Firstly, the birds. We've seen trees literally full of nests- with busy parents, fledgling chicks, and juveniles as big as mama but still begging to be fed. North of Townsville I watched a pair of figbirds dutifully feeding their two chicks, and in the Bundaberg botanical garden we saw trees chock full of baby herons - all flapping their wings and jostling about. I never realized that herons roosted in trees or were so social!
On a hike on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville, we were lucky enough to see a koala mother and juvenile plus another mother with a much smaller baby. Cute beyond words! The juvenile was the most active - lazily reaching around for a few leaves to nibble. The second set let us get quite close so I managed to get some good pictures.
As you can see they are enjoying their favorite pasttime, sleeping! Koalas sleep around 18 hours per day to conserve energy due to their nutritionally poor diet.
A few days later near Bundaberg we visited the Mon Repos Turtle Rookery Conservation Area. This is the time of year when the giant sea turtles crawl up on the beach to lay their eggs and for a few dollars you can go on a tour along the beach at night to watch the egg-laying. It was a beautiful night for a long walk on the beach. Through the night we saw four loggerhead turtles - the first three turned back to the ocean before laying but the fourth succesfully dug her nest and laid her eggs while we watched. When she was finished they let us take photos:
and after she crawled back to the water's edge and swam away we got to help the conservationists relocate her 127 eggs to a new nest higher up on the beach - apparently it's quite common for these endangered turtles to lay their eggs too low and so the researchers always move them higher up.
We really enjoyed seeing the turtles but I have to say that we were both shocked by how rude, noisy and obnoxious the general crowd was! They let as many as 300 people go on these guided walks each night and we find it really hard to believe that it wasn't the cause of so many turtles turning back before laying eggs.
And now for the piece de resistance... baby goats!
While housesitting and wwoofing in southern Queensland I've gotten to tend to 4 pregnant goats and subsequently 8 newborn kids :) Big excitement for an animal person like me. The babies are absolutely adorable and are growing amazingly fast. Goat birthing is very quick so I've only witnessed 3 of the 8 actually being born - tending to my midwife duties with great aplomb. The goat mamas and the billy have all been very tolerant of me pestering them continuously and the kids are extremely friendly, leaping around and trying to climb on me.
Justin just rolls his eyes but I am determined to have some goats someday for milk, wool and companionship (just don't ask if I'll ever have the heart to butcher any of them.)
just a note: I've started linking to the detailed summary page for each photoset. This should make it easier to see all the pics and captions for those of you using slow connections :)
koala photoset
turtle photoset
goat photoset
