Fred's Birds

[Fred]

I apologise for hijacking my own thread.  This wallaby is in the neighbours back yard.

[nvrbdn]

really neat.

[Fred]

Taken from inside the house so a little bit blurry.  Male and female Gang Gang

[twodko]

Erika,

Are Echidna members of the porcupine genus?

[Fred]

Hi Tom,
I don't think so.
Echidna's are native to Australia and New Guinea.
Baby Echidna's are called puggles.........cute huh?

Here are some facts for you to peruse...........

Echidnas are small, solitary mammals[3] covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They have elongated and slender snouts which function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with electrosensors, but while the platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, the long-billed echidna has only 2,000, and the short-billed echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 located at the tip of its snout.[4] They have very short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have tiny mouths and toothless jaws. The echidna feeds by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using its long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from its snout, to collect prey. The short-beaked echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eats worms and insect larvae.[5]

Long-beaked echidnas have sharp, tiny spines on their tongues that help capture their prey.[5]

Echidnas and the platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes place after 10 days; the young echidna then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days,[6] at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the young, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.

[Mopar Nut]

The heck with coming back as a cat, I wannabe a Echidna.

[Fred]

Whatever animal you choose to come back as.........if you end up in our household........you've got it made! 

[Fred]

I nearly got a pic of a wombat this morning. Taking my daily walk this morning I went through the forest and up ahead I saw a big fat wombat crossing my path. Unfortunately as I crept closer to get the shot he heard me and scampered of into the undergrowth.

Mrs. Fred

[Fred]

.

[twodko]

Thanks Erika!

Before I met and married Diane I may have dated one of these. Wild times there were as I recall. 

"Echidnas are small, solitary mammals[3] covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They have elongated and slender snouts which function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with electrosensors, but while the platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, the long-billed echidna has only 2,000, and the short-billed echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 located at the tip of its snout.[4] They have very short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have tiny mouths and toothless jaws. The echidna feeds by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using its long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from its snout, to collect prey. The short-beaked echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eats worms and insect larvae.[5]"

[Mopar Nut]

I nearly got a pic of a wombat this morning. Taking my daily walk this morning I went through the forest and up ahead I saw a big fat wombat crossing my path. Unfortunately as I crept closer to get the shot he heard me and scampered of into the undergrowth.

Mrs. Fred

That would be cool to see.

[Fred]

Thanks Erika!

Before I met and married Diane I may have dated one of these. Wild times there were as I recall.  

"Echidnas are small, solitary mammals[3] covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They have elongated and slender snouts which function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with electrosensors, but while the platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, the long-billed echidna has only 2,000, and the short-billed echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 located at the tip of its snout.[4] They have very short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have tiny mouths and toothless jaws. The echidna feeds by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using its long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from its snout, to collect prey. The short-beaked echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eats worms and insect larvae.[5]"

I'm sure Fred dated his fair share too.  Before I came along and sorted him out.    God only knows what he hooked up with in the bars of the ports around the world during his sea faring days.
E.

[Fred]

I nearly got a pic of a wombat this morning. Taking my daily walk this morning I went through the forest and up ahead I saw a big fat wombat crossing my path. Unfortunately as I crept closer to get the shot he heard me and scampered of into the undergrowth.

Mrs. Fred

That would be cool to see.

Yes, sadly I messed up.
Mrs. Fred

[JB400]

Don't feel bad.  I just scared away 4 does on the way back to my place.

[burnout.dawg]

Are wombat's shy? They look so cute and cuddly.

[Fred]

Don't feel bad.  I just scared away 4 does on the way back to my place.

Are you saying that not one of them wanted to come home with you?     You might need to work on your pick up lines.

[Fred]

Are wombat's shy? They look so cute and cuddly.

They're mostly nocturnal which is why you don't see them much during the day but here in the hills I see them out and about a lot on my walks. Mostly returning to their burrows after feeding through the night or even still grazing where they don't feel threatened. But even though they look cute and cuddly you wouldn't want to approach one with the intention of patting it.
They grow to one metre in length and can weigh up to 70 lbs and are very strong and a startled wombat can charge humans and bowl them over.

And although I scared mine off today, they do defend home territories centred on their burrows, and they react aggressively to intruders. Humans who accidentally find themselves in a fray with a wombat may find it best to scale a tree until the animal calms and leaves. Humans can receive puncture wounds from wombat claws, as well as bites.  

So to sum it up, they're best enjoyed from a distance.

Mrs. Fred

[JB400]

Don't feel bad.  I just scared away 4 does on the way back to my place.

Are you saying that not one of them wanted to come home with you?     You might need to work on your pick up lines.

They would have come home with me, I just needed a deer tag

[Mopar Nut]

Don't feel bad.  I just scared away 4 does on the way back to my place.

Are you saying that not one of them wanted to come home with you?     You might need to work on your pick up lines.

They would have come home with me, I just needed a deer tag

Remember the Govt. is shutdown, open season, who's going to check for a deer tag.

[JB400]

Don't feel bad.  I just scared away 4 does on the way back to my place.

Are you saying that not one of them wanted to come home with you?      You might need to work on your pick up lines.

They would have come home with me, I just needed a deer tag

Remember the Govt. is shutdown, open season, who's going to check for a deer tag.

Federal govt. is shut down.  State govt. is still at work and in charge of the Conservation Dept.  Deer tags are state issued

[Mopar Nut]

Remember the Govt. is shutdown, open season, who's going to check for a deer tag.

Federal govt. is shut down.  State govt. is still at work and in charge of the Conservation Dept.  Deer tags are state issued

can you tell I don't hunt.

[JB400]

Remember the Govt. is shutdown, open season, who's going to check for a deer tag.

Federal govt. is shut down.  State govt. is still at work and in charge of the Conservation Dept.  Deer tags are state issued

can you tell I don't hunt.

I don't either, but know enough people that do.  I prefer fishing, in which, you have to get a permit for that as well from the state.  What erks me though is the state makes you buy a tag to kill a deer, but they won't pay you if one of their deer jumps out and wrecks your vehicle.

[Mopar Nut]

What erks me though is the state makes you buy a tag to kill a deer, but they won't pay you if one of their deer jumps out and wrecks your vehicle.

Those are the ones they don't own,  I had one total a car I was driving. It was like hitting a 

[twodko]

Thanks Erika!

Before I met and married Diane I may have dated one of these. Wild times there were as I recall.  

"Echidnas are small, solitary mammals[3] covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They have elongated and slender snouts which function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with electrosensors, but while the platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, the long-billed echidna has only 2,000, and the short-billed echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 located at the tip of its snout.[4] They have very short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have tiny mouths and toothless jaws. The echidna feeds by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using its long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from its snout, to collect prey. The short-beaked echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eats worms and insect larvae.[5]"

I'm sure Fred dated his fair share too.  Before I came along and sorted him out.    God only knows what he hooked up with in the bars of the ports around the world during his sea faring days.
E.

Hey now, lets not cast disparaging remarks on a fellow brother of the sea. 

[Fred]

Aussie magpie (female)