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The Art of Camouflage

Wildlife

    The Art of Camouflage

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 28th March, 2017 / News, Wildlife / No Comments

    There are many creatures in nature who are masters of camouflage and one of these is the Tawny Frogmouth.  They are nocturnal birds so during the day they are seen perched on tree branches, usually down low, camouflaged as part of the tree.

    These photos show our hand-reared, resident Tawny Frogmouths, Baby and Hoot with their two surviving fledglings on the edge of our busy main driveway.  This dead tree they picked was quite low, making it easy to take a couple of photos with my iPad.

    The tawny at the bottom is Baby with Hoot just above him on the right.  The close-up photo actually has three tawnies in the picture; the top-half of Hoot at the centre-bottom.

    Camouflaged Tawnies 1 - Maleny Country Cottages Three Tawnies - Maleny Country Cottages

    Tawny Frogmouth’s Second Year

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 26th November, 2016 / Wildlife / No Comments

    Our two hand-reared Tawny Frogmouths, Baby and Hoot, have become parents again and, as last year, have had a brood of three.  This time, perched high in a large gum tree which has made observing them, a little harder as well as trying to take photos of them with my iPad.

    The male Tawny Frogmouth, Baby, sits on the nest all day long and cares for the two smaller chicks while mum, Hoot, takes her firstborn out for a little flying lesson.

    Many thanks to photographer, Geoff Saunders who took a few shots for us.

    Tawny Frogmouth nesting - Maleny Country CottagesTawny Frogmouth with fledgling - Maleny Country Cottages

    Koala Sighting

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 25th October, 2016 / News, Wildlife / No Comments

    We are always excited to sight koalas on our property at Maleny Country Cottages.

    This one in particular was spotted high up in a gum tree when he decided to go and find himself another tree.

    Whether his acrobat antics were from sleepiness or just for fun we Koala - Maleny Country Cottagescouldn’t tell but his activity kept us attentive to Hanging koala - Maleny Country Cottageshim for quite a while.

     

     

     

     

     

    He didn’t seem disturbed by our presence, a little bit curious but Peek-a-boo Koala - Maleny Country Cottagesthen just carried on as if we were not there.

     

     

    Climbing Koala - Maleny Country Cottages

     

    A Pygmy Acrobat

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 18th January, 2016 / Wildlife / No Comments

    Feather Tail Glider 3 - Maleny Country Cottages
    Feather Tail Glider 1 - Maleny Country CottagesFeather Tail Glider 2 - Maleny Country Cottages

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    When your home is surrounded by the Australian bush, you experience many things; challenges and pleasures, and nothing is more rewarding than rescuing one of our natives.

    This Feather-tail Glider ventured into one of our cottages and got his tiny claws caught on a mat.  We don’t know how long he was there but, when Claude freed him from his bondage, he was too weak to run away.  We coaxed him to drink some water from the tip of my finger and it wasn’t long before his almost transparent minuscule tongue lapped up many droplets of water.  We then placed him in a safe spot under the cottage to recover and coming back to check on him a few hours later, he was no longer there and we’d like to think that he gratefully returned home to his family.

    Feather-tail Gliders are the smallest gliding marsupials in the world, having a unique quill-like tail that is hairless except for a fringe of long stiff hairs down either side that resembles a feather.  Their body and tail length can be up to 80mm each and weighing 10-15 grams. They spend up to 87% of their time in trees at heights greater than 15m so they are the rarest seen of all the glider species and, despite its size, the Feather-tail Glider is capable of gliding up to 25m.   They have the ability to run up vertical panes of glass and have great skill moving around trunks and branches of smooth bark gum trees.

     

     

     

    Tawny Frogmouths’ First Family

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 14th December, 2015 / Wildlife / No Comments

    It’s always exciting when a young family welcomes it’s first born and that has been the case at Maleny Country Cottages.  Two of our fledglings, Baby & Hoot, that we rescued in October, 2013, became an item from the very beginning during their months in care.  When old enough to leave our ‘nest’, they decided to stick around on the property near my work sheds and to my pleasure, I was able to keep a watchful eye on them.

    This winter of 2015, they went missing.  Did a python outsmart them?  Did they move on?  Then, one morning, Claude was working around Bottlebrush Cottage and, high up in a gum tree was the smallest of nests with a male Tawny Frogmouth and it’s three little ones.  It was not just any Tawny Frogmouth, it was Baby who, two years before was almost put to sleep due to a neurological disorder.  He was put on a high protein diet and recovered extremely well after many months of diligent care.

    Baby & Hoot are now a beautiful family of five and even though they were reared by humans, they have not lost any of their natural instinct to care for their own.  They are very loyal and devoted parents and their fledglings are growing up healthy and secure.

    Our involvement with WILVOS – Wild Life Volunteers

    By Teresa Goudsouzian / 20th May, 2014 / Wildlife / No Comments

    WILVOS

    Watchful

    Maleny Country Cottages is a family owned establishment and is a member of Land For Wildlife and owners, Claude and Teresa Goudsouzian are wildlife volunteers with WILVOS.  Most years, during October – February, we care for injured Tawny Frogmouths which give guests the rare opportunity to view them.

    Tawny Sun Bath - Maleny Country CottagesSick Tawny Frogmouth - Maleny Country CottagesSweet Pea Tawny - Maleny Country Cottages

     



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“Sweet Pea” loves having her photo taken
Wallaby mums and joeys love hanging around at Maleny Country Cottages
Park-like grounds to bush walking tracks near Bottlebrush Cottage
Lily Pond can be viewed from Kookaburra Cottage
The lily pond where guests can spot a turtle or feed their bread to the fish.

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