KABC-TV
Los Angeles joined some of the 300 audience from the Oprah
Winfrey Show seeing the sights as part of Oprah's Ultimate
Australian Adventure.
Tina Malave joined Echidna Walkabout to see wild
Kangaroos and Koalas on a Savannah Walkabout tour and this clip went to
air on 15 January 2011 on Eye on LA.
As we featured earlier in our news, it is exactly one year
since The View from the Bay TV show in San Francisco featured
the Savannah Walkabout too.
"Angry the Eagle is free as a
bird" 2 January 2011
The Geelong
Advertiser newspaper also attended the release of the young
Wedge-tailed Eagle.
"Hop, skip and a jump to freedom for Wedge-tailed
Eagle" 30 December 2010
AFTER
a bouncy start, this magnificent wedge-tailed eagle regained her wings
and her freedom just moments after being released at Lara's Serendip
Sanctuary.
The
year-old bird, believed to have hatched in the nearby You Yangs
National Park, was found unable to fly and critically ill in May by
visitors at the wildlife sanctuary. 9 photos in the photo gallery
Ranger Michael Smith said dedicated staff at the
Healesville Sanctuary nursed the giant bird of prey back to full health.
It is believed she had fallen victim to the rabbit bait Pindone.
"Because
she is an immature bird, it's thought that she may have relied a little
too much on carcasses of rabbits that had been poisoned with Pindone
baits," Mr Smith said.
"A mature adult would not normally eat too many, but a young bird might
eat too many and the poison builds up in their system.
"We are extremely grateful for the dedicated staff at Healesville for
nursing her back to health."
As the eagle took flight, she soared over gum saplings and headed
towards her home in the You Yangs.
"Rumble in the Jungle" - You Yang Koalas in
the newspaper 6 December 2010
If
you have been keeping an eye on the Echidna Walkabout Facebook page you
will be up with the latest about the Koala population.
Janine
writes a Koala Update each month for the Geelong Field
Naturalists Club, and the drama caught the attention
of the newspapers! It resulted in an article in the Geelong Advertiser
newspaper on 6 December 2010 titled "Rumble in the Jungle"
We have added the newspaper article
words below.
Merle,
the dominant male in the you Yangs koala community, has gone missing.
IN
A drama worthy of a daytime soap, the koala community that populates
the gum
trees around the You Yangs has erupted into a tawdry love tangle.
Researchers
have discovered the koala capers in their latest report into population
numbers.
Echidna
Walkabout Nature Tours head Janine Duffy said her workers, who carry
out
extensive counts as they take tours across the region, found a
testosterone
battle going on between the male koalas in the gum trees.
Events
were kicked off by the mystery disappearance of head male koala Merle
who is
usually ruling the roost with his female partners Smoky and Pat.
"Merle
has been the No.1 fella in the You Yangs since we first started
monitoring in
January 2006," Ms Duffy explains.
"His
reign has been absolute and unwavering only old males Calvin and Tim
Tam really
dared cross Merle's boundary for long," she said. "Any other male
trespassers speedily disappeared."
Ms
Duffy said shortly before Merle's disappearance it had looked like he
had been
in a fight. But now it is a battle between the remaining blokes to see
who will
be boss.
Contenders
include lower-ranking males Ngallo and Buck. But favourite to take the
mantle
is the mysterious Anzac.
A
year back he was the new koala on the scene in a nearby area. He
displaced a
top male koala named Vegemite and moved in with his partner Mary, but
Mary
unfortunately died and Anzac disappeared.
"Anzac
is now back we think he will become the top koala."But what has happened to the beloved Merle? "We are not sure," Ms Duffy
says.
"He
was probably due to retire as top male. I think he's moved to another
area a
retirement home," she said.
Ms
Duffy said the greatest danger to koalas were dogs being allowed off
the leash.
"But we don't
think that problem
has befallen Merle."
Lonely Planet goes green with Echidna Walkabout
Lonely Planet’s Australia guidebook now features an index called the
GreenDex - a quick-reference index of sustainable accommodation, tours
and experiences to help visitors travel responsibly within Australian.
As Echidna Walkabout "demonstrates an active sustainable tourism
policy", we were one of the first companies to be included in the
Greendex.
National Geographic and our Koala Research - April 2007
December
2006 was very exciting when the team from National Geographic UK spent
3 days filming Janine and the Koalas. Some of our friends overseas have
emailed to let us know that they have seen the vignette on the TV or
the article which appears in the April issue of the National Geographic
magazine in some areas. The National Geographic vignette
is a large Quicktime movie.
Koalas are loved around the world!
Koalas are very popular with people of all ages in so
many
countries. Their welfare and future is of keen interest around the
world. We are always meeting people who tell us that the koala is their
favourite animal - and what good taste they have!
A real koala lover - Carla
Sluiter from Netherlands has a dutch language website which
supports the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, NSW and
includes a page about us and the advantages
of seeing Koalas in their natural habitat in the wild.
.."observing koalas in the wild in a respectful manner can happen with
Echidna Walkabout"
Getaway
We
took the TV crew from Getaway out to experience the
Savannah Walkabout. Getaway is an
Australian
travel show usually encouraging Aussies to see exotic places around the
globe. The had a special segment where
they asked viewers to vote to see more of one of three Australian
experiences. We were delighted
when the
Savannah Walkabout
received the most votes from viewers.
Plenty
of birds in East Gippsland!
After a tour with us, Jim Peterson from
Texas has added to
his website some much needed information about the birdlife of East
Gippsland - see www.nctexasbirds.com/egippsland.htm. Thank you very much Jim.
