No myth-taking what he saw - it was a big cat!

Weeks after the government declared the Blue Mountains big cat file closed, a Sydney father has spoken of a terrifying encounter with a panther-like creature outside his Riverstone, NSW home.

Peter Russell told NSW Police he feared for his life after being stalked by a large, ''completely foreign'' feline predator at Riverstone, on the fringes of dense national park bushland.

It has been sighted at least 12 times in the Riverstone area in recent years.

On December 5, Mr Russell went to investigate why his neighbour's dogs were acting ''so distressed''.
He said, as he looked along the path that led up the street, a very large, broad, cat-like creature ran straight for him.

''This was definitely no dog,'' he said. ''It had a low rumbling growl. It was between knee and hip height, extremely stocky and very fast. I spun on my heel and ran back towards the house. I didn't know that I was going to make it to the door.

''My mind was completely thrown by what I had just witnessed. I thought I was a goner.''

Mr Russell made it safely inside and called Riverstone police.

''The officer laughed and I acknowledged her reaction was understandable,'' he said. ''But I also explained that if some poor kid ends up being taken, and I hadn't called, I would be left devastated.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/blue-mountains-panther-spotted-again-20131214-2ze1p.html#ixzz2nUgwK3zd

Narrabeen's mysterious elephant man

A big thank you to David Hearder for digging up and sharing these gems about Narrabeen's mysterious elephant man (which also included a rare picture!) - a strange upright-walking humanoid elephant creature that lumbered across a Sydney road one evening in the late 1960s.

Witness Mabel Walsh was driving home with her nephew John when she saw the strange creature walk out of the lake and into nearby scrub.

"It was a bit over 4-feet tall, with dark grey, tough leathery skin, like an elephant’s. It had small front legs and walked on its hind legs, which were thick and round like an elephant’s… I didn’t notice a tail or ears, but it had small eyes and smaller front legs or arms. Its head reminded me of an ant eater’s. Its trunk was rigid, squared off at the end and stuck down and out at an angle.

"It had a strange shuffling walk, but was quite fast. It shocked me. It was a peculiar looking thing. I’ve never seen anything like it. We saw it only for a few seconds."

The sighting puzzled and intrigued residents living near Narrabeen Lakes, a large estuary that is a popular fishing spot.

Author and UFO researcher Bill Chalker looked into the elephant man sightings, which occurred around the same time as a rash of UFO sightings in the area, but concluded in his talk at the 2001 Myths & Monsters conference:

"It would probably be erroneous to speculate that the unknown creature reported above was related in someway to UFOs. There is no direct connection evident, and because the creature or one like it was seen again in the area, it would probably be more correct to suggest that the creature was an unknown species perhaps local to that area.

"During 1971 a lady was awoken by a terrible gurgling noise but saw nothing. Two fishermen in a boat, saw something by the light of a kerosene lamp. It had a trunk like an elephant and was walking on the water with its back legs. It was described as being grey in colour.

"During the late 1970s with nothing better to do, I spent a number of evenings loitering around the Narrabeen Lakes environs checking out the areas involved in these stories. Unfortunately no “elephant” humanoids were seen and I was not able to determine any substance to a prosaic “elephant” connection. It is interesting that humanoid elephant – headed beings are a major feature of Indian religios mythology – namely ganesha."

So what was the elephantine-looking creature, which also had a "head like an ant-eater"? A figment of imagination? An unknown species? 

Like us, David Hearder is still wondering. "No, I don't know what it could have been either, perhaps a disoriented frogman on exercise (police or navy)?"

Perhaps the last word should go to Mrs Walsh, who, as they say, knows what she knows: "Call me a nut if you will but there's a strange creature in Narrabeen Lakes."

From the archives: A Venerable Cockatoo (1916)

Meet Cocky Bennett - a cockatoo by birth but cocky by nature, and once a popular pub fixture at the Sea Breeze Hotel at Tom Ugly's Point in Blakehurst, Sydney, Australia.

The featherless bird with the abnormally long beak is rumoured to be Australia's most long-lived bird, falling off his perch at the impressive age of 120!

Cockatoos normally live for up to 80 years, but it is not unknown for them to kick on a bit longer, but not by much.

He was frequently heard to croak "one feather more and I'll fly" and "one at a time, gentlemen, please" when he was harassed by other birds, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which ran the following obituary when Cocky finally flew off to the great tree in the sky:

Boguls take on rats in the City

Scientists from the University of Sydney are set to release 100 native Bogul rats in Sydney Harbour National Park, and North Head Sanctuary in Manly, to see how they compete against introduced black rats, which are considered pests.

The environmental benefits could be significant because the Boguls, also known as bush rats, or Rattus fuscipes, tend not to climb trees, and are less likely to disturb nesting birds or eat eggs than black rats.
Nor do they carry the potentially life-threatening lungworm disease, which can spread to pets, wildlife and people. They are also less likely to invade homes than black rats, preferring the bush.

A keen eye is required to distinguish between the two species, as they both have the same grey colouring.

University ecologist, Grainne Cleary, said the most obvious difference was the length of the tail.
''Pest black rats have tails that are much longer than their bodies, whereas Boguls have tails that are the same length as their bodies or even shorter," she said.

The similarities between the two species could be the reason for the disappearance of Bogul rats from Sydney more than a century ago. During an outbreak of bubonic plague, a bounty of sixpence - about $4 today - was offered for every rat killed.

The last confirmed sighting of a bush rat in Sydney was in 1901, and 110 years later the effort to bring back the Bogul has been supported by Taronga Zoo, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Mosman Council.

On the lookout for the Powerful Owl

The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua), one of Australia's iconic birds, is currently listed as vulnerable in NSW with only 20-30 mating pairs in the Sydney region.

In response Birds Australia has put out a call to the general public to report sightings of the Powerful Owl. They are also giving people the opportunity to volunteer as trainer-observers and gather more detailed data.

A large cause of the birds’ vulnerable status is land clearing of their natural habitat. In recent times the owls have been known to live in fragmented habitats such as farms and suburban areas - a significant change from open forest and woodland areas where the birds' main nesting location is inside tree hollows, a perfect space for females to incubate eggs and brood their young.

The owl is the largest of Australia’s nocturnal birds: 50-60cm in size so when identifying the bird size is a definite factor to consider.

The owl is prevalent in eastern and south-eastern Australia, mainly on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range, from south-eastern QLD to VIC.

The bird is a carnivore, commonly known to eat Ringtail Possums, Great Gliders and other tree-dwelling mammals, as well as rabbits and small marsupials. The bird catches prey with its feet.
Communication:

The bird can also be distinguished by its call: a deep, double hoot “woo-hoo”, with the males' call generally deeper than the females'.

The Powerful Owl mates for life and defends an all-purpose territory. Breeding season is April to September, so in this time period it will be much more likely to sight the male bird.

To report a sighting or volunteer as an observer, email: birdsinbackyards@birdsaustralia.com

Lair of the Cane Toad Discovered

Sydney scientists have tracked down the first known breeding spot for one of our most invasive pest species, the Cane Toad.

The Sydney University researchers used technology to help their quarry to its main lair - a pond in an industrial park in the Sutherland Shire, in Sydney's south.

Scientists used radio transmitters attached to the backs of cane toads to follow the movements of the nomadic toads.

And in heartening news in the fight against the spread of the amphibians, scientists believe they have stopped the pests from gaining a foot-hold in the city.

A cane toad researcher from the University of Sydney, Rick Shine, said the program was a terrific example of a co-ordinated attack on a potentially serious problem.

New digs for Devils @ Taronga Zoo

Now this is a very 21st century take on a zoo exhibit - a fake 'road' runs through the new Tasmanian Devil enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.



And in other news, The Guardian has this piece about the plight facing Tassie Devils, imaginatively entitled Sympathy for the Devil.