Analysis of 513 retained Facebook posts, from 2016-04-19 to 2026-08-08. This is a reading of the available text, not a census of animals or proof of complete Facebook coverage.
The backyard is a continuing setting rather than simply a geographic boundary. Garage possums, returning tawnies and nocturnal camera experiments turn ordinary household spaces into places of sustained attention. Named animals and follow-up posts make this a relationship with a changing neighbourhood, while uncertainty about individual identity remains part of the narrative.
Small discoveries repeatedly become learning sequences: a puzzling spider leads to requests for identification and specimen searches; sea-star encounters lead to explanations and corrections about regeneration. The voice combines observation, informal science, humour, domestic mishaps and visible emotional investment. These are editorial interpretations, supported by the linked narrative sequences below.
The coastal thread includes whale watching, intertidal exploration and washed-up blue-fleet animals. Botanic-garden visits offer a parallel setting for birds, bees and turtle reproduction. Later fungi posts broaden the focus beyond animals. Locations in this index include references and comparisons, not just confirmed encounter sites.
Seasonal writing is often grounded in a small sensory observation: the lone cicada in February 2025 becomes a sign of summer ending, while the bee outing that month contrasts a sticky summer with an approaching autumn. In July 2018, a winter rock-pool visit returns to regenerating sea stars. The March 2026 fungi post connects renewed camera practice with rain, decay and small new growth. Season words therefore describe lived conditions and remembered encounters as well as the calendar.
The migration thread structures repeated returns to the coast, while nests and young give individual posts anticipation and a reason to revisit a place. Weather is both a practical constraint on outings and a source of concern for local animals. None of these counts measures wildlife abundance: what is written, retained and visible in the source all shape the pattern.
The stories frequently move from expectation to surprise, then from uncertainty to a provisional explanation. Notch’s sex and family relationships are revised; the sea-star explanation is corrected; a supposedly missing tawny family reappears. Those revisions are part of the account rather than errors to erase. The narrative is strongest when observations, guesses and later updates remain distinguishable.
Neighbours and shared discoveries are another recurring thread: a text message, a partner’s sighting or a reader’s explanation opens the next encounter. Identification quizzes and WTF Wednesdays turn close observation into participation. The humorous domestic voice makes room for frustration, wonder and grief alongside natural-history detail.
| Theme | Posts mentioning it |
|---|---|
| Illawarra & Coal Coast | 211 |
| Wollongong | 43 |
| Sandon Point | 39 |
| Wollongong Botanic Garden | 32 |
| Shellharbour & Bass Point | 30 |
| Bulli | 16 |
| Mount Annan Botanic Garden | 15 |
| Jervis Bay | 8 |
| Theme | Posts mentioning it |
|---|---|
| Birds | 257 |
| Invertebrates | 252 |
| Mammals | 227 |
| Insects | 158 |
| Dogs & pets | 73 |
| Whales | 66 |
| Spiders | 61 |
| Possums | 56 |
| Theme | Posts mentioning it |
|---|---|
| Spring in the text | 20 |
| Summer in the text | 16 |
| Winter in the text | 12 |
| Autumn in the text | 5 |
| Theme | Posts by publication date |
|---|---|
| Spring posting dates | 139 |
| Winter posting dates | 133 |
| Summer posting dates | 124 |
| Autumn posting dates | 117 |
Years of roosting, nesting, loss and return. This is a continuing relationship with local birds, not proof that every Tony or Toni is the same individual. The 2020 predator explanation is the author’s hypothesis.
10 selected posts · 2019-09-04 to 2026-01-14.
A named garage resident is revealed to be a mother; later posts follow her joeys and revise an assumed family relationship. The author explicitly questions some identifications.
5 selected posts · 2016-09-01 to 2019-04-26.
The text expands from an unexpected backyard discovery and experiments with long exposures to later fungi outings and a published account. These posts do not establish that every outing concerns the same species or site.
4 selected posts · 2022-04-26 to 2026-03-08.
Repeated rock-pool finds develop into a discussion of regrowth, budding and fission. The author records a researcher’s correction; these are successive encounters, not a tracked individual animal.
4 selected posts · 2018-06-29 to 2019-07-15.
A backyard identification becomes a search for specimens and a series of rediscoveries. The posts describe a then-undescribed Jotus species; this analysis does not assert its current taxonomic status. The separate 2019 Copocrossa discovery is not merged into this thread.
4 selected posts · 2020-09-29 to 2023-09-14.
A 2017 nest watch leads to fledglings and a grounded chick encounter. This garden episode is separate from the later backyard tawny-family thread.
3 selected posts · 2017-11-30 to 2017-12-26.
Trial, error and a friendly camera competition reveal nocturnal visitors. Later camera placement misses a young bandicoot but records an adult.
3 selected posts · 2020-05-12 to 2021-05-01.
Two garden visits concern turtle reproduction: a nest-laying observation and a later hatchling encounter. There is no evidence that this hatchling came from the earlier nest.
2 selected posts · 2023-11-03 to 2025-02-28.
Counts are distinct posts per theme, including mentions in clearly attributed shared-post text. A post can have many themes. A name can occur in a comparison, a joke or a list; a match is not confirmation of a sighting. Animal groups include their more specific labels. Overlapping groups must not be added together.
Seasons in the text are explicit words and may be retrospective or idiomatic. Season of posting is a separate date-derived index using Australia/Sydney months. Neither tells us when a photograph was taken or the season at a travel destination.
The rules are a curated, reproducible first pass, not exhaustive semantic understanding. Short posts, pronouns, spelling variations, implied subjects and ambiguous words can be missed or misclassified. Search and the All posts view retain access to every source. No species or location is inferred from an image. Story notes preserve uncertainty and distinguish a connected episode from recurring encounters.
Text evidence has exact source offsets and separates Page text from shared text. The editable taxonomy, curated arcs and hash-guarded overrides live outside the archive. Unchanged post/rule results are reused, while changed story anchors and stale overrides are flagged in build-report.json. The reading view may lag behind a refreshed archive until this analysis is rerun.