Stories of a short, fat bastard.

Flynn, the goulds wattled bat. He is finally self feeding putting on weight. I just drop a tray of meal worms into his bat tent and he goes mad on them. I have to wear latex gloves when I feed him, not because he is vicious, but because he is such a hungry guts he latches on to the first worm-flavoured thing he smells which is usually my fingers.

Blue faced honey heater. She was raised by another carer who didn't have a large aviary for flight training. The next week or so will see the bird transferred to increasingly larger cages so she gets used to flapping.

Welcome Swallow. This tiny chick fell out of its nest this morning and landed in my care. It's feathered but not yet flying. I have about 1 week of intensive feeding to get it to flapping age, and then it'll be off to The Wild.

Some photos of Fips after the cut.


( Spiney Goodness )

Last night H told me she had a nice big termite nest not far from her house, so today Fips and I went for a drive into the bush to visit her. Termites had invaded H's firewood pile, turning many of the logs into termite nest. I placed Fips on top, and we waited. He snuffled about for a few minutes, sneezing as dust went up his nose, then found The Spot. One powerful thrust and his nose vanished into the nest, right up to his eyes. His feet went in, dirt went flying, and in seconds only his spiney back was visible.

I began to wonder if it was time to dig him out when Fips extracted himeself from the hole, covered in dirt, mud and soldier termites. A few licks of the tongue took care of the ants. Then he began to potter about the base of the log, poking his nose into cracks, scratching occasionally and exhibiting Echidna General Food Searching Behaviours. We were really pleased with this and began planning a release strategy. Fips became bored and used his nose and feet to clear a patch of loose grass, before flopping and pressing his belly against the warm dirt. H and R said that in all their years of raising echidnas, they had never seen one do that.

Five minutes later Fips was back into the termites, sniffing, scratching and sneezing. Then he was back on his patch of dirt for a sun-bake. We watched him do this for two hours, then instead of returning to the termites, he found me and sat on my foot. That was enough of Nature, he thought, time to go home.

I've booked Termite Sessions with H & R for the next few weeks, then in early May he will have to go back to Orange for a few weeks of Outside Acclimatization before release. I know I shouldn't count my puggles before they hatch, but I think Fips' rehab will be successful.

Photos to celebrate Fips reaching 500 grams in weight.


( Four photos )

The White Plumed Honey Eater has a new friend. He is a White Plumed Honey Eater. She has decided the small, green and grey bird with white ears is much more attractive than the large black and white birds. She still comes down to drink at the nectar station, and begs for meat-mix when it's being handed out, but I saw the pair of honey eaters in the bottle brush, sipping nectar. My baby is all growed up!