On Wednesday I heard the usual collection of birds mobbing something in the backyard. Three Australian Magpies were the noisiest but they were joined by Noisy Miners, Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Little Wattlebirds and Magpie-larks. This mobbing usually indicates that a Brown Goshawk or a Collared Sparrowhawk is visiting the neighbours yard to feast on a domestic pigeon however the alarm calls were slightly different to those used for the avian raptors. I walked up past our garage and looked around for a snake but couldn't see anything. I was standing under a Cockspur Thorn bush and suddenly could hear the sound of movement. When I looked up a beautiful Coastal Carpet Python was moving slowly along a branch of the Cockspur. I had found the source of the birds concern.
As I watched the snake moved across the top of the vegetation and eventually slid on to the roof of the garage.
It was harassed by two Little Wattlebirds so turned around and moved into a bottlebrush. From the bottlebrush it moved towards a pile of branches and leaves where it eventually found shelter for the night.
I thought that it may have been a female seeking a site to lay its eggs and the pile of branches would have been most suitable but the next morning it was gone from that site. I located it on a beam in the garage.
Apart from causing the Brushtail Possum, that camps in the roof of the garage, to become a little restless the visit from the snake was most welcome. I hope that it stays around for a while.
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