Peacocks and other hungry animals

I had hungry visitors this morning at breakfast time. Its hot. 35 degrees at least during the days now, although still 20ish at night. The tourists are just about all gone to cooler climates. In fact this next week will see us beginning to close down parts of the park for off season maintenance.

Anyway the relevance of the lack of tourists is that they feed the wildlife. Some of them buy food for the wallabies and as a result the local population congregate here for the dry. And I suspect breed up as a result of the abundance. The local birds feast on scraps and the feral pigs haunt the tip.

Peacock and his haram foraging

I'm as guilty as the next person of tossing scraps for the pet wallabies that have been rescued and raised here. In fact I have been known to have to leap out of the door to recover my veggie scraps after absentmindedly chucking them out when we are not in fact parked at Mataranka. I must look a sight scrabbling in the dirt with a plastic bag in my hand.

Wallaby checking us out

However the impact of the sudden loss of food sources was driven home to me when I had to almost shove aside five peahens and a peacock this morning to get to my outdoor kitchen to boil the kettle. They were not impressed that there was no food in my hands and honked rudely at me.

Excuse me. I need to get to kettle.

I wonder even more as I am woken at night by hungry wallabies tearing at and eating ...yes eating....the cardboard boxes stacked outside the door ready for the rubbish truck. As the year goes on this will become more common. The birds, peafowl, and 'roos forage through everything looking for food to keep them alive until the wet comes. Sometimes the annex looks like the floor of a teenager's bedroom.

Just visiting. What's for breakfast. 

Yet .........   I can't bring myself to bin my scraps when K's favourite baby, the one that appears every year to get a scratch the moment we park the caravan, turns up to share my pear core and banana peal. At least I get a good breakfast each morning.

Coffee, fruit and nuts. My breakfast of choice

A moral dilemma indeed


Cheers Sue






A Ferg on the Move