Wildlife Autumn 2007 (spring wildlife Down Under)

[mark smyth]

The 4 and 20 blackbirds are, if my memory is right, black birds and that = crows. Thats another wild food no longer eaten

[ranunculus]

Not even when you are ravenous eh, Mark?

[Lesley Cox]

So happy not to be able to share in the squirrel angst. Enjoyed your article Carlo.

We have a great TV series currently running (series 2) called "Hunger for the Wild." Two Wellington restaurateurs take to the bush, mountains, sea, rivers and anywhere there's a decent meal in the offing and find it then cook it. They have a great time and some declicious food. There seems to be a good bit of alcohol consumed in the process. My kind of people.

[fermi de Sousa]

I never tried them while I was in Louisiana but I was told that people did have delicacies just as fried squirrel brains for breakfast!! Like the man said "first catch your squirrel"!
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

At the end of August a friend sent me some larvae of a cross between the Chinese Moon Moth Actias sinensis and the American species A. luna. This wee male is the first to emerge. It shows more of its Chinese parent.

[mark smyth]

do you have photos of the parents?

[fermi de Sousa]

Anthony,
what a fabulous moth! reminds me of the (Original) Dr Doolittle Movie i saw as a child!
Lesley asked about pictures of the echidna which rampages through our garden; here is a series of pics I took yesterday evening of "Erroll" (he has a swaggering gait!) - but "he" could be a "she" in which case it would be "Edna"!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

I hadn't realized he/she would be quite so hedgehog-like. A little pet. And what a lucky echidna to have such a beautiful and interesting habitat to live in.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

I must admit, Fermi's is remarkably hedgehog-like.  Those I have seen around here are much less prominent head-wise, looking more like a ball with a snout, rather than having a definite head as Fermi's does.  I took some pics at a friend's palce a few months ago when one wandered in while I was there.  I can post some of those pics as well if you're interested.  And they really aren't that little either...  The one I photographed would have been a good 18 inches long, plus the snout.  It was acutally bigger than I recalled them being, but it had been a while since I last saw one in person.

Great pics Fermi.  Yours was being MUCH more co-operative than mine was..... mine kept trying to hide instead of ambling around helpfully like yours did!! 

[Anthony Darby]

Fermi, I have died and gone to heaven. Those pics are fantastic. Just what the doctor ordered. Mind if I show them to my 5th year class as we are starting "genetics and evolution" soon?

Mark, I'll dig some photos out.

[annew]

Some wonderful animals, folks - Anthony, that moth!! And the Echidna is really cute. (Also thanks for the chuckle, Cliff).

[Maggi Young]

Anthony, what a beautiful moth... I didn't know that moths would hybridise, another lesson learned here.

Errol Echidna is a smart fellow... very impressive to see such clear photos.....I am intrigued by the way the spines form that perfect chevron pattern down the middle of his back as the spines from east and west meet, so to speak....our hedgehogs (which are armoured much less sturdily) don't have that line.
Judging by the size of the Dianthus plants, Errol is much smaller than the example Paul met recently.... is there more than one species?

[Rob]

Here is a pic of a hedgehog in my garden for comparison with Errol

[Lesley Cox]

Yes Paul, we'd like to see your echidna too please.

[John Forrest]

Me too Paul.
Fantastic pictures Fermi, the spines along the 'spine' are beautifully arranged and much more like the porcupine's quills than our hedgehog's little prickles.