Friday 19 January 2018

Varanus varius

Varanus varius - Lace Monitor

I live in a house between a sub tropical eucalypt forest and a paddock. We have lived here for 26 years.
The local wildlife, much of which has been inside our house during the building process includes, wallabies (like kangaroos but smaller),
ringtail possums (they are very cute),
a variety of rat like creatures with strange names (antichinus, bandicoot),
echidna,
platypus,
koala,
fruit bats,
water dragons,
big monitor lizards (goanna),
scrub turkeys,
large carpet snakes
a variety of smaller snakes (some deadly),
an incredible range of birds (including kookaburras)
butterflies,
frogs
and hundreds of insects (spiders from tiny size to open hand size).
I’ve had some lovely moments with the wildlife - like accidentally stepping over a carpet snake, about 1.8 metres long, maybe 12 - 15 cms diameter. 
The snake was moving very slowly because it had recently had a meal and the big lump about a third of the way down his body was proof of that. It was an afternoon in June, and he had come out of long grass in the paddock and was making his way into bush land to spend winter in a log or hole in the ground. My dog and I stood and watched his slow process. The snake couldn’t move very fast because of his full belly. It was an interesting moment.
Over the years we have saved baby kingfishers birds from drowning, taken others to the vet for help, found 9 new baby anchinus pups inside the house, been startled by wallabies who just hop out of the forest without warning, finding a dead wallaby in the bush, watched baby bush turkeys emerge from their nest mound, seen small lizards dig their little cave to lay their eggs, had magpies bring a wounded baby to us for help, and lots of other brief encounters with animals in the wild.
And they are brief because life moves on quickly, like the time I stepped out the door and came toe to toe with a lace monitor - big lizard with 6 cm claws and a very ugly face. We call them all goannas. He seemed to leap at me but actually jumped onto the wall above my head and quickly skittled up into the roof where he often had a nap.
Many times I’ve sat on the veranda at night watching a possum, often mother and baby, eating fruit which I left there. They hold the fruit with delicate little pink hands and fingers.
Just this week I was walking with my dog (different dog) and heard birds making a fuss. It was a familiar call and I must say I was really thrilled that I knew what it meant. I listened for the expected ripping sounds of talons on a tree and followed that to where I saw the birds, Noisy minors, warning all other birds that a goanna (lace monitor again) was close by. 
And there he was, about 4 metres up a tree. He must have heard me coming and was getting out of the way as there was not much to the tree above him. 
The birds were in surrounding trees, giving him a hard time, flying close and above him to send him on his way. He was on the opposite side of the tree to where I was standing and I had to quietly circle to see him. 
Fortunately nesting season was over. Usually the goannas go up trees to eat the eggs and later the young birds and I’ve seen that happen too.
I was so excited about this encounter because I knew what the birds were saying, what they were warning about. Wow. That is sort of mind blowing.

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