Wildlife Visitors in May 2017

May was the final month of autumn here in Australia, and it was great to see the regular wildlife visitors out and about. I was also happy to see a rare visitor to our place and we also had a surprise visitor!

Below is a Golden Orb Weaver spider with a massive web that I came across in the yard. The spider is about 10cm in total length (including the legs). Look closely, and you’ll see another much smaller spider just above the big spider. That little one is the male!

This Monarch Butterfly was fluttering around the yard at the end of the month. I thought it was unusual to see one at this time of year, but apparently where I live these butterflies are still around because it’s warmer along the coastline.

Below is a short video of a Juvenile Grey Butcherbird who has nearly got his adult colours. I watched it sitting on the tree branch watching for bugs after my husband mowed the grass.

Plenty of Brushtail Possum visitors during May as well, and there has been lots of running (or chasing!) up and down our veranda as well as on the roof at night! Here’s a photo of a female possum who looks ecstatic at getting a bit of banana! 🙂

My rare visitor during May was the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo. These are huge birds, about 60cm (24 inches) in length and very majestic to watch. I had 2 sightings of them during the month which is amazing because I’ve only ever seen them a couple of times in the 12 years I’ve been living here. The first visit caught me by surprise, as I was on the veranda and suddenly there were two of them casually flying past my house! I only had my mobile phone on me at the time so snapped this photo.  They were actually a lot closer than they look in the picture.

On the second occasion, I heard the distinctive loud call of one of these cockatoos and raced outside with my camera. One had landed in the gum tree out the back. The photo below is not good quality because it was cropped and enlarged, but it gives you an idea of the lovely yellow colouring on these birds.

I managed to get a quick video of it before it took off, calling as it went. Sorry if the video is a little dark, it was overcast that morning, but as well as hearing its call, you can see how beautiful this bird is with the lovely black feathers, yellow patch on the cheek and the yellow under the tail. Magnificent!

And finally, here is my surprise visitor (no kidding! 🙂 ).

I’m guessing someone got themselves a goat and it escaped. I thought I could catch it and enquire with the neighbours, but it wouldn’t let me get anywhere near it and toddled off to another neighbour’s place. I haven’t seen it since so I hope it made it home okay.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my wildlife visitors. 🙂

This is my participation in a monthly event called Wildlife Wednesdays hosted by Tina of My Gardner Says… You can see the wildlife visitors of other participants here.