Whats in your backyard?

Whats in your backyard?
07-03-2008

okay urbanites of the world!
this is a thread where we can compare the species that hop, crawl, fly around our respective backyards and parks. what species in your neck of the woods have habituated/adapted to humans?

people from rural areas are welcome to comment, but please lets keep this about urban areas - the animals that carve out an existence down by the trainline at night, or raiding your garbage bin.

07-03-2008

I used to regularly have red foxes crawling around my garden (one even killed my old rabbit - it bit it's tail off and the rabbit died from stress before the blood loss ). I haven't seen them as much since i've got my dog though...

We also have grey squirrels and rats as the other mammal species invading the garden.

As for birds, we've had robin, blackbird, magpies, wood pigeon (and the other common british birds) and a heron!!.

I have also discovered many common frogs living under leaf-litter in my garden.

Melbourne
07-03-2008

okay - i'll start.

i live 20mins walk from the center of melbourne city.

at night you would have to be blind not to see representatives of the thousands of resident grey-headed flying foxes that thrive on the wealth of exotic fruit and ficus trees planted around the city.

you won't find squirrels in our parks and gardens. instead the much larger brushtail possum fills our trees at night, often competing with the flying foxes for fruits. the brushtails seem to have thrived in the european trees that have been so widely planted. particularly english elms.

occasionally, you see the smaller (and cuter) ringtail possum but they are much rarer in areas of high brushtail density.

like so many other parts of the world we were blessed with the introduction of the red fox and the ones i see trotting confidently down the street as i stagger home drunk are some of the biggest healthiest bastards i've ever seen. they thrive in the nearby melbourne cemetery.

and of course we have the obligatory rats and mice the rest of the world has.

by day, the streets are dominated by eurasian introductions. i am yet to see a native bird in my actual (admittedly tiny) backyard!

house sparrows, spotted turtle doves, eurasian blackbirds, common starlings and the most common of all birds, that admittedly i have a slight affection for the indian miner are everywhere. still, two natives also predominate having adapted to the wealth of nectar-producing gardens and lush street trees for nesting. wattle birds are on occasion around but like sydney, inner melbournes skies belong to the noisy flocks of rainbow lorikeets who are arguably the worlds most colourful parrot.

07-03-2008

On a few occasions i have seen foxes in my garden and once or twice some hedgehogs. Squirrels are common and so are rabbits. Just like everyone else there are off-course rats aswell.
We have several bird feeders so several different kinds of birds, most of which i have no idea what they are called make regular appearances.

07-03-2008

How about us suburbanites?

red-tail hawk
red hawk
occasionally bald eagles
Eastern white tail deer
racoons
ground hogs
skunks
grey squirrels
occasionally melanistic ones
downy woodpeckers
the rare turkeys
Eastern hummingbirds
the usual local songbirds

07-03-2008

My garden backs on to a disused railway line which is home to numerous rabbits and foxes.

Other mammals I have had visiting are stoat, grey squirrel, hedgehog, and vole (species unknown). Bats are sometimes seen, I don't know which kind.

Birds include blue, great and coal tits, song thrush, blackbird, collared dove, wood pigeon, feral pigeon, bullfinch, chaffinch, pied wagtail, house sparrow, robin, wren, greenfinch, starling, mistle thrush and kestrel. Canada geese often fly over on their way to and from Hanley Park.

A buzzard once flew over, a male pheasant was spotted a few weeks ago and one day several years ago a red-legged partridge. My most exotic visitor was a golden-mantled rosella which was obviously an escaped bird.

Common toads used to live in the garden but I've not seen them for several years.

Strangely whenever there has been a fall of snow and I go outside to look for animal tracks, there is never any sign of rats.

About a mile form my house, there are rumours of a badger sett in the centre of Stoke, and otters are now migrating along the River Trent.

07-03-2008

worth mentioning. there are chinese muntjac living along the trainlines in london

07-03-2008

I'm on Sydney's north shore, about 7km from the CBD - right in the middle of suburbia.

We have had a large blue-tongue lizard living under our front step on and off for a couple of years, and have hundreds of small skinks living around our house.

Ringtailed possums are a regular visitor, and we often see flying foxes (grey headed ?) in the evenings.

There are thousands of spiders, who in summer are prolific web builders - we typically walk around with an arm or something else in front of our face to stop getting a faceful of spider web - even if you cleared the path only an hour or two earlier.

Currawongs are frequent visitors, with the occasional magpie, lots of Indian (I think) Mynahs, and hundreds of lorikeets nesting in the two large palm trees in front of our neighbour's house.

We don't get many Kookaburras at our house for some reason - but we hear them down the road, and at our old unit on the other side of the suburb, they used to come and sit on our balcony railing and stare at us through the window.

07-03-2008

In suburban sub-tropical Brisbane the most common bird is the Noisy Minor. It is a native but very detrimental to ther bird life as it drives out anything smaller or less ferocious than it. The only ones that stand up to it are bigger or predatory birds. So as well as them in my garden I have - a breeding pair of magpies, a group of butcher birds and a family of kookaburras. White copckatoos and a flock of galahs visit regularly. A pair of pale headed rosellas nest in a tree outside my bedroom and rainbow lorikeets are always around. Crested pidgeons nest in the bushes and white ibis are regular visitors to my vegie garden to eat the worms. In summer we have visitors such as the storm bird, the drongo and the channel billed cuckoo. Last summer I was thrilled to see a crested hawk!
We used to get a lot of smaller birds, wrens, honeyeaters, flycatchers, fantails, finches, treecreepers and even apostle birds but they disapeared as the cattle fields next door were subdived and built on. This also led to an increase in Noisy minors which drove away any surviving smaller birds.
A brush turkey was once a menace to my gardens a couple of years ago but neighbours had him caught and relocated elsewhere.

Mammels include a breeding female brushtail possum which has a nest in the pine tree and comes down to do her tapdancing on our iron roof. Every year she introduces to us another very cute baby. There is also a resdient male who does his regular roaring just above my bedroom window at 10pm every night. I have also seen ringtails. Flying foxes are a regular visitor to our fruit trees. There were koalas passing through at one time but suburbia has cut off their passage between two bits of remaining bush.

We have cane toads, suprise suprise, but also striped marsh frogs breed in my ppond but haven't seen any green tree frogs for years.

Insects include two species of native bee (blue striped and the tiny little one whose name I don't know) as well as the honeybee. There are ladybirds, praying mantis, stick insects, wasps, beetles of all kinds, including massive staghorns and lots more that i don't know.

Reptiles include the asian gecko and also a large blue black gecko with white spots, lots of skinks, a blue tongue and I have seen a carpet python in the past.

This is a good thread Patrick. I always enjoy talking about the inhabitants of my garden.

07-03-2008

I live in a small town just north of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales. It's about 1 hour's drive south of Sydney. I grew up not far from a state recreation area. As a kid it was great. We would regularily get swamp wallabies in our street. I remember seeing bandicoots and echidnas. plenty of possums both ringies and brush tails. A pair of peregrine falcons have been using a large fig tree as a roost to raise their kids across the road from my parents house for the last few years. They are making a great living on all the local lorikeets.
The bird life is great. But lately I have noticed red wattle birds are starting to replace the smaller honeyeaters. I no longer see as many lewins or New holland honeyeaters.
I have one large blue tongue that lives near my clothes line. It likes to hiss at me as I put the washing out. I have found a tortiose in my yard after heavy rain one time. Plenty of golden crowned snakes in our area and occasionally you see diamond pythons.
(Sorry patrick. I know this thread was meant to be animals in our back yards, not in our nieghbourhood. Great idea for a thread but. I am looking forward to reading other peoples posts.)

07-03-2008

Well, Not as exciting as your but here is my list:

Blackbird
Song thrush
Robin
Goldcrest
Treecreeper
Nuthatch
Greater spotted woodpecker
Bullfinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch (Haven't seen these for ages)
Chaffinch
Blue tit
Great tit
Long tailed tit
Pygmy shrew
Wood mouse
Hedgehog
Pipesstrelle bat (Spelling sorry!)
Guinea pigs (I don't think this counts!)
Common toad

I think that's it...

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

07-03-2008

I live near Shepparton in Victoria and have a family of magpies in a tree in the backyard that fight with the pair of eagles in one of our neighbours yards. Once there were kangaroos in our driveway but it was too dark to get a good look at them. Tawny frogmouth nest in a paperbark tree next to my bedroom window and they wake me up everymorning. (2 or 3 o'clock)
And finally brushtail possums in our roof and walls.

07-03-2008

I live in a pretty suburb of Maitland called Lorn. It used to be rainforest, but being all flood land (in the past) its rich soil was soon turned to orchards.
now its one of the leafiest and prettiest suburbs in the Hunter Valley Region. Every street is lined with jacarandas and being as Lorn is bound by a major river and farmland it attracts an unusual wealth of bird and animal life.
In my backyard and street....
water dragons, blue tongue lizards, water skinks and garden skinks
black birds, mynah, starling, sparrow, European gold finches
red browed firetails, silver eye, yellow rumped thornbill, zebra finch, king fisher, bee-eater, king quail, ibis, egrets, sulphur crested cockatoo, lorikeet, rosella, turquoise parrot, turtle dove, top knot pigeon, magpie, peewee, butcher birds, currawong, koel, willy wagtail, rufous fantail, fig birds, wattle birds, frogmouth....god too many to mention
flying fox (which roost in the local school), red fox, rats and mice and possums, as well as rabbits...
is anyone doing anything, such as planting native plants to specifically encourage wildlife?

08-03-2008

YOu Aussies are making me jealous with all of the wonderful creatures you see every day. I live in a city of over 200,000 people and we have loads of wildlife within the city limits. Coyotes, red fox, & white-tail deer are often seen. Virginia opossums and raccoons are everywhere, passing along all of their nasty little parasites. Squirrels and chipmunks and voles are all over the place. Coopers hawks like to nest on zoo grounds and scare all of my aviary birds. Great blue herons are abundant on the neighboring lake--just saw two yesterday coming in for a landing on the ice. We have the normal species of birds--blue jays, cardinals, robins, grackles, cowbirds, house sparrows, house finches, goldfinch, ovenbirds, mallard ducks, Canada geese, warblers, crows, the occasional belted kingfisher, etc. Because of the large lake we get migrating waterfowl each spring and fall. A couple of days ago I saw the scaups and American coots of the year. Turkey vultures are common around here. There is a nesting pair of peregrine falcons in our downtown area. Red-tailed hawks and kestrels are also common.

08-03-2008

Yeah, I was reading these lists and thinking we need to arrange house-swaps!