Fauna of Australia

I'm listening to the dog on my new neighbors backyard and wonder where the owner is. The dog is howling like a wolf, sounds really sad, it must be missing his or hers mum and dad. I feel sorry for the pet.

We have now been living in the Sunshine State of Australia, Queensland, for two months. I can't believe how quickly time has gone. It has had moments of laughter, sadness, joy and some moments have been quite scary.

I was vacuuming the house and my boys (7 and 10 years) were helping. We are not used to having so many rooms so I appreciated some help. But the moment boys found a huge spider in mom and dad's bedroom, they didn't want to vacuum anymore.

There are other animals that a bit less scary. Like the geckos that always appear in our back garden in the evening. They walk on the ceiling of the covered area. Sometimes they run and hide, other times just stay very still until we go away. These little fellas are cute and don't do any harm.

We have also met some grasshoppers. Hubby has seen them or experienced them jumping, but I have only managed to see them being very still. Have heard that they taste good, haven't tried yet.

One day, hubby was walking outside the kitchen he works at when he came across this animal. It's a bit bigger lizard than in our backyard. It made him jump so it was a bit scary but made me laugh when he told me what had happened.

We have also found some kangaroos. We were out exploring one day and came across this resort nearby our town and there on the greens were a bunch of kangaroos. I managed to catch this lovely photo of the mommy kangaroo feeding the baby kangaroo.

Then we have also seen some birds. The interesting thing about the birds is that there are so many different kind of birds here that I haven't seen anywhere else or heard anywhere else. Yes, some of them sound quite extraordinary. But what I was most surprised by was how the magpies act. Yes, the common bird that lives all around the world. Never have had any problem with them but here, twice already. This is what happened.

Yesterday, I needed to take some letters to the post box that is about 15 minutes walk from our house. I asked my older son to come with me because he has been keen on going for a ride with his bike that safely arrived from England few weeks back. So we went, but didn't get far until it happened.

A magpie swooped very close to me from behind and went very close to my son, who jumped off his bike and panicked. What didn't surprise me was my son's reaction because it happened very quickly and caught us by surprise. We weren't expecting that to happen. My son walked the bike across the road, still catching his breath. I told him to get on his bike so we could continue our way to the post box. As soon as he did it, magpie came again. He wouldn't ride the bike anymore, he was too scared then. We didn't have to walk very far when it happened the third time. I told my son to give me the helmet as I thought this was what the magpie for some reason wanted. It worked, magpies didn't come anymore as I was holding the helmet.

Today I went again, only this time with my younger son as he was eager to go on a ride too. We put some tape sticks on his helmet pointing upwards as we have seen others having cable ties used the same way. We didn't have any at home so had to improvise. We went past the place we were attacked previous day and no birds swooping. I thought: "This must be working", but still kept my eyes open if any birds were nearby. When we were coming back the same route, two magpies were waiting. At least that's how it felt. One swooped and other one was just watching, ready to attack if needed, almost. I told my son to take off the helmet and give it to me. I clapped my hands and the birds flew off. But for the short moment I was standing in front of my son, protecting him from the birds when he was taking off his helmet, the birds were staring at me, ready to "fight".

Luckily we didn't get any injuries. Yes, that sounds funny, at least to me, but they can cause some serious injuries, I read, when I got home. Magpies are nesting and protecting the chicks is what they do when they swoop on people. The nesting time is roughly from August until the end of October. So few more weeks to go. If they do cause serious damage to people, we must inform the council, but other wise all we can do is follow the instructions how to deal with magpies. Unfortunately, you can't kill them as they are protected animals.

I didn't take a picture as was too scared to do so. But I'm sure we all know how magpies look like, but it is not however, related to the European magpie. But they do look a like.