They are warm blooded and deliver a furred open-eyed baby and suckle their young
The baby has oversized feet and an extra hook on the thumb hook to aid in clinging to its mother
By latching on to the mothers teat located in the wing pit the baby is carried very securely for the first five weeks of its life
From 3-5 weeks the baby cannot thermo regulate
Bats mothers are meticulous in hygiene and use their tongue to lick and groom the baby
Baby bats CANNOT fly until they are 12-13 weeks old. Many calls for rescue come after a baby has been seen for days and this seriously affects its survival.
I had the opportunity to read Jerry Liguori's latest book - 'Hawks At A Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors' and I do think that it is a brilliant book and a must have for raptor lovers in North America,
Identifying birds in flight is always a challenge, especially birds like the raptors that fly at great heights. Migratory hawks are even more difficult to identify as the average enthusiast rarely gets the opportunity to study them closely for a long enough to learn their characteristics.
Liguori's latest book is a breakthrough in this regard. For each species Liguori presents many pictures showing them at different angles of flight. The text although concise focusses on describing the subtle variations necessary to help identify the species, sex and even the age group of the birds soaring miles above. There is also a complete section at the end that covers the silhouettes formed by the different species of raptors from a variety of angles and at different heights.
This book is an incredible resource for birders who are keen about migratory hawks as well the generalist birdwatcher who donned with a pair of binoculars spots a hawk in flight. Even occasional casual birders will enjoy hawk spotting with their families with the aid of this book which is destined to become a classic for many years to come.
Juvi magpies - Shelly (left) with sister Nelly at our back door.
Will a wild bird (never handled or hand fed) walk into a cage just because you ask her to?
Juvi magpie Shelly injured herself on the day of the terrible storms resulting in the inland tsunami in Toowoomba and the Lockyer valley. She didn't come down with her family for two days. Due to the heavy rains we couldn't go out into the neighbouring paddocks looking for her either. We thought she may have met a tragic end in the storms, but when the rains stopped briefly on the third day Ron went scouting and found her sitting still in a paddock. Relieved to find her alive, Ron and I would go out to the fields to feed her when we could. A few days later she started to walk but after 3 weeks she still could not fly. She could only climb up tree trunks by hopping along along fallen branches that were still leaning against them as in the picture below.
Bats are among the earliest mammals, experts dating them back to around 50 million years. Cave paintings in the Kimberley's dating back to the last Ice Age which was around 20 - 25,000 years ago feature bats as can be seen in the above image.
Australian magpies Shelly and Nelly are about six months old. They are Vicky and Bertie's second set of kids. They love playing around are backyard, tumbling around, playing tug-o-war, pouncing on crows and bossing currawongs. Always on the alert, they are quick to chase goannas and snakes away or put out alarms of eagles soaring in the sky.
The story of carbon dioxide, the essential life-giving gas that feeds all life. Contrary to everything we have been told, our planet is currently suffering a carbon famine, with deadly consequences for the poor and for wildlife.
This is the book every environmentalist and lover of wildlife really needs to read! (Click on the image to find out more.)
