Cape Barren Geese in Point Cook.

INTRO: We’ve been in Australia for over two years now and we’re still blown away by the sheer variety and uniqueness of the wild animals and birds that we come across whenever we venture outdoors. It is simply magical. Allow me to share some of them with you, captured by our very own camera lens. As you can tell, they do love to pose.

#4 The Cape Barren Goose

I know what you're thinking. 'Erm, they're just geese dude', and you would be partially right. Because these aren't just any old geese, these are Cape Barren Geese, one of the world's rarest Geese, and now, newly arrived neighbours of ours. We spotted them a few blocks away last week, then yesterday they had moved onto the Wetlands at the end of our street, where I was delighted to find them again today.

In the 1950's their numbers were so low, that biologists feared they were close to extinction. The good news is that their numbers are now rising healthily and there's thought to be around fifteen thousand across Southern Australia. Make that fifteen thousand and two.

And that could be more, as they could well be nesting. It seems that these Geese establish their territory in Autumn (which it now is in Australia), prepare a nest site, then defend it noisily and aggressively. I can definitely bear witness to that. After ten minutes of happy snapping, the larger male had clearly had enough and chased me off. At nearly a metre tall and a metre wide with its wings flapping, and with a grunt louder than a pigs, I didn't hang around.