Memories of a rural childhood – Z is for zoological visitors

memories

Zoological Visitors

Over the years, we had many zoological visitors. Some were probably always present, others were seasonal visitors and a few were just seen once or twice.

Black cockatoos – infrequently seen in pairs
Blue cranes (white-faced herons) – in pairs
Blue wrens – often seen flitting in the bushes near the creek
Echidnas – sometimes seen crossing paddocks or roads
Goanna – I’ve only seen the one
Koala – we found one in a holly tree one day
Kookaburras – their laughing call makes it easy to identify where they are
Lizards – lots of skinks; once a lost shingleback wandered in
Magpies – regularly serenading everyone with their songs
Mopoke Owls – often heard at night
Parrots and Lorikeets – often seen in fruit trees
Platypus – rarely spotted in the creeks
Possums – lovely from a distance but not good on the roof!
Snakes – rarely seen except when baled with the hay
Tadpoles – often found in dams and scooped into jars till they grew legs
Wedge-tailed eagles – rarely seen, soaring overhead
White cockatoos – new visitors, noisy and destructive, in large flocks
Wombats – far too often seen dead beside the road

8 thoughts on “Memories of a rural childhood – Z is for zoological visitors”

  1. Interesting format for a blog – I love the overall theme but would also enjoy if you put something more personal in your recollections.

    1. I’m glad you liked it, Judee.

      I chose this specific format in order to remind myself and to share many of the experiences from my childhood that differed from those of many city and suburban-based bloggers.

  2. Tadpoles! Poor things. We used to remove them from their habitat and keep them in jars. Did you have blue tongues? I don’t remember seeing wombats or koalas when I grew up but lots of rabbits.

    1. One of my brothers had an aquarium in which he kept some taddies till they were mature frogs. Mostly they were released at a much earlier stage.
      At times, there were lots of rabbits in our area, but few blue tongues!

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