There was great excitement in the Rabbitt household this week when we received phone call from a contact at Port Stephens koalas telling us about a planned koala release. One of my jobs at the Tilligerry Habitat is to report all koala sightings to Port Stephens koalas who, in turn, add them to the national database and they were ringing to ask where the best spot was to release a female back into the habitat. So we managed to get ourselves invited along to watch Elsie being released. 

Elsie is a young female who had been found nearby with, what the rescuers initially though was a broken arm. It turned out to be tendon damage and, after a course of acupuncture she appears to be recovered enough to go back into the wild. Koalas are released as close as possible to where they were found and, if the area is completely unsuitable, then they are placed within 10km of the rescue site.  Elsie was released into the Habitat because it was quite near where she was discovered but safer and with a lot more food trees. It is more difficult to find a release site for males if they cannot go back to where they were found because they are territorial and will not tolerate another male on their patch. 

Kookaburra

Yellow Robin

So, Elsie turned up in her travel basket on a trolley (they use two laundry baskets strapped together and lined with blankets to transport koalas) and she was wheeled down to an appropriate Swamp Mahogany tree. This is the koalas' favourite food around these parts and is really a variety of eucalyptus, it is called a Swamp Mahogany because, when the white folks arrived they started trying to think of names for everything based on what they were familiar with in the Northern Hemisphere and this tree grows in coastal areas and is the colour of mahogany - hence the name. 
 So the basket was opened and, after a quick spray of pink paint onto her bum to help us identify her at least until it rains, she was off up the tree where she turned and posed for a few pictures. We have been looking for her since but have not seen her which is a good sign that she is moving around and finding food as she should be. 

White Headed Pigeon

Elsie is a lucky girl, the Habitat is a beautiful place to live at the moment with plenty of birds arriving after their winter breaks where ever they go. We have been keeping a close

Tawny Frogmouth

 eye on a Tawny Frogmouth on its nest and saw a chick's head pop out from under it today when we did not have our cameras with us, I will try and get a picture tomorrow.