wild sex in the wild backyard [leopard slug edition]

The husband noticed something odd going on outside last night as he put the bins out:

Then an irridescent blue penis appeared ...

... and then another ...

While this pair were hanging on a wall, they apparently often hang in mid-air from tree branches. They're hermaphrodites, and after mating, they've both headed off to lay about 200 eggs each. Sometimes their penises get so tangled up they can't separate, but there's a solution to that - they chew them off. It doesn't put a dampener on their sex life though - they just use their female apparatus instead!

If you're interested in more information about these slugs, just Google 'leopard slug'.

March - the month of destruction

Early March each year sees the neighbours' driveway looking like this:

 

The first time we saw it, we wondered what on earth was going on.

And then we looked up:

They're after the red berries you can see in the bottom left corner, but their sharp beaks snip off twigs and leaves and half the tree ends up on the ground. There were ten cockatoos in the one tree this evening, all happily snipping away, oblivious to the mess below. And they are gorgeous :)

Backyard wildlife

This little mantis was just hanging out in the sun until a camera was shoved in his face. He wasn't very happy for a while after that ...

And this is a work in progress. DH is making it up as he goes, so it may take a while.


Beware of the guard chook ...