peter.winters

Getting close enough to take a photo is the main issue. "Stranger danger". The neighbor still has them return from time to time. They are abundant where I live. It's great to watch the bigger males fight for dominance. Something quite orderly about the manner in which they engage. Locking their upper torso, heads bent back at right-angles to protect their eyes and then letting out big hind leg kicks which can be heard from a distances, knocking off tufts of fur until one submits. Then they part and order returns. One day I'll invest in a good camera.

Can't recall the time lapse. This critter is now fully grown. Its my next door neighbor who is a registered carer of Wallabies and deserves the credit. She has cared for many as unfortunately many mothers are killed on the local roads.

Yep - same bird. Bird eats plenty of premium mince meat along with its grasshoppers, grubs and beetles. It's quite demanding. But I am starting to slow up on the hand outs in an attempt to see it return to the wild. Not sure how it will go socialising with other, if indeed it can being hand raised from such a young age. But then again instinct is an amazing trait.

New photo, chick has most of its feathers. It likes to run around and chase my feet. I am attempting to teach it how to hunt. A very frustrating process. I must search and find my inner Pheasant for this to be successful.

The Otter is up there as one of my favorite animals. I only get to see them in zoos unfortunately. Perhaps one day I'll travel abroad and see one in the wild.

I found some recordings online, so I play these on my laptop when I can. The chick stops and listens very carefully. Then it starts a small chirp. I assume it is calling its Mother and Father.

This chick is surviving happily. We have built a nest using grass and dried leaves, inside a plastic bowl. Which resembles what you'd find in the wild. We keep a small light bulb under the at night to ensure it is kept warm. We are feeding it crushed chicken neck (good source of calcium) and raw mince. Will try to catch a few grasshoppers to vary its intake. I have started to exercise the chicken by letting it hold my finger and carefully moving up and down so it extends its wings to remain balanced. So far it is looking promising that it will survive. Hopefully we can let the chick go once it gets feathers, which is a normal outcome for chicks in the wild.