Pardalote Holt: November 2020

Monday, November 16, 2020

October brings some rain

October has been fairly quiet for me. I managed to take some leave, which meant an opportunity to catch up on some of the long list of garden jobs and to do a little birding. It's also peak breeding season for our hens as well as some of the native birds. I noticed that a Bush Turkey had built a breeding mound behind the chicken runs. "noticed' suggests I might have missed it, but no, the mound was over a metre tall and 6-8 metres square. Bush Turkeys and chooks often don't get on well as the male turkeys are obsessed with raping the chooks and both sexes steal eggs; however, Bush Turkeys are also very aggressive towards Lace Monitors and Goannas, especially around their mounds, so I watch with interest to see whether we would benefit or otherwise from the mound. Certainly a number of baby Bush Chooks were hatched and there were odd occasions when I had to nip outside to separate a randy Bush Turkey from a distressed chook. We lost a number of eggs, averaging two or three a day, but we have an excess of eggs so that wasn't an issue. The big win was that prior to the mound being built the Lace Monitors had been circling and they will rip into eggs and any chook they can catch sitting on them. Once the mound was complete they vanished and I haven't seen one since (although my neighbour reports in sightings including one individual supposedly the size of a small crocodile). So, I think the experiment has been a success and the Bush Chooks can stay (they are legally protected anyway) with my blessing.

Bertie the Bush Turkey guards his mound

A few months ago we managed to find a girlfriend for Dymple (our Peacock) and 'P-Diddy' has been in the peacock run since Feb/Mar (they need 6-months to settle). I managed to catch Dymple at the end of last month and put him in with her (he's normally free range) and as it was peak breeding season he immediately flourished his tail and set to wooing her. I can announce that only yesterday an egg has appeared and so we wait with bated breath to see if more come and P-Diddy sits on them.

Meanwhile, back on the dam its nice to see that we still have turtles. We don't see them often but this Saw-shelled Turtle came out on the banks for a short bask as the days started warming.