This month’s features – out now in newsagents or subscribe online for just $55.00 for six issues a year!

The Gulf Snapping Turtle

Isolated and under threat, researchers in Queensland are working hard to give these charming turtles, which can be traced back to prehistory, a chance at survival. The extraordinary efforts being done are inspirational and this is a truly uplifting story.

Secrets of the Mallee

When you drive by scrubby bushland in semi-arid areas of Australia, do you ever stop to explore further? You’d be surprised by what is contained within the mallee. Simon Watharow and Steve Cook dive in among the bushes and discover a whole host of intriguing wildlife and surprising habitats.

Smash and Grab, bam, Splat and bluey

‘Hoot, hoot’ . . . or should we say ‘who, who’? Frank Harrison set up his hide to watch and photograph a couple of Barking owls make their nest to rear some chicks. He got an amazing surprise as one by one little heads popped up out of the hollow, and his images are just stunning.

Hidden tropical wonders

Parts of the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland are well known, but look a little further and you’ll find incredible and diverse wildlife scattered in stunning landscapes all over the plateau.

(continue reading…)

Nov/Dec Issue

This issue contains some fascinating insights into the life of the Freshwater Crocodile – featured on the cover – and some of our amazing lizards. We have also set up a new page called ‘Secret shutterbugs’ for those who love to delve into photographing the world of wildlife and want even more tips on getting the best shots. In an exclusive, our story about the sad and tragic world of the icon for extinction, the Thylacine or Tasmanian tiger, provides some amazing insights as well as images not published before. We’ve also got a packed ‘Secrets sightings’ with interesting and unusual tales, including ones about termites, the Rough-scaled Snake and, of course, birds and more birds. If that is not enough, let us take you inside the world of the endangered Gouldian Finch.

 

The Keepers and the Kept

Confessions of a Zookeeper
By Terry Boylan

PUB DATE:JUNE 2011
PRICE: $29.95
FORMAT: PAPERBACK
Fuzzy & Furry Ancedotes about Life at the Zoo
The Keepers and the Kept is a ‘zoological memoir’. It is
a lighthearted and fun account of the life of a zoo, particularly
Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, from a zookeeper’s perspective.
It tells of the interesting human characters, gives insight into the
running of a zoo and of course humorous and heart-warming
animal stories. There are tales of eccentric collectors who founded
the zoo, other keepers, their feuds, practical jokes and political
machinations.
Terry describes unusual events such as animal escapes, from Taipan
snakes to rampaging elephants, including the hazards (and deaths)
of some zookeepers.
He covers the bizarre behaviours of visitors to the zoo and even
animal collecting expeditions to foreign countries. Through his
anecdotes he reveals how modern zoos have developed into the
professional organisations they are today.
“While there’s no doubt animals can behave in the strangest
ways, the oddest creatures in the zoo are still the ones
that come through the turnstiles.” Terry Boylan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terry Boylan worked as a zookeeper for more than 40 years at
Taronga Zoo, Melbourne and London Zoos. He is still employed as
a zookeeper by the Taronga Conservation Society. He has published
more than 20 natural history and zoological articles in magazines
and journals. This is his first book.

The Keepers and the Kept
Confessions of a Zookeeper
By Terry Boylan
Fuzzy & Furry Ancedotes about Life at the Zoo
The Keepers and the Kept is a ‘zoological memoir’. It is
a lighthearted and fun account of the life of a zoo, particularly
Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, from a zookeeper’s perspective.
It tells of the interesting human characters, gives insight into the
running of a zoo and of course humorous and heart-warming
animal stories. There are tales of eccentric collectors who founded
the zoo, other keepers, their feuds, practical jokes and political
machinations.
Terry describes unusual events such as animal escapes, from Taipan
snakes to rampaging elephants, including the hazards (and deaths)
of some zookeepers.
He covers the bizarre behaviours of visitors to the zoo and even
animal collecting expeditions to foreign countries. Through his
anecdotes he reveals how modern zoos have developed into the
professional organisations they are today.
“While there’s no doubt animals can behave in the strangest
ways, the oddest creatures in the zoo are still the ones
that come through the turnstiles.” Terry Boylan
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terry Boylan worked as a zookeeper for more than 40 years at
Taronga Zoo, Melbourne and London Zoos. He is still employed as
a zookeeper by the Taronga Conservation Society. He has published
more than 20 natural history and zoological articles in magazines
and journals. This is his first book.

Lewin Art
The National Library is located on Parkes Place, in Canberra’s Parliamentary triangle ACT
Date:
28 July 2012 – 28 October 2012
Opening hours:
10.00am-5.00pm

Cost: free
Lewin: Wild Art is about the life and times of John William Lewin (1770-1819), the first free professional artist to settle in Australia. Arriving in NSW in 1800 from London, Lewin’s mission was to collect, draw and publish Australia’s natural history for European audiences.

He landed in Sydney a conventional natural history artist, steeped in European traditions, but quickly developed his own unique and lively style. Specimens were clearly located in their natural habitat and strong diagonals animated his compositions. The challenge of confronting the new environment – where he found everything ‘contrary to our knowledge in England’ – inspired his beautifully observed illustrations, which are undoubtedly Australian.

The State Library of NSW holds the largest, indeed an unrivalled, collection of Lewin’s art and books, with some 400 works. He is also represented in other Australian and British collections. This exhibition will bring together, for the first time, Lewin’s work from these major collections.

Lewin: Wild Art is a State Library of New South Wales exhibition presented in collaboration with the National Library of Australi

 

Spring brings the amazing wildlife more in contact with humans than any other time of the year. Help is available for many of our injured or nuisance wildlife.

Birds will be breeding, building nests rearing young, reptiles slithering about and marsupials active from dusk to dawn. So what are some of the key things to watch for this spring.

Birds

 

Nests

Bird nest – Tania Begg

Nest building animals, collecting hair, fibrous, leaves, twine are often collected and cause havoc for adults and often young birds caught around the nest. remeber to keep string, twine and fishing line in the bin not on the ground. Why? Adults and young birds often get entangled when they use it around the nest. When parent birds are building the nest keep a low profile try to avoid the arae of that tree and keep all domestic animals from being a threat especially that fat cat!

 

Fledglings

With all the strong winds several eastern states have had already. Many reports of nestlings and baby birds are flooding in. Mortality is high as nests have been blown out of their trees or shrubs.

In late spring beware the fledglings, often seen on the ground rather adult looking, I describe them as like human teenagers adult like but without their drivers license or in the birds case a flight license. Adults will feed them on the ground in many cases e.g. Magpies, Noisy Miners,

 

Swooping birds

Magpie breeding season is well under way. Swooping magpies seem to be in every town. Usually associated with nests in high traffic areas, typically the more harassed or in conflict the more intense the swooping.

 

The other swooping bird the Plover will be seen swooping people. They nest in yards with long grass or around roundabouts, park lands and within water ways. The hatchlings are remarkable once free of the egg, will quickly be able to walk and follow the parents to a new feeding site. They remain close to the parents for several weeks.

 

The very important facet to understand is to limit the aggression by avoiding conflict. Magpies in particular get more prone to swooping if there is regular conflict daily. Some magpies will actually target a type or size of person that travels near rhe nest if there has been a direct confrontation in the past e..g. Adult men who have kidnap a fledgling in the past. That magpie then targets men while less hostile toward women. Swooping birds can often be more apparent when there is a fledgling bird on the ground. Often fledgling birds are fine t be left alone in the care of the adults. See volume 1 no 2 Australian Wildlife Secrets “Don’t be a birdnapper”.

 

 Montreme

Echidna

The warm weather stimulates the inerterbrates including the massive armies of the ants. Warm weather is also a precursor for the Echidna to begin his wide searching of ants. Wandering widely often get bailed up by dogs or can be seen in yards wandering around. Trick is to leave them alone let them wander and leave on their own even in dense suburbia yes.

 

Marsupials

Kangaroos and less so wallabies will inevitably graze along roadsides at dusk. Drive safely and sow down around grazing roo’s. Pouch checks of dead macropods,  are critical for the joeys at this time of the year. Report all dead roos to your wildlife groups. most dead inspected/pouch checked macropods will have a marking like an X spray painted on them.

 

Possums and gliders, its time for large amounts of babies or joeys more accurately. Ringtail possums can carry up to 3 joeys usually 2 on average and are very prone to losing one or two through misadventure. Brush tailed possums usually carry one sometimes two joeys.  This leads to a large amount of joeys being reported from the ground. Predators like cats and dogs are also a major problem during spring. Orphans are rescued by most wildlife groups and always ring your hotline when a joey is found on the ground during the day or signs of injury.

 

Reptiles

Snakes

Spring is a time to slough the skin, for boys to chase the ladies for kilometers, feed as much to replenish lost fat stores from winter dormancy. Snakes can be sluggish in spring on mild sunny days, snakes are often slow to move away and confrontations may occur. Be alert while hiking, working along bush lands or in gardens. Always get professional help to deal with regular snake appearances otherwise develop a tolerance and safety plan for a snake visit.

 

Lizards

Found basking in yards or around parks and large native gardens are very common in spring. The enormous amount of lizards that emerge in spring, basking along fences, roads and moving in search of mates. Care is needed when mowing especially as the lizards may be sluggish in the first few weeks. Wandering monitors are more likely when weather is over 30 degrees. Watch out for basking lizards on roads.

 

Frogs

If good rains continue we will see an emerging bonanza of frogs this year, calling incessantly often driving some people to lose sleep! This can be remedy by playing your favorite music softly to offset the frog chorus. However the frogs after many years of drought and poor breeding while resurge, tadpoles will appear in many dams, ponds and roadside ditches. Please remember not to move tadpoles or frogs from one location to another. As this can cause disease to be spread from one region to another, cause imbalance and reintroduction of cane toads.

 

 

Marine Mammals

Yearlings are often reported in seal prone areas of bays, coastlines and estuaries. Often around piers where often fisherman feed them scarps or they feed on discarded off cuts. Tired New Zealand fur seals, leopard seal and Sub Antarctic seals can rest along the coastlines. While distressed public feel sorry for them it usually is only a wait and see approach before they wander back.

 Mammals

 

Microbats

The warmer months also means more microbat activity. These winged wonders are silently racing through the night grabbing millions of insects. It may occur that colonies roost in your roof space. The high pitch squeaks may be heard by those with very good hearing. Not to be confused with the rats or possum that are very noisy to pretty much all.

 

Contact your state body conservation department or local wildlife shelter or rescue group for assistance and advice.

Black Swan with a research collar, Albert Park lake, Victoria.

Swan without a collar.

In some parts of Australia the ecology of Black Swans is being studied. Aspects such as mortality of signets, predation and migration/flight patterns. I have attached he pdf here for information on the collars themselves.

Black swan neck collar info