[tor]

Some would say that getting a dog house for a possum was silly.

I raise that bet. I learned how to scratch a kookaburra:



A few nipped fingers and so on but now Clarke (the kookaburra) is down with the scratches I think.

[ummester]

I was sure that bird was going to go mental before the end of the video:) You managed to get it pretty tame.

[tor]

ummester, on 05 December 2010 - 08:48 AM, said:

I was sure that bird was going to go mental before the end of the video:) You managed to get it pretty tame.

He came down in the middle of the feeding frenzy (parent kook's had 4 kids, so a total of 8 for feeding) and ignored meat until the scratching was done today.

Stanley, the kid from last year, was looking at Clark like "wtf dude, ugly man making yo hair all sh*te"

[Bullshark]

The last Kookaburra I ran into stalked me for 20 minutes and then tried to take a piece out of me - all i'm saying is watch your back dude, them birds is mean...

[Ruffian]

Looks like you got the sweet spot there. Very impressive with a wild bird!

Most animals really like to be scratched on the bits they can't reach - so maybe kookaburras can't reach over their own beaks?

Our Kookas don't even feed when we are around, we have to leave the food and then back away genuflecting... Strangely even the magpies are very suspicious here, too.

[tom]

The kookaburras in Kings Park, Perth will take meat from the hand on the wing. If you are eating a sausage sambo you certainly want to keep the sausage shielded from view within the bread.

Love the new pet, tor.

[Turkey]

Very nice, was the gf laughing like a Kookaburra an intentional touch for the video or does she always laugh like that?

[tor]

Turkey, on 07 December 2010 - 08:42 AM, said:

Very nice, was the gf laughing like a Kookaburra an intentional touch for the video or does she always laugh like that?

Always like that. The only reason we are together is my death defying stunts which make her giggle - she is way too good for me

[staringclown]

Well done tor. This might make you and honorary australian and therefore subject to the vagaries of our treason laws. Kookaburra wrangling is a tricky art. I will be truly impressed when you can get it to sit on your shoulder and attack your adversaries on command. Handy in meetings.

[Bernard L. Madoff]

staringclown, on 09 December 2010 - 12:59 PM, said:

Well done tor. This might make you and honorary australian and therefore subject to the vagaries of our treason laws. Kookaburra wrangling is a tricky art. I will be truly impressed when you can get it to sit on your shoulder and attack your adversaries on command. Handy in meetings.

Knob jockey Arbib has been talking to the Kookaburras for years. Its cool and spilling the beans for years isn't treason.

Q. Are my local Kookas related to Tor's? Do they migrate? Its 1,966km airport to airport.

[staringclown]

Yes they're all related. Each one calls the others "bob". I'll wager that's how tor tamed him. Bob, Bob, Bob... My lord is that the time...

[tor]

New animal has moved in. I noticed yesterday that there was some bird poop on the steps and I didn't recognise the type.

Then this morning a lyre bird was wandering around the driveway and he did a poop and it was the same one, coming back from the groceries he was strolling around the house still.

I have seen one before but this guy seems to have moved in. Haven't got a decent pic of him yet, think he is quite young.

[tor]

Got a pic. He is quite relaxed and only runs away if you move quickly. Be warned, big pic (2MB or so).

Edit, too big to use with the popup dealy. Instead try this pic

This post has been edited by tor: 26 February 2011 - 02:24 AM

[tom]

At least now you know where all your blue pegs wen't.

[staringclown]

tom, on 26 February 2011 - 02:37 AM, said:

At least now you know where all your blue pegs wen't.

I thought that was bower birds. Lyrebirds do the mimicry thing which is even cooler than the peg stealing.

[tom]

staringclown, on 26 February 2011 - 02:52 AM, said:

I thought that was bower birds. Lyrebirds do the mimicry thing which is even cooler than the peg stealing.

oops, yes you are right.

[Ruffian]

tor, on 26 February 2011 - 02:20 AM, said:

Got a pic. He is quite relaxed and only runs away if you move quickly. Be warned, big pic (2MB or so).

Edit, too big to use with the popup dealy. Instead try this pic

Hey Tor, That pic looks like a girly-type lyrebird to me.
Altho we don't get them in SA in the wild, I have seen a few when I lived in Vic. So maybe call it a poorly educated guess, rather than a definitive ID.

I had an idea that the young males hang out in small gangs until they get their tails - so if it is a young male you might get visits from more than one.

Either way you are bloody lucky. All we get are cranky magpies, lizards and possums, possums, possums...

[tor]

Ruffian, on 26 February 2011 - 09:05 AM, said:

Hey Tor, That pic looks like a girly-type lyrebird to me.
Altho we don't get them in SA in the wild, I have seen a few when I lived in Vic. So maybe call it a poorly educated guess, rather than a definitive ID.

I had an idea that the young males hang out in small gangs until they get their tails - so if it is a young male you might get visits from more than one.

Either way you are bloody lucky. All we get are cranky magpies, lizards and possums, possums, possums...

Yep the girly did a check and it is probably a young female.

We are guessing she came out of the nest only just a few days back. She has already (1 day) caused enough damage and poop that we obviously need to add a new form of protection / don't care any more to our environment hehehe

(oh and I have water dragons, those dudes are cool, got a baby and a, I guess, mum - they run so cool, anything down they just launch themselves, hilarious to watch)

[Ruffian]

Living in the driest state on the driest continent limits the distribution of water dragons around our place. But a few km up the road there is a creek where the kids go to catch yabbies etc and a colony of eastern water skinks live there.

They are amazingly laid back and have no problems with people trampling all over their rocks.
Some of them are so tame that one of the kids tried to feed one a dead minnow and while it didn't eat it (no surprise there) it didn't run off, either. Like a cat, it's attitude seemed to be 'Your tribute, while inappropriate, is well intentioned. I shall tolerate it as such.'

It is also fun to watch them squabble amongst themselves. They seem to have very active social lives. I wonder if dinosaurs were like that, sociable and busy, rather than lumbering and ferocious.

BTW I saw a doco the other day which seemed to be saying Tyrannosaurus Rex was actually a scavenger (think hyena) and not a monstrous murderer. What with Pluto not being a planet anymore and T Rex not being a killer, apparently nothing I was taught in primary school is valid these days...

[zaph]

so the butcher bird with a few claws missing has not returned lately.

Sunday morning I went out to get the paper as I do, and there were 3 magpies and a butcher bird screaming on the front deck for meat scraps.

the butcher birds are becoming reliant on me. I fear I'm giving them diabetes, or heart disease.