Backyard Zoology ยท 12 February 2021 2021-02-12T18:33:25+11:00 https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid02XKpboDFa7ZFcZsqFYqUmChAh6prpJisekkGxSSA2zuRo4zKgEng5moBwXMHN2sgjl Today was all sorts of serendipitous awesomeness. You know, when you get all the good finds even though you weren't looking ๐Ÿ™Œ It all started with the frantic hissing of a young Satin Bowerbird and ended with a frog in the meter box. However like any tale on here, there is no quick, straight line to the conclusion so you'll have to bear with me but what a lovely sidetrack this is! In hot pursuit of the hissing bowerbirds, which turned out to be a couple of young ones and a parent, I turned and squinted into the dark shadows of one of the trees out the front (it's big and green. Hey, botany isn't my thing ๐Ÿ’โ€โ™€๏ธ) and once my eyes adjusted, I saw not one but two Green Catbirds! I LOVE catbirds but haven't heard them meowing away lately so thought they'd moved on. What a bloody treat those two were! I took a couple of photos and was just about to wander inside when I ran my eyes, super quickly, across my neighbour's vine lined fence. Just as I was turning on my heel something caught in my brain. I can still see that initial image, a lightening fast flash of something that fitted in but that also didn't, both at the same time. Camouflaged but not quite completely. Having lived in the area for 13 years now, I'd know that pattern anywhere; I was looking at, while also not really looking at, a gorgeous young Diamond Python! I turned back towards the fence and promptly lost the snake. It took a few tries with my eyes narrowed to enhance my focus before it finally came into its own once again. Now because I'm a complete amateur I waited with it for half an hour before deciding that I really did need to do my walk right then and there and that the Python would absolutely 100% be there when I got back. Spoiler alert: it was not! Matt got a little bit of video as it's back end slowly slithered into the foliage and was promptly swallowed up. I didn't take the video myself so it essentially doesn't exist ๐Ÿ˜‰ Anyway, here are some images I took, so they count ๐Ÿ˜‚ Diamond Python Northern Illawarra