now they’re everywhere.”
The other day I would swear the skies darkened as a Hercules came in to land. It was so big I thought the bird bath might tip over. At first I thought it was a raven but there was a splash of white. A magpie? Too big. Local naturalist Terri Allen identifies it as a pied currawong from my description. “We used to get really excited if we saw a currawong here,” she says. “Now they’re everywhere.”
Terri says the local bird list is changing dramatically, mainly due to land clearing and climate change. “When I was a kid, we didn’t have galahs or wattle birds. Wattlebirds were around the coast, in the banksias. They only came into town when people started planting natives.”
Rainbow lorikeets only appeared a couple of years ago, and now great flocks of these chattering, raucous, ravenous birds strip our fruit trees bare in a couple of hours, though it is hard to begrudge a bird so fantastically beautiful and playful.
Crested pigeons are also recent arrivals. They came from central Australia, moved east to Sydney, then down the coast. Like many of us, they decided to stop when they got to Bass Coast.
Rainbow lorikeets only appeared a couple of years ago, and now great flocks of these chattering, raucous, ravenous birds strip our fruit trees bare in a couple of hours, though it is hard to begrudge a bird so fantastically beautiful and playful.
Crested pigeons are also recent arrivals. They came from central Australia, moved east to Sydney, then down the coast. Like many of us, they decided to stop when they got to Bass Coast.
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Wombat Mc Mansions: adapting to increased temperatures, to escape harsh temperatures and there are six other points, go to AI if interested or contact me.
As for rainbow lorikeets and currawongs; they have discovered that we grow persimmons and decided to move down with friends and family to help us eat them.
The wattle birds' duty is to awaken us as they compete for the insects and nectar on the Chines lantern outside our bedroom window.
Upon reflection perhaps we have it all wrong. The pardalotes dig first and the wombats seeing how easy that particular patch is for such a poorly, digging equipped, diminutive, flamboyant way finder, leave their digs and come on over, with all the style of a genuine bludger, probably about tea time with the refrain - just passing, thought I'd drop in.
Then along comes us with zip idea of wombat ways and pardalote peccadilloes adhering doggedly to the right of might to draw the insane conclusion that inverts cause and effect.
You know it makes sense. Tiny bird and wombat, there's no greater contrast. Fast, nimble, a cheeky delver that's what you want in a scout to find the perfect site bring in the heavy machinery only when the heavy lift is required.
There is only one remedy - a good bit of inversion therapy. So get your head deep down the next burrow you see and ingest the learning. Apart from the potential of picking up a little wombat mange you'll be so glad you did.