Some other garden visitors - here in N.E. Oz.

I thought I'd share some photos of a few of the garden visitors that have dropped by to visit in the last couple of weeks. Living so close to bushland means I get to see such a variety of wildlife.



This is a Children's Python that came visiting just last night. They're a non-venomous, rather placid snake that we see a lot around here.



This Brush-tailed Possum has taken to sleeping the day away in our gutter! No idea why. They usually don't sleep in such an exposed spot.



Even when the rain is teeming down, this little fellow still stays in the gutter.



A fully laden native bee, named Tetragonula carbonaria or commonly called the Sugarbag Bee. It's a stingless Aussie bee and you can see how it carries the huge bags of pollen on its back legs.



Here you can see another of our native bees, the Blue-banded Bee. It's instantly recognisable with its iridescent blue stripes.



I have no idea what this one is. It looks a little nasty though and seems to be trying to poach the meal from the spider's web behind it.



The Brown Paper Wasps are building their nests all over the place right now. I seem to wander into one of them on a daily basis. They've got a nasty sting.



Now these ants may look harmful enough, but let me tell you they have the nastiest bite. These are Green Ants and we have millions of them around here. They stick the ends of leaves together to build these enormous globular nests. You want to avoid these nests as much as possible.



I've seen quite a few of these caterpillars around lately, ever since the rain arrived. This is the caterpillar of the Common Crow Butterfly, which is a very common sight around my garden.

Well, there we are. That's just a snapshot of some of the sights I've been seeing while wandering around my place here in the north-east of Oz.

 

Eileen, I'm only too happy to share some of the sights I get to see here. I think that's one of the best things about gardening, seeing all the visitors. I just love looking out for the creatures that visit.

 

Great pictures Bernie. Thanks for explaining them so nicely.

 

Glad you enjoyed them, Donna.

 

Lol, the poor Gutter Possum. Frank it certainly fits because this is the first possum that's ever spent the day sleeping there. They're nocturnal creatures and I usually don't see them during the day.

As for the python, as they grow older and become adults they lose the markings and become almost patternless.

 

Nice to see wildlife in other parts of the world. I welcome snakes to my yard as the larger ones eat mice/voles which I hate.
Seeing that fully loaded bee reminded me that the honey I bought yesterday came all the way from Australia. I bought it on sale and wondered why honey that came all the way to Canada from Australia was cheaper then the local honey. Weird.
Great pics Bernieh!

 

Thanks Netty. Isn't it weird how some products that travel halfway around the world are cheaper than the ones that are home grown and produced! I just can't figure that one out.

 

Great photos Bernieh, we have some those insects here too. Here we call the Green Ants Fire Ants, I guess it must be from the sensation from the bites when one accidentally walk into it!

 

KK Ng, fire ants here are something entirely different. They're brown coloured and are really nasty. We have to report them if we ever see them. They're a South American ant that's made its way over here and is now on our state's dangerous notifiable pest list which means we have to notify the government whenever we spot them. There's an eradication program in place to get rid of them.

 

Bernieh: I wonder if that cute little Possum is sick? Usually when we have wildlife acting out of character it is because something is wrong with them. Hope not.
But I do love seeing and hearing about your native wildlife. Here in Wisconsin we only have one ant that you really do not want to mess with. They are called Army ants and can give you nasty bite. Although their ant hills are easy to spot as they build a 6 or 8 inch high mound on top of the ground.

 

Love seeing your posts! The little BTP in the gutter looks so sweet. Love all the photos of the wild life. The ant nest is fascinating, as well as the other insects. Great post!

 

Yikes! Those Green Ants are already nasty and I could imagine how nasty those fire ants are. Just thinking of it made my skin crawls.
I can still remember very well that once while playing golf, one of my flight mate came running out of the bushes stripping right down to his underwear and started rolling on the fairway. He accidentally knock into a green ant nest while looking for his ball in the bushes!