Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria.

Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria. , a photo by Leone Fabre on Flickr.

This little fellow is about to appear in the Wildlife Rescue Magazine! 

On one of our many visits to Blackwood (Victoria, Australia) we saw this cheeky Kookaburra.

Kookaburras are large to very large (total length 28-42 cm/11-17 in) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.

Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which is uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter — good-natured, if rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the well-known Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae); and maniacal cackling in the case of the slightly smaller Blue-winged Kookaburra . They are generally not closely associated with water, and can be found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, but also in suburban and residential areas near running water and where food can be searched for easily.

Kookaburras are carnivorous. They will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice and raw meat. The most social birds will accept handouts from humans and will take raw or cooked meat (even if at high temperature) from on or near open-air barbecues left unattended. It is generally not advised to feed the birds too regularly as meat alone does not include calcium and other nutrients essential to the bird. Remainders of mince on the bird's beak can fester and cause problems for the bird.

They are territorial, and often live with the partly grown chicks of the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory. They are also known to sit in gum trees.

In the wild, kookaburras are known to eat babies of other birds and snakes, and insects and small reptiles. In zoos, they are usually fed food for birds of prey, and dead baby chicks.

If you click on the above image it 'should' take you direct to my flickr site where you can view other images of this Kookaburra!

Oscar's visit to Blackwood.

It's been a busy week, but on Wednesday we took some time out to go up to Blackwood, an old historical village on the Lerderderg River.  Blackwood is 89 klms from Melbourne in Victoria, Australia and where we have a small holiday place. It is also where gold was discovered on Jan 4 1855

Blackwood is only 20 minutes from Ballan, so it was a quick trip there to pick up a few things. It was very cold and wet, but we still had to go.

On our arrival we let Oscar out of the car to 'explore'.... this is where he and Pokey chased lizards nearly every weekend and after doing that all day long they were exhausted, so they lazed in front of the fire with Zac (Janines dog).

above: Zac, Oscar and Pokey at Blackwood on March 13 2005.

But we watched Oscar running around, sniffing here and there and we wondered how much he remembered of previous visits so many years ago?

above: Pokey and Oscar looking for lizards in January 2007 at Blackwood.

below: Oscar running around the front area of Blackwood in May 2012

His nose was "working overtime" while there, did he know where he was?  Can he remember Pokey or Zac at all?

We are happy we got to take him to Blackwood again.

He has settled in at Ballan very well, he is still on medication three times a day and sometimes has difficulty breathing, but overall he seems to be happy. The vet says he is in no pain, but to just watch him closely.

We had a 'doggie door' installed into the laundry door on Thursday and already he uses it. We thought it might take a week or two for him to get used to something so 'new'. But with a little encouragement he was in and out of it within the first hour and now takes himself outside when ever he needs to.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

We are happy that he got to "come home" and also that he has now been to Blackwood as well.

No one knows what tomorrow will bring, but with loads of love and care, we hope he is with us for sometime yet!


postnote: Oscar passed away in John's arms at 6:10am on 23 May 2012


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