Echidna, Spiny Ant Eater

ECHIDNA

I was out at the reservoir above the Kilmore Golf Course this morning. I was particularly looking for some herons which I have seen there before. No herons but there was a surprise visitor.

What I found was this large echidna, rooting through the mud along the edge of the dam. When first spotted, he or she was in the water with its beak submerged. Perhaps it was drinking? I have never seen this before.




It made its way along the edge of the reservoir, moving between the water and the firmer mud, before moving back amongst the trees. I assume it was hunting for a meal.  Although we think these are slow moving animals, they do really move along quite quickly.


 Echidnas have a habit, when disturbed, of  stopping and digging straight down into the ground. Within a few seconds they can dig themselves completely under the surface. They have quite short but very strong legs with elongated claws which enable very fast burrowing. Any predator trying to catch an echidna, will be deterred by the sharp spines standing erect as the animal digs quickly into the earth.
 
Echidnas feed mainly on ants and termites. They use their strong claws to open ant's nests  and then collect the ants with a long sticky tongue which protrudes a long from the lawless snout.





Echidnas are Monotremes, egg laying mammals. There are only two monotremes, the echidna and the platypus, both live in Australia. The female echidna lays a single egg, rather leathery like a snake or lizard egg.


 
The young, called a puggle, hatches after only about ten days, a tiny fetus, it crawls into the mothers pouch. Inside the pouch the puggle continues to grow, feeding on milk which is produced from milk patches, pores in the mother's skin.
After about fifty days, the mother digs a burrow and leaves her young there, but returning to feed for about a year

In the Garden on A Summer Morning

FEBRUARY, FIVE MINUTES IN THE GARDEN 

In just a few minutes this morning, there were six different visitors to the small birdbath in the garden.

Whilst  we see birds having a drink or a bath reasonably often, this morning was, for a few short minutes,  a very busy time. Perhaps the sound of splashing by the first visitor was enough to attract the others.

Morning coffee this morning was a very entertaining time.

Straited Thornbill

Common Blackbird

Wet Buff-rumped Thornbill

Eastern Spinebill

Crimson Rosellas

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Australian White Ibis

AUSTRALIAN WHITE IBIS Threskiornis molucca

There were several groups of these Australian White Ibis sunning themselves along the edge of the Kilmore Hospital reservoir this morning.








There were many golfers around also, the golf course is built round the reservoir. Each time a golf cart went past, these birds would up, fly a loop of the reservoir and come back to roost. It surprised me, so many golfers, and each time the ibis would fly a lap. They were very wary.

 

 We don't see a lot of ibis around Kilmore generally. Later in autumn and and again in late spring we see them as they make their way north and south.

It was uncommon to see ibis about Melbourne before the 1970s. Now they are so common as to be regarded as pests. They are very urbanized  scavenging for food amongst the city rubbish bins and tips.



These birds today were quite clean looking with bright white feathers. I remember seeing a huge flock of ibis feeding at the rubbish tipping station at Albury a few years ago. Those birds were hardly white, they were a dirty grey, covered in mud and rubbish. They were very sad looking birds.  It was nice to see these looking so regal.