Pics from Australia

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 23:04:38 +1100, Yowie wrote:

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Fri 02 Dec 2005 09:57:15p, badwilson wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
):

Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK --
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click
on the Vino album







Neat pics! I wonder if kangaroos there are like deer are here, as in
everywhere; beautiful but a nuisance and cause of many auto accidents.

They can be, they aren't the brightest of critters and bound across the
road without warning. However, they tend to prefer scrub rather than dense
forest, so you are more likely to see them before the jump out in front of
you.

They do however, gang up on young children and steal their lunches (see
http://www.flippyscatpage.com/attackkangaroos.html )

Most of the roadkill I see are small fuzzy creatures, raning between the
size of foxes down to rat sized. But they're usually fairly unidentifiable
when I get to see them. Then again, I don't tend to drive in the
'outback'.

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to
spare some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are
their main predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the
world, I'd apprecaite it.

Yowie


You are kidding about the "beautiful song" of magpies, aren't you?
The magpies here only squawk -- a horrible sound. MLB

"badwilson" wrote in message
...
Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK

It looks just like heaven Britta!

Susan M
Otis and Chester

badwilson wrote:
Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK

Cool! Is "rammed earth" some sort of compressed dirt material? Or adobe?

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

wrote in message
...
Yowie wrote:

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it
out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But
it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to spare
some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are their
main
predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the world, I'd
apprecaite it.

Wingflaps for the magpie.

Do magpies understand that cats are their predators? I know that many
animals that originally evolved without cats around never really learn
to be afraid of them, because the cats were introduced to that ecosystem
relatively recently. (You could substitute any predatory animal for
"cat" - but I think cats in particular play this role, because they've
accompanied humans on their trips around the world. Then they end up
in places where their prey don't know enough to run/fly/swim away from
them, and the cats decimate their populations.)

Our magpies are corvids - part of the Raven & Crow family. They're
intelligent birds and would most likely know about cats. That they are so
intelligent meant that I was doubly surprised to see one on the road. Bird
roadkill usually consists of seagulls, pidgeons & mynah birds, none of which
I'd particularly mourn for. But its also the time when magpie fledglings
start becoming independant of Mom & Dad so perhaps it hadn't learnt yet.

Still sad, even if they do swoop at me.

Yowie

"mlbriggs" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 23:04:38 +1100, Yowie wrote:

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Fri 02 Dec 2005 09:57:15p, badwilson wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
):

Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK --
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click
on the Vino album







Neat pics! I wonder if kangaroos there are like deer are here, as in
everywhere; beautiful but a nuisance and cause of many auto accidents.

They can be, they aren't the brightest of critters and bound across the
road without warning. However, they tend to prefer scrub rather than
dense
forest, so you are more likely to see them before the jump out in front
of
you.

They do however, gang up on young children and steal their lunches (see
http://www.flippyscatpage.com/attackkangaroos.html )

Most of the roadkill I see are small fuzzy creatures, raning between the
size of foxes down to rat sized. But they're usually fairly
unidentifiable
when I get to see them. Then again, I don't tend to drive in the
'outback'.

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to
spare some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are
their main predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the
world, I'd apprecaite it.

Yowie


You are kidding about the "beautiful song" of magpies, aren't you?
The magpies here only squawk -- a horrible sound. MLB

Our magpies are different to yours. They're like corvids (crow & raven
family) and have the most gorgeous song that sounds even better at the dawn
of a hot summer day in the bush.

Here's a link to some sounds:

http://www.northamptonshirewildlife....nd/AUSMAGP.WAV
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie.mp3

And a group of them, which I love:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie-group.mp3

Oh, and if you go up one level to
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/

You can here the sound sof other Australian native birds, including the
famous kookaburra. Kookaburras have an amazing habit of being silent until
you trip up during a bushwalk, and then all of a sudden there's a cacophony
of laughter. And watching a kookaburra "kill" a sausage that they've stolen
from your picnic or BBQ is more than worth the loss of the snag. Kookaburras
catch fish and reptiles, and obviously they tend to think of sausages as
short, fat, tasty (but inexpeclicably hot blooded) snakes.

Yowie

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 06:27:12 +1100, "Yowie"
yodeled:

"mlbriggs" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 23:04:38 +1100, Yowie wrote:

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Fri 02 Dec 2005 09:57:15p, badwilson wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
):

Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK --
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click
on the Vino album







Neat pics! I wonder if kangaroos there are like deer are here, as in
everywhere; beautiful but a nuisance and cause of many auto accidents.

They can be, they aren't the brightest of critters and bound across the
road without warning. However, they tend to prefer scrub rather than
dense
forest, so you are more likely to see them before the jump out in front
of
you.

They do however, gang up on young children and steal their lunches (see
http://www.flippyscatpage.com/attackkangaroos.html )

Most of the roadkill I see are small fuzzy creatures, raning between the
size of foxes down to rat sized. But they're usually fairly
unidentifiable
when I get to see them. Then again, I don't tend to drive in the
'outback'.

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to
spare some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are
their main predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the
world, I'd apprecaite it.

Yowie


You are kidding about the "beautiful song" of magpies, aren't you?
The magpies here only squawk -- a horrible sound. MLB

Our magpies are different to yours. They're like corvids (crow & raven
family) and have the most gorgeous song that sounds even better at the dawn
of a hot summer day in the bush.

Here's a link to some sounds:

http://www.northamptonshirewildlife....nd/AUSMAGP.WAV
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie.mp3

And a group of them, which I love:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie-group.mp3

Oh, and if you go up one level to
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/

You can here the sound sof other Australian native birds, including the
famous kookaburra. Kookaburras have an amazing habit of being silent until
you trip up during a bushwalk, and then all of a sudden there's a cacophony
of laughter. And watching a kookaburra "kill" a sausage that they've stolen
from your picnic or BBQ is more than worth the loss of the snag. Kookaburras
catch fish and reptiles, and obviously they tend to think of sausages as
short, fat, tasty (but inexpeclicably hot blooded) snakes.

Yowie


They are LOUD. My favorite, if slightly maddening Aussie bird call
was the bell wrens (BING! BING! BING!)


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Make Levees, Not War

Soncek has come to see where have I hidden all the birdies that sing so
nicely Thanks for the link.
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek

Yowie wrote:
snip
Oh, and if you go up one level to
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/

You can here the sound sof other Australian native birds, including the
famous kookaburra. Kookaburras have an amazing habit of being silent until
you trip up during a bushwalk, and then all of a sudden there's a cacophony
of laughter. And watching a kookaburra "kill" a sausage that they've stolen
from your picnic or BBQ is more than worth the loss of the snag. Kookaburras
catch fish and reptiles, and obviously they tend to think of sausages as
short, fat, tasty (but inexpeclicably hot blooded) snakes.

Yowie

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 06:14:16 +1100, "Yowie"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
Yowie wrote:

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it
out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But
it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to spare
some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are their
main
predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the world, I'd
apprecaite it.

Wingflaps for the magpie.

Do magpies understand that cats are their predators? I know that many
animals that originally evolved without cats around never really learn
to be afraid of them, because the cats were introduced to that ecosystem
relatively recently. (You could substitute any predatory animal for
"cat" - but I think cats in particular play this role, because they've
accompanied humans on their trips around the world. Then they end up
in places where their prey don't know enough to run/fly/swim away from
them, and the cats decimate their populations.)

Our magpies are corvids - part of the Raven & Crow family. They're
intelligent birds and would most likely know about cats. That they are so
intelligent meant that I was doubly surprised to see one on the road. Bird
roadkill usually consists of seagulls, pidgeons & mynah birds, none of which
I'd particularly mourn for. But its also the time when magpie fledglings
start becoming independant of Mom & Dad so perhaps it hadn't learnt yet.

Still sad, even if they do swoop at me.

Yowie


It could be that this particular magpie was inexperienced, or got
distracted by something and misjudged its timing. I once was
traveling by bus with a church group, and could see a swallow ahead of
us that seemed to be playing a game. It would fly at each car at just
above hood level, then ride the slipstream up and over the car roof,
returning to hood level. Unfortunately, it didn't allow for the
greater height of the bus, and struck the bus just above the
windshield. It must have been killed instantly, as we were moving at
highway speeds.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

Victor Martinez wrote:
badwilson wrote:
Here's a few pics from our recent trip to Purrth and Margaret
River.
We saw quite a few interesting critters :-)
http://community.webshots.com/album/515565059LpeWyK

Cool! Is "rammed earth" some sort of compressed dirt material? Or
adobe?

It's gravel with 8% concrete that is compressed and becomes as solid
as concrete. They also have rammed limestone and that would be a much
lighter colour, cream instead of the reddish brown.
It is fireproof and keeps it cool in the summer and warm in the winter
and they can often use the earth from your own lot. The walls are
about a foot thick.
Dennis and I are considering building a rammed limestone house on the
lot we bought. We're going to look more into it when we get down
there.
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

polonca12000 wrote:
Soncek has come to see where have I hidden all the birdies that sing so
nicely Thanks for the link.

Caliban did that too.

--
Marina, Frank, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki