urban daisy

Owls are spectacular birds!

This variety, the barn owl, is very common in Australia, but you might not know that if you don’t share my propensity for driving around the countryside with spotlights attached to your vehicle.

I thought my joy was complete when we saw a sugar glider swoop across the road above us.  I didn’t get a very good shot of this adorable little creature (he was very, very high up and a little shy!), but I was thrilled just to see one.  It is only the second time ever I have seen one outside of a zoo, and they are the dearest little things!

We saw frogs, nightjars, and some roosting birds.

There were pairs of these birds all over the tree.  When driving past, it looks like a tree with tissues scattered over it.  It is very easy to understand how cats can destroy a bird population.  The birds didn’t stir through all the flash and torch light, or me descending a gravel ditch right beside them, and I could have reached out and plucked one from the tree had I been less polite.

There is something special about observing nocturnal wildlife.  Spotlighting is one of my favourite things to do!