- Bodo Muche

WILLIE’S WAG TALES
Willie’s Family
by Bodo Muche
WILLIE’S WAG TALES
Willie’s Family
by Bodo Muche
This book is dedicated my wife and partner Robyn, without whom it would not have come into existence.
Our daughters Carley Walker and Tania Muche were a great help in providing photographs, proofreading and making all
along sensible suggestions. A big “Thank you” to them and a big “Thank you” to Willie too for always being there.
© Bodo Muche 2010
Introduction
The Hare had challenged the Tortoise to a race and the Tortoise won the race. His look-alike wife waited for
the Hare at the finish line! All Willies look alike too and we can be found anywhere in Australia and if there
were a competition for Australia’s favourite bird, you’d look around and whom would you see and choose? I
don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I bet you on your willy-nilly it would have to be a Willie,
Willie.
“Mount Glenhowden”
Queensland Australia
Hi, I'm Willie!
I want to introduce
you to my family.
This is my better
half. Isn’t she a
beautiful Bird? She
always wears white
spots for jewels on
her primary and
greater wing coverts.
We get on very well.
Mind you, we have
our disagreements
and arguments, but
it is ever so nice to
make up.
Well, the time has come. My Wife
and I decided to have a family of our
own again. We have not been too
successful in the past two years in
that setting up family and kid rearing
business.
One time one of those yellow-eyed
Currawongs had come along and ate
our children, then a Blue-faced
Honeyeater ate our eggs. He punched
holes into them and sucked them dry.
The same happened to the eggs of
Mr. and Mrs. Little Friarbird. We call
him Blue-faced Egg-sucker now and
hope that he doesn’t spread this
mean streak among the other Bluefaced Honeyeaters. The next time a
Night Tiger slid up to our nest at
night. Fortunately, my wife heard the
rustling of her scales and fled with
a shriek or otherwise she would have
been eaten like the three chicks.
So we, or actually I, decided to build a
nest at Bodo's studio-workshop. I
thought this was a safe place and I was
right. Bodo is a sculptor. He is an animal
too; but he is not native. He flew in to
Australia from a place called Europe, via
Africa, and is what they call homo
sapiens, or a modern human.
Bodo is one of the “owners” of “Mount
Glenhowden”, where we live. He models
different species of animals and even
people and he casts them in bronze in his
studio. The foundry work, heating kilns,
blazing furnaces, fettling of the bronzes
and their finishing is very noisy with lots
of huh hah. Firstly my wife and I got
used to it and now we like all that
commotion. It keeps intruders and
unwanted visitors away.
Another point in our consideration for our home was that Bodo and his wife Robyn are what one calls
"naturalists". They have created over the past thirty years an environment, which we birds, marsupials, reptiles,
frogs and insects really like because they like us too. They don’t allow feral cats into their place and Bubi, the
German Shepherd dog who lives at “Mount Glenhowden”, makes sure that this law is rigorously upheld, but we
don't understand how someone can like snakes or insects! Snakes want to eat us and we eat insects! Get eaten
and eat, the way nature works, they say.
The Peaceful Doves and a Bar-shouldered Dove were watching as I
built the nest over Bodo's workbench. The Missus liked it and why
shouldn’t she? I had taken great care. It was the finest nest I
ever built. I wove it onto a deer antler, using the best wild cotton,
spider webs, soft bark and even some of Bubi’s hair. I was very
proud of this nest and my Lady laid three beautiful eggs into it.
Mrs. Willie and I incubated the eggs in turns for seven days.
Then they hatched!
Bodo and Tony, the
humans who work
in the sculptor’s
studio where I
built our nest, were
casting bronze
sculptures on that
day and it was a
particularly hot day.
Mother hovered over
the nest to keep the
heat from the sun
off the just
hatched baby chicks
and it was I, who
kept an eye on the
situation. I didn’t
like Bodo and Tony
fussing over us,
because this was
not the first time
we had kids and we
know what we are
doing.
There is the first
hatched holding her
head up, you can
see that, can't you?
She is hungry
already!
Now we had a
great time,
catching
Lacewings,
Termite alates,
Robber Flies and
many other
delicious goodies.
Our offspring grew by the hour and everyone was very happy.
That is, until Kingi, the King Parrot, came to sticky beak. He
just sat there on the lawn mower handle, my perch! Hah, not
for long. I told him in no uncertain terms, that this is
trespassing and this time I took the law into my own wings. He
left in a huff, giving me the evil eye and the lawn mower handle
was mine again!
He sat on the Ibis
sculpture in the
sculpture garden
instead until Bodo
gave him sunflower
seeds.
Cleanliness is number
one for us. All babies
appear to pooh more
then they eat and our
kids were no different.
Their pooh fortunately
comes in a little bag and
we take it away after
every meal. We are very
careful not to drop the
parcel until we are out
of the workshop,
because Bodo may not
like baby birdie poohie on
his tools.
It was still pretty hot
in our nest in the studio
foundry, just underneath
the roof, so the kids
had to hold the heads
up and stretch their
necks to get rid of their
excess body heat. We
didn't need to tell them,
they KNEW.
The chicks grew feathers! I was
worried that they would get a fright
and bolt from their nest prematurely
if someone were to startle them, so
I hopped around, pretending to be
injured to keep the attention of
everyone on me. It worked! I even
fooled Bodo and Tony!
And now the nest was
getting too small for
our three cuties. The
Brown Honeyeater came
to see for himself and
he agreed.
Next morning all three
children departed and
found different hiding
places. They soon got
hungry, chirped and
there they were, one
on an old ice cream
container, the other
one underneath some
unfinished sculptures
and number three next
to a rubber floor mat.
Eight days had passed
since they crawled out
of their eggs and they
just couldn't wait to
fly and be on their
own.
Kingi came again but was very civil this time and congratulated
us for having such a fine brood. He brought Queenie along and
they both got stuck into sunflower seed tucker as usual.
Our fledgeling
chicks became
more and more
adventurous and
hopped about
outside Bodo’s
studio for the
very first time.
They were mottled
in their appearance
and fitted well
into the
surroundings. One
could hardly see
them against the
rocks of my
water fountain,
they were so well
camouflaged. And
then, on this
special day when
our children were
taking their first
steps out into
the world, a good
luck charm
appeared...
...two Rainbow
Birds came to wish
them well. They
sat on the fence...
And then a rainbow
appeared.
Our littlies had fluttered and scrambled up a Bottlebrush bush to see this for the first time in their lives
and there they spent the night away from the nest.
Dusk started, the
sun was setting,
turning the firmament
into an array of
beautiful colours.
The moon rose and was
still there at dawn.
Above soared the Bold Eagle,
too early for the Torresian
Crows to chase him, too
early for the Magpies to
chase the Crows, too early
for the Peewees to chase
the Magpies and too early
for me too, to chase the
Peewees.
In the following days we showed our children around our neighborhood. We went
everywhere, even to the creek nearby. On the creek bank we found the Brush Turkey
on his huge leafy compost nest. His nest is really an egg incubator and he had just
checked the temperature by pushing his head into the compost. You can see his
second eyelid covering his eye for extra protection.
We showed our children some Brown
and Green Tree Frogs and the
caterpillar of the Tailed Emperor, the
eagle of Australia's butterflies.
The Happy Family was
having a bath and a huddle
in the puddle, then a peep
into the window at
Bodo’s studio.
Our babies were nearly as big
as us now. They enjoyed life so
much, exploring, meeting other
birds and eventually catching
insects and eating them too.
The Black Beans came into
flower and nectar eaters were
in abundance. Leatherheads,
Little Friarbirds, Brown
Honeyeaters, Blue-faced
Honeyeaters, Micky Birds,
Blueies and Greenies all dipped
bills into the delicious nectar
the Black Beans provided.
Now the Aloes started to flower and I expected another
visitor would arrive soon. There he was, Mr. Eastern
Spinebill, extracting nectar like a Hummingbird. He’ll stay
until the Aloes have stopped flowering.
The kids found a knot of Bag Shelter
Moth caterpillars. They look so soft
and cuddly, but they are not. Don’t
touch them, I said, because you
might get very itchy. Then they found
Spitfire Grubs, but they are not
palatable either.
And after all that, the kids didn't
want to come back with us. We
expected this would happen. It
had happened before with our
other children; it happens each
time. In all fairness, we brought
them up well and gave them a
jolly good education by teaching
them everything we know. We
were sad and happy for them, we
wished them very well and
hopefully they'll come back one
day and show us our
grandchildren.
I managed to look through the gauze
at the big house and there was Bodo
with HIS first grandchild Saxony,
feeding Puff, the Alexandria Parrot.
Carley and Tania, Robyn’s and Bodo’s
daughters were there too, with Elsa,
their second grand daughter.
Autumn has arrived,
leaves fall from the
deciduous trees,
the days get shorter
and a chill is in the
air: amphibians and
reptiles prepare to
hibernate and my
wife and I sleep
every night in the big
Hibiscus after a
chat and a song.
A cluster of Jewel
Bug larvae enjoys the
last rays of the sun
for the day and a
Monarch Butterfly has
his sun-downer. You
can see me sitting on a
Fiddle-leaved Fig leaf
next to the Hibiscus.
The Hibiscus is right
in front of the Jack
and Jill where Robyn,
Bodo and Bubi sit every
evening and chat too.
Oh well, next Spring,
maybe, we'll do it all
over again...
...and so maybe will they.
Ciao for now!
Willie.
It gives me great pleasure to watch and observe what ever lives in nature’s diorama.
Robyn and I visit many places on this planet, looking, absorbing, thinking and in the aircraft, flying back home,
we always seem to be desperate to see our family and then the conversation perambulates “Mount Glenhowden”
and how much we look forward to being amongst “our” animals again.
Bodo
“Mount Glenhowden”
Queensland Australia
GLOSSARY OF ANIMALS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
WILLIE - WILLIE WAGTAIL - RHIPIDURA LEUCOPHRIS
MRS WILLIE - WILLIE WAGTAIL - RHIPIDURA LEUCOPHRIS
BODO - HOMO SAPIENS
BUBI - GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG - CANIS FAMILIARIS
TONY - HOMO SAPIENS
LACEWING - CHRYOPIDAE
ROBBER FLY - ASILIDAE
KINGI - AUSTRALIAN KING PARROT - ALISTERUS SCAPULARIS
BROWN HONEYEATER - LICHMERA INDISTINCTA
QUEENIE - AUSTRALIAN KING PARROT - ALISTERUS SCAPULARIS
RAINBOW BIRDS - RAINBOW BEE EATERS - MEROPS ORNATUS
BOLD EAGLE - WEDGE TAILED EAGLE - WEDGIE - AQUILA AUDAX
BRUSH TURKEY - ALECTURA LATHAMI
BROWN TREE FROG LITORIA EWINGI
GREEN TREE FROG - LITORIA CAERULEA
TAILED EMPEROR - POLYURA SEMPRONIUS
HAPPY FAMILY - BABBLERS - POMATOSTOPUS TEMPORALIS
LEATHERHEAD -NOISY FRIARBIRD - PHILEMON CORNICULATUS
LITTLE FRIARBIRD - PHILEMON CITREOGULARIS
BLUE-FACED HONEY EATER - ENTOMYZON CYANOTIS
MICKY - NOISY MINER - MANORINA MELANOCEPHALA
BLUEIE - RAINBOW LORIKEET - TRICHOGLOSSUS HEAMATODUS
GREENIE - TRICHOGLOSSUS CHLOROLEPIDOTUS
EASTERN SPINEBILL - ACANTHORHYNCHUS TENUIROSTRIS
BAG SHELTER MOTH - OCHROGASTER LUNIFER
SPITFIRE GRUBS - LARVAE OF SAWFLIES - PERGIDAE
SAXONY - HOMO SAPIENS
CARLEY - HOMO SAPIENS
TANIA - HOMO SAPIENS
PUFF - ALEXANDRIA PARROT - POLYTELIS ALEXANDRAE
ELSA - HOMO SAPIENS
JEWEL BUG - TECTOCORIS DIOPHTALMUS
MONARCH BUTTERFLY - DANAUS PLEXIPPUS
ROBYN - HOMO SAPIENS
WILLIE’S WAG TALES
Willie’s Family
by
Bodo Muche