In the meantime I have been digging up a few more plants that have sprouted out on the nature strip since the ones I got earlier all seem to be doing well. I also spotted an English Oak seedling growing from an acorn out near the tree by the roundabout. I decided to have another look around and found another, this time I think it’s a Japanese Oak with the pointy serrated leaves. Both will grow quite large over many many years so I need to pick a good spot for them. I will walk around the property a bit more to see if I can find any more free plants coming up. The guy Steve from the bandicoot place knew a lot about plants, which were native, which were weeds, etc. and the next day I removed a couple of bushes near the front gate which were environmental weeds. He also said he would send some info where we can get a free wildlife trail camera for a month to monitor what native animals we actually have on the property.
The two remaining baby plovers are almost five weeks old now and large enough that sometimes we confuse them with the adults. I think they are too big to be bothered by things like kookaburras, butcher birds, ravens, and currawongs that would normally go after baby birds. The only thing that might get them would be a hawk. They should start to fly or at least try to fly in the next couple of weeks. We got some good photos of them trying to flap their wings, in one you get a good look at the wing feather development. Speaking of birds, the kookaburras seem to be nesting in the box I originally built for the wood ducks. It’s nice to have them around just to hear them, but they are very destructive for other small birds. At least these plovers are hopefully out of the danger zone. We have not seen any wood ducks or egrets recently, but occasionally see a couple of the smaller dark copper coloured ducks. I think the adult plovers have just about chased everything else away.
