Yes, there are still lots of photos from our NZ trip and I’ll be posting them anon.
Imogen just gave me this photo she took a few months back of a work colleague who raises orphan wombats. Imogen spent the night at her place on Flinders Island and got to play with them. Now she really wants a baby wombat.
Cute…but watch out for those nails! Ouch!
At this age, they’d still be getting in mama’s pouch occasionally, so hopefully these claws aren’t too sharp yet.
Wombats are prodigious diggers, with burrows that rival rabbit warrens for size and complexity, although with bigger diameter tunnels of course, for 100lb wombats to crawl through.
Female wombats have an unusual feature, a backwards facing pouch – so that they don’t get dirt in it while digging or crawling in their tunnels.
This group, which comes by regularly, includes a buck, something we don’t see very often.
Oooooooo. Lucky you.
I miss dear. We actually have dear in Tasmania (but not where we live). They were introduced as a “sporting” species (I’d personally only consider dear hunting a sport if all people could hunt were bucks and they had to kill it with a knife – then it would be a real contest). Of course, like everything people have introduced here, it destroys habitat, but the boys in the government won’t ever move to get rid of this pest because of the hunting=male-bonding factor.
Yes I doe. :-p
The deer can be a real problem around here because all the predators (wolves, panthers, and bears) were long ago extirpated. They’ve had to hold special hunts in the state parks (where hunting is not allowed) to reduce the number.
(and snort to your “yes, I doe”)
Yeah, I understand the need to cull deer numbers, nor do I think killing an animal for food is wrong, but I still don’t consider hunting a “sport”. Sport to me has always meant competition between willing participants.
And speaking of culling, I’ve recently started killing the rabbits at our place. We’re over-run with them at the moment. I dug out a litter of kits last week, and this week the shooting starts (I’ve borrowed a 22 rifle from a friend – we’ll see if my aim is still any good).
I’ve never understood the sport designation either — especially when most of the hunters around here sit in tree stands and just wait for a deer to wander by.
Ulva Island is not just a bird sanctuary (and a stunningly gorgeous one at that), it’s also a plant sanctuary.
Here’s what the guide books says about the plants in this photo:
these guys came stag…looking for does, who knows: an old 10 pt. and a young 4 pt buck…muley’s.
clik to enlarge
lTMF’sA
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I’m especially fond of mule deer.
The big buck is gorgeous. Here’s hoping that rack stays on his head and off someone’s wall.
I think the antlers are bigger than our deer.
Due mainly to their predation by rats, stoats and cats, Saddlebacks were reduced to a mere 36 birds, but they are making a comeback (YAY!), thanks to predator-free island sanctuaries.
That is a gorgeous bird. And how great that it is recovering.
is like a day without sunshine.