I clamber up a rock face, wedged between the sandstone and a Eucalypt, not quite like the old days but still enough to raise a smile. About thirty metres above the mangroves now, some flattish ground before a slope to the next escarpment. Swamp wallaby scat, animals live here. Time to bush bash. Not long before a massive brush turkey mound appears. No turkey but I bet a goanna is close by. It's spring, they know eggs are on the way.
There he is! About a metre and half long. Of course he had already seen me. They always do. Deadly still. Him I mean. I try but I'm a clumsy human. We eyeball for a while. He lets me take the image. I respectfully move away, this is his realm, he's got hunting to do.
I look for more scat. I know there's a tiny creek ahead. I've got remote cameras in my pack. Targeting quolls. I wont see them in the daytime but my equipment might spy this powerful nocturnal predator.
I'm having fun. I'm always a few kilos down, a little run down after trekking distances in Nepal. Feeling stronger now, I love pulling myself up the Australian rock, through the bush. No leopards to worry about either. Always wary of snakes though. They have some deadly ones here. Back in New Zealand we don't have to worry about critters. No, it's the rivers that can get you there. They rise so fast...
Every country has its challenges.
Back in the moment. Enjoying this spring sun. I look up. An eagle! Ha! Surveying its domain above the ridge. Wow! A peregrine falcon dives down at the eagle! "Get away from my f...... nest!" ... Another eagle appears, then another again, then another falcon! Five supreme sky hunters putting on an airshow ... how good is this?!
We know these birds. We know where their nests are. We know their hunting grounds. We spend hours monitoring these creatures. We are protective of them, protective of their habitat.
It's my backyard too. We all live here together. These eagles here in Australia, those leopards and those tigers in Nepal, another backyard. Work together, think together.
Protect your habitat. Protect your backyard...
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