The cicadas have started calling. The fact that they haven't been has seemed very strange. They were one of the first things I remember hearing last year.
Not that there hasn't been plenty of wildlife here. If you sit, watch and listen for the half an hour around dusk (like I am doing now!) you can see and hear all sorts. The smaller birds, mainly warblers and tits soon stop calling and find their roosts for the night. Then the Red-footed Falcons arrive and you see their amazing aereal acrobatics whilst they feast on the many flying insects. They catch and eat the bugs in-flight whilst swooping and gliding over and between the bamboo and mulberry trees.
As the light fades they are replaced by several bats, which I think roost in the mulberry trees. The insects don't stand a chance! Once the light really goes you can often hear bull frogs shouting, although this is happening less now. You can also occasionally hear what I beleive to be a Scops Owl calling, i'd love to go find it, but don't really stand a chance, their call can be heard for miles!
That's also when the creatures in the bamboo start to make themselves known (based on the evidence from Tasmania, a certain BIG Northerner would completely brick it! ;)) I'm not even sure what they are, they are possibly rats, all I know is they make a racket, and when they decide to fight in the trees they like to use my tent as some kind of trampoline... It's not a nice way to be woken up at 3am!
On a side note, things with the turtles are going well, we have 8 nests in Xania now, on our 5km stretch of beach. Last year they only had 5 nests at this point, on 14.5km of beach, and none on the bit we are monitoring!
I'm off now cos the mosquitoes have come out and are starting to eat me alive!
That bloody cicada is still calling!!
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