Fear not, there is only one pic of spiders, and many of koalas.
This Cape Barren Goose sure looked like he wanted my attention as I made my way to Koala Photos. Fear not, there is only one pic of spiders, and many of koalas.
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Some days are just wilder than others. Today, my first assignment was the lorikeet arena for the morning feed. There were hungry birds and people to feed them for the whole hour. I was too busy & sticky from filling visitors plates with Womberoo mix to be able to get my hands on my camera to capture the colorful birds. On my way to my next assignment in the grey kangaroo paddock I met a keeper on her way to do the pelican & giant eel feeding talk. She did not have a wildlife volunteer with her, so I asked if I could help. She happily agreed, so I got to feed the eels! That is always a thrill for me (and another instance of being too hands- on busy to grab my camera). It has been so dry here for so long that the level of Flatrock Creek was down more than a meter from the last time I did this. There was some concern that the eels might have a hard time getting to the feeding area, but they were hungry and came right up on the beach when I stamped my foot. I heard some oohs, & aahhs, and some big gasps, so I'm sure the audience enjoyed the show. I was feeling pretty stoked when I got to the roo paddock. I went into the wallaby enclosure to check on people & was pleased to see 4 of our different species of wallaby and chatted with folks along the 2 bridges. Just after I finished the little walk through that enclosure a visitor asked me if I could identify a snake he had just seen (where I had just been!). I am NOT a snake expert, but I thought it looked like a coastal carpet python & I told the guest I would try to find it to confirm my suspicion. With the help of a few other volunteers, I found it in a sunny spot in the grass in-between the 2 bridges. I 2-way radioed the wildlife keeper in charge of the area & she came & confirmed the snake ID. Turns out this snake is known to the wildlife staff. Pythons are territorial, and apparently this one includes the wallaby enclosure in its territory! From there I went to help with crowd control at the Big Fang Theory reptile show. After all this, my excitement level stayed high as there were several red kangaroo joeys spending some time outside of their mamas pouches. Koala Photos day again, so have a look at some koala photos!
Little Moet showed she wanted to be a rock star - well, she sure wanted my sunglasses anyway! Also, a couple of pics of a hairy scary caterpillar. We do not play with them because, you know: Australia. I carefully avoided skin contact & used a leaf to move it to a garden outside the koala enclosures. Yup, that's me feeding Gandalf after the last guest left the Wild Skies Free Flight Bird Show. That was near the end of my shift, but before I was even on the clock I was in Blinky Bill's Home Tree & nocturnal world. I took a pic of the squirrel glider sign because we get these guys at our house on the hill. Almost every night they use the roof as a landing pad (thump!) as they glide down from the gum trees to visit our birdbath water dishes! The frilled lizard is one of our stock animals, but the water dragon is just an unpaid poser. New, koala bum-rests have been added to some of the bigger trees in the nursery to encourage them to use muscles and climbing techniques that are under-utilized in our enclosures with skinny feeding trees. Three tawny frog-mouths in their aviary. A flock of ibis (AKA bin-chickens [if they were in Canada they might be called dumpster-divers]) have taken over the trough of kangaroo food. The first video answers lots of questions I never thought to ask: like, how to monitor lizards take a dump? Do they keep from dragging their tail through their own waste products, & if so, how? The other 2 vids are from the wallaby enclosure. Helping out as part of a team of tour guides is usually fun & rewarding. Today was no exception. Today's event was a large group (280) of top selling employees and family members from a Swedish cosmetic company, Oriflame. Monique, Jordan & I met our group of 45 delegates as they got off the bus in front of the Sanctuary and escorted them straight to Koala Photos. From there it was off to the hospital precinct where everyone was thrilled to be photographed with the huge Oriflame paver. (I was happy to find the paver I contributed to as part of the Wed. AM crew way back in 2014!) We did Lost Valley, kangaroos, and Wallabies before rounding the whole group to a special Aboriginal Dance show and lunch. During one of my Wildlife Volunteer shifts last year I was included in a group photo for some kind of ad campaign. I got a copy of the picture with Gail, Chris, and I holding Ladybug, Candy J (AKA CJ), and Emily, but I never found out what the pic was to be used to promote. Well. now I know! HR Mgr. Jane gave Volunteer Mgr. Sarah a copy of the promotion to pass on to me. As I was in Canada when this happened, Sarah kept it on file for me & gave it to me while I was on shift this week. Thanks, Sarah!
On a bit of a sad aside, I left The GC just before the games and was looking forward to seeing familiar places during TV coverage. To my shock and dismay, the games got NO coverage in Canada! On hot days, dehydration can be a problem for koalas as well as humans (& others). Volunteers help out (in part) by refilling browse-pots and misting gum leaves & branches. Super-keeper Sarah helped us all today by installing some water sprinkler/misters at various spots throughout the koala pens.
A tammar wallaby watch jealously! ...and birds are still a big part of the wildlife here. I took a slow walk through the Forest Fringe Aviary on my way to the kangaroo paddocks this morning. Stilt, lorikeets, & swallows are pictured. When I did get to the roos, I saw a magpie goose soar in from on high and land on the very top of one of the trees. It struck me as strange that the tiny branches supported such a big bird. I had 2 hours in with the kangaroos & wallabies before heading to the show precinct to help with crowd control for the new Wild Skies Free Flight Bird Show. In the 'Vol#2' position I did not get to see much of the action on stage, but I did feel obliged to stay on after the show as the presentation team requested an audience for some training sessions. It is an ongoing process to get birds used to the new arena, props and routines. I recorded some work with black cockatoos. This is the second Tuesday of the month, so our AM Crew of Park Volunteers went out for lunch after shift. This time we selected North Kirra SLSC & we were all favorably impressed with the food and the views. Horror of horrors! I had a wee glitch with my go-to camera this morning and no time to resolve the issue. These few pics are courtesy of my back-up, a cheap, old android phone! The last 2 photos are of a mamma red kangaroo with a teeny-tiny joey's hind foot hanging out of her pouch on this hot & humid morning. This lady also had a 'foot-joey' hanging around to poke his head into her pouch to nurse! The skies above are clear again, Happy days are here again! Oh, I hadn't noticed they'd gone. :) Now this post is complete with 2 cute koala boy videos added! |
AuthorRetired Canadian volunteer. Archives
March 2024
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