Animal stories...

Just an update on our menagerie of wild and wonderful fauna... i still havent set those traps (mainly because I have been busy - not because of reluctance) so the families of our pesky wabbits are growing!  The parents are enormous now and actually doing a good job eating the grass - they are the ones for the pot - while the babies are getting to adult sized.  One family of five were on out the lawn this morning, while another three young ones were under the clothesline.  I didn't check the front lawn but they are generally wherever you look.
I don't think i told the mouse story.  It was so cold the other night that i turned the heater on at my feet under the desk while doing some work.  In the quiet, I heard a few mouse-like snuffles and squeaks and thought "ok-put mouse baiting on the list for tomorrow" and went back to work.  The squeaks were very close and I assumed they were somewhere in the office but as were not sounds of distress I just ignored them for the moment.  About 5-6 minutes later I felt something on my foot and looked down under the desk.  There, snuggled up against my ugg boot in front of the heater was a little mouse, snuffling and squeaking in delight!  I moved my foot a little and it didn't run away - just shuffled over to another spot in front of the heater and sat there for the rest of the night.  I got up and down a few times - making a cuppa, going to the toilet - and it was always there when i came back, just sitting and enjoying the warmth!  It was beautiful however I am getting concerned that all the animals making the Silk Road their home are legally declared vermin!  I need a possum and some kangaroos to move in!

The birds are coming in their dozens which is fantastic!  The 28s have paired off for the spring and do not often come in big gangs these days.  The crested pigeons are now part of the garden - they are funny things which chase each other round the yard on foot rather than flying.  And best of all, the rosellas are growing in confidence and are out almost as much as the 28s now - they do not always scatter the minute i walk outside and hang around in a few selected trees.  One of them was injured last week - i suspect it flew into the window and was just sitting there on the ground with its swing out on an awkward angle when i went into the yard.  I picked it up and it did not flutter at all - it was very calm and relaxed and it was so beautiful to hold it and stroke its head!  I put it in a box with some water and seed and left it alone for a while.  When i came out it had left the box and was sitting up in the carport rafters looking much healthier!  It sat there all night and then joined its mates in the morning but still cannot cannot fly off with them.  When I go out with the seed it jumps up on to the wine barrels or the small bush near the herbs - it is absolutely wonderful to watch him.  Hope he stays and lives in our backyard!

As for the others... the kooka pops in for breakfast most days and there are always willy wagtails, wattlebirds and gorgeous little honeyeaters flitting about.  There is a pair of grey robins and I have also seen (and hope they are nesting here) blue wrens which i have not seen since the early days when we bought the farm.  The black cockies are out in force, munching their way through the pine cones and marris, but haven't seen the white ones for a while.