Wild Brisbane Companions

You might be thinking of wild young things in the infamous Fortitude Valley but actually the ones I am going to talk about are no further than my back garden. This was a topic discussed by Gillian Paxton from the University of Queensland whose subject was Wild Brisbane Companions- living with Common Native Animals.

I am picking up her theme because I really do feel I have a couple of wild companions who I would like to introduce you to. There are the shy ones I have blogged about before, the reptiles in my garden like the green tree snake and the carpet python.They, I have to say with a bit of relief, are not regulars but these guys are :

This is Wally the water dragon, and his offspring is also around, usually face up near the compost waiting for something to drop from the sky. We shall call him Junior as I have no idea what sex he /she might be. Junior has haunts, like any young one would do, and I can predict pretty much where to find him at any one time during the day. The best vision of junior is when he is climbing the tibouchina and sleeps on one of the far out branches. The only thing that gives him away is his tail which hangs down from the main branch.

Junior waiting for Godot 

This is Junior heading to Bed.

As he settles down for the night the Possum and its baby come romping out and often dance loud dances on my roof and eat the tender shoots of my passion fruit plants but I can forgive them, if I was a possum those would be my delicacies too. They live in the neighbour's roof - a good use of roof space!

And finally as I walk out the house I am more than likely to meet one of these who have become so adapted to the city environment. Brush Turkeys have been called Birds behaving Badly because they have adapted really well to living in cities and whereas in the 1930s there were fears of extinction, their populations are now thriving. They annoy home owners as they often dig up seeds and plants in their attempts to build up their own little nests. 

So you can see how these wild companions have found their own place in the city. And they cross the road like you and me looking out for traffic as they go. There is space enough for all of us.