💾 Archived View for sdf.org › clinquant › gardening › animals.gmi captured on 2021-12-03 at 14:04:38. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Animal visitors to our garden

Birbs

Willy wagtails - Last spring we even had some leave their babies under the patio after a bad storm. They seem to visit less during the heat of summer. One of them visits our birdbath in the back garden pretty regularly in the evenings, and announces that he owns the place. They've also been noticed to vocally express their displeasure at the netting we put over the veggie patch.
Doves (Laughing/peaceful?) - There's a pair around most of the time, I think they have a nest nearby. We've seen them make out right on the pavers in the back garden quite a few times, the little freaks. But they're cool.
Wattle birds (red?) - only comes when there's food, i.e. callistemons are flowering (we don't feed birds as a rule)
Some other small-ish fantail - still having problems trying to identify which species they are. They have a really quick and loud call going "bip!" The willy wagtails have a strained but generally respectful relationship with them. It's cute seeing them share the birdbath.
New Holland Honeyeater - they hang around in groups, and it's fun watching them brawl with each other. They visit occasionally.
Ravens - they have a hangout in the taller trees around the neighbourhood. They like to visit the fountain in the front garden, and dip food into it. Which means we have to clean it out pretty often.
Magpies - I've only seen them once or twice around spring, I think they generally stay away from this area because of the ravens?
Cockies - They fly overhead pretty often, but I think our garden is too small/uninteresting. This situtation might change once our trees start producing gumnuts, though.

Other critters

Interestingly, we don't have many native wildlife visitors other than birds, or perhaps I haven't been checking our cameras often enough.

Cat - Our neighbour across the road has a cat, she likes to hang out in the front garden and under the cars. Thankfully we haven't seen her catch any of the local wildlife. But she won't catch any of the rats in our back yard either. We also saw another cat on the fence the other day, but I think that's about it.
Rats. see more under Crop pests

Significant insects and other crawling things

Grasshoppers - We have a few huge resident grasshoppers, some about the size of my hand. They only hang around the natives, it seems.
Crickets - Mostly harmless
Pill bugs
Ants - We do have quite a few ant nests around the place, both in the front and back garden. I wonder if they have anything to do with the scale insects infesting our natives?
Skinks
Milipedes - Not too many, thankfully
Spiders - there's a bit of a redback population in our backyard, we have to be careful around the fence sometimes
Caterpillars (moths mostly?) - I hate the things, I hate discovering them in my harvested food, I hate watching them squirm and move about, just...yuk.