The summer days are over and I miss wallowing in the creek to cool off, but more so, I miss my platypus friend wallowing in the creek with me. I have to admit my platypus friend was a very busy wallower, while I was just a lazy wallower, but we happily cohabitated in the same slow moving pool.

I was hoping to see the entrance to the platypus burrow, but it was well hidden amongst the reeds and fallen tree branches. I didn't search for it, as I didn't want to scare away my new friend, but I believe the burrows can be quite long, 4.5m to 9 m long.

He or she was a solitary personality, thrashing about searching for food on the bottom of the creek. Strangely platypus swim with their eyes , ears, and nostrils closed, using their electro-sensitive bill to locate and probe for food. This finely tuned electro-perception, and sense of touch, allows my friend to find and capture worms, insects, crustaceans, molluscs and vertebrates such as tadpoles. Once he/she has caught dinner, it is carried  to the surface in cheek pouches ready to eat. Then it's rinse and repeat until the tummy is satisfied. Platypus haven't any teeth, but have instead small horny pads, which they use to hold and crush their prey.

The female platypus lays 1-3 eggs in a nesting burrow with a nursery chamber at the end, which is lined with damp plant material. Her eggs are incubated between the belly and the tail, and hatch after 10-12 days. Like the echidna, platypus lack nipples, and milk from the mammary glands oozes out from the ducts at two areas of the abdomen. It is believed that the hair around these areas acts as teats, that allows the young to suck the milk. By six weeks the young are furred, have their eyes open, and may leave the burrow for short intervals, and even enter the water. When four to five months old the young are weaned.

I will venture back next summer and hopefully my friend and I will wallow together. And even better, to wallow with a family of platypuses (or is it platypi). Now that would be a magical treat.

To attract birds to your garden or farm, you require a variety of plants for nesting sites. Below are lists of birds and their requirements for old trees, trees with hollows or cavities, understorey shrubs or small trees, or nesting sites on the ground, near water, or in other birds nests.

BIRDS THAT REQUIRE OLD TREES:
Brown Goshawk
Grey Goshawk
Collared Sparrowhawk
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Brown Falcon
Yellow Wattlebird
Noisy Miner
Strong-billed Honeyeater
Black-headed Honeyeater
Satin Flycatcher
Grey Fantail
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Dusky Woodswallow
Grey Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Black Currawong
Grey Currawong
Forest Raven

BIRDS THAT REQUIRE A TREE HOLLOW OR CAVITY:
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Musk Lorikeet
Swift Parrot
Green Rosella
Eastern Rosella
Blue-winged Parrot
Southern Boobook
Masked Owl
Australian Owlet Nightjar
Laughing Kookaburra
Forty-spotted Pardalote
Striated Pardalote
Flame Robin
Dusky Robin
Grey Shrike-thrush
Dusky Woodswallow
Tree Martin
Bassian Thrush

GROUND NESTING BIRDS:
Brown Quail
Tasmanian Native Hen
Purple Swamphen
Masked Lapwing
Banded Lapwing
Painted Button-quail
Superb Fairy-wren
Tasmanian Scrubwren
Spotted Quail-thrush
Spotted Pardalote

BIRDS THAT REQUIRE UNDERSTOREY SHRUBS OR SMALL TREES:
Common Bronzewing
Brush Bronzewing
Tawny Frogmouth
Superb Fairy-wren
Tasmanian Scrubwren
Scrubtit
Brown Thronbill
Tasmanian Thornbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Little Wattlebird
Yellow-throated Honeyeater
Black-headed Honeyeater
Crescent Honeyeater
New Holland Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill
Scarlet Robin
Flame Robin
Pink Robin
Dusky Robin
Olive Whistler
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Grey Fantail
Grey Butcherbird
Beautiful Firetail
Silvereye
Bassian Thrush

PARASITIC NESTERS:
Pallid Cuckoo
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
Shining Bronze-cuckoo

WATER BIRDS:
Australasian Grebe
Hoary-headed Grebe
White-faced Heron
Cattle Egret
Black Swan
Australian Shelduck
Australian Wood Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Chestnut Teal


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Birds give us pleasure, but research has shown they are vital to the health and productivity of farms. Native birds consume large numbers of leaf-eating insects and pasture grubs, and are also important for the pollination of many plants. Birds are good indicators of the health of native ecosystems. A farm that has a rich diversity of native birds will have a diversity of other native wildlife such as mammals, reptiles and amphibians, all of which have important functions in landscape health.

To maintain diversity of bird species on the farm, maintain any remnant vegetation as it will provide structure and habitat for birds . Structure is the most important component for birds. Structure of native vegetation includes a full suite of plants including grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees. A mixture of native vegetation provides the structural complexity to provide places to forage, provide nest sites, and places to shelter. Seasonal variation in flowering and fruiting times ensures a continuous supply of food for some species.

Large old trees, dead or alive, provide birds with nest hollows and places to forage in the bark. Trees take 80-100 years to form hollows and are essentially irreplaceable. Many birds also require a vantage point to survey the landscape for potential predators, or a high perch from which to sing and attract a mate. Fencing around big live trees will prolong their life and may allow replacement seedlings  to survive.

When leaf litter, fallen branches and logs are left, they break down slowly to release their bounty of nutrients. Hndreds of insect species feed on the fungi that speeds up the process. As most birds eat insects at some stage in their life, this organic material  is essential to their health. Rocks provide shelter for insects and  a warm spot on which skinks can bask.

Many birds use spider webs in the construction of their nests. Spiders are an important part of any ecosystem as some feed on seed eating insects that are responsible for poor germination. Small web-building spiders rely on the intricate architecture of fallen twigs and leaves in the understorey to build and maintain their snares. Wrens, pictured above, love to feed on spiders and are known to be particularly good at catching them.

To attract birds to your farm, remember large patches of native vegetation are more viable than small ones, and square blocks of  vegetation are better than linear strips, to lessen the edge effect. Blocks of vegetation across the landscape provide stepping stones to ensure a safe passage for smaller birds. Rivers and streams are an important resource for both habitat, food and water, and if fenced from livestock will become a safe haven for birds.