Oti, Toffee, & Marble
April’s soft release
Instead of our typical single release of a plushness of ringtails in autumn, this season, we soft released an additional two groups. The extra two groups comprised of Bill and Jean, after a rescue of an adult ringtail, Juniper, resulted in her casting aside her young upon our returning her to her home, and Oti, Toffee, and Marble, who came into being when Jean rejected, quite pointedly, Oti from their union. While it may not have been the plan, and snowballs do as snowballs will, we wouldn’t have had it any other way, and so we are delighted to report that, as of last night, the last group, the Overflow’s Overflow, comprised of Oti, Toffee, and Marble, threaded their way into the night. The hatch to their soft release enclosure is now open. They can come and go in their own good time, as they feel their way in their new home in Batesford. And while plentiful, fresh browse will no longer be put inside the enclosure, so as to gently encourage them to move out and pick it for themselves in the trees, they have the safety of its familiarity.
It has been a long season, and it feels rather odd to walk past some flowering plumbago and not pick some for the possums, but it has been, as ever, an enriching one, where everything comes together for this very reason: their return. In our art work side of things, motivation can sometime prove elusive and things can be overwhelming, but this remains our feel good constant and purpose. Their successful reabsorption into the forest is the honey.
Upon that note, rewind, do, to the beginning of setting up the soft release enclosure for a third time, and watching Oti, Toffee, and ‘you did it’ Marble bid farewell to ‘in care’ and say hello wild and free.
Wee Oti, Toffee-long, and Miss Marble might have moved into the soft release enclosure two Mondays past, but not before a sweep of new nesting boxes were installed in the trees and the enclosure given new branches to enable them to sit and survey the wide world as it unfurled around them. The trio will need to consult their inner Atlas Celeste de Flamsteed, 1776, for what lies ahead.
Huge thanks to Felicity and Peter for making this possible, through the generous provision of handmade nesting boxes, with tree grips for close scrapes; a beautiful, connected site to ancient red gums and melaleuca; and ongoing care (fresh browse and water, during the first phase, and watchful eyes, the whole way through). Oti and friends are in the best of hands.
Looking at all that awaits, in the fullness of time, now that the hatch to the soft release enclosure is officially open, fills us with joy. Which branches will they traverse first? We’ll have to wait and see. (The trail cam picked up little of their nights prior. Placement is everything, clearly.)
With paws crossed their first foray into the splendour is a good one, here’s to our third group of autumn-released ringtails!
You can find some handy tips for installing a few nesting boxes of your own on Wildlife Victoria’s site. And while there, you can also find a mention to all things Tiny but Wild in an article, Marvellous microbats, featuring two fetching Gould’s wattled micros we recently had in care.
Thank-you for the support, Wildlife Victoria.
Image credit: Toffee, about to be weighed, mid-November, 2024.
