Feathered Bodyguards: The Old Giant Water Buffalo Bull and His Egret Friends

Feathered Bodyguards: The Old Giant Water Buffalo Bull and His Egret Friends An incredible old giant of a water buffalo bull, a destructive feral species introduced into the wild north of Australia almost two-hundred years ago, is surrounded by egrets who appear to be his bodyguards. The Northern Territory of Australia, especially Arnhem Land, is inhabited by almost three-hundred-thousand wild water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, and they are iconic as well as valued for meat. This particular old bull was spared a horrific natural death during the intense build-up season, where the old ones weaken and sink to the ground to be eaten alive by dingos, ants and crows, thanks to a talented young hunter who put him down quickly and respectfully, with his meat being utilised for dogs and native wedge-tailed eagles. Nature is both obvious and subtle in its importance. Like, it’s literally absolutely everything. Yet we often take it for granted or miss it altogether. Instinctively we’ve always known, perhaps through a combination of sheer luck and whatever our ancient DNA blueprint is, that wildlife and wilderness is essential for our well-being, health and happiness. Ancient wisdom has always known about connecting with nature for health and healing, to the point where something so intrinsically part of us needed no justification or proclamation… yet this got lost in the hectic frenzy of modern life, and thankfully science is now pointing people back to this old truth. This resonates with us, and we hope you feel it, too, and that you get some benefit, blessing or enjoyment out of these little snippets of the bush and the wild creatures that live here. A lot of these videos can be used as quick little mindfulness sessions, too, if you like. Wild Nature Australia is often just one bloke, an absolute amateur, wandering and wondering in the wild places, searching for interesting things to notice, especially the wildlife both great and small. But at other times it’s a little husband-wife team, or a father-son team, or a couple of mates, or a couple of brothers roaming around the quiet places, camera in hand. Occasionally it has even been three generations, a grandfather with his son and grandson, roaming the Great Southern Ocean in a little yellow boat. It’s people who have always loved wilderness and wildlife and conservation. Our videos are a work in progress, and although we’re always learning and improving, some are imperfect but still special and worth remembering (and sharing). With living experience in ADHD and trauma, being in nature combined with creativity is a natural way to optimise the good life and a message of hope to share with anyone needing it. Equipment and Resources: My Dad got me started on this journey so that he could share some of the wonderful things I was seeing and wishing I could somehow share. He bought me a Nikon P1000 camera that we mostly use in manual focus mode because we can’t figure out the autofocus setting. He also bought me a Manfrotto 190X tripod, which is awesome. Sometimes a good mate sends us video to use taken with his incredible Canon with all the magic that keeps jumpy creatures in-focus. We simply use the trusty old iPhone for a lot of stuff, too. And we’re lucky enough to have been able to get our hands on a Hikmicro thermal imaging monocular as well. We use Canva to create thumbnails and we use Epidemic Sounds to create the mood for each video, whether that’s a fun mood, a mindful mood or a cinematic vibe.