Australian Blue banded bee
The Common Blue-banded Bee builds a solitary nest, but often close to one another. It prefers soft sandstone to burrow in, and areas of this type of rock can become riddled with bee tunnels. It also likes mud-brick houses and often burrows into the mortar in old buildings. Cells at the end of the tunnel contain an egg with a pollen/nectar mixture for the emerging larva. Adults do not live through the winter in colder areas but dormant young are alive in the burrow.
These guys produce very little honey, but are fantastic "buzz" pollinators.
Australian magpie
sound file here
Magpies have a beautiful "Warbling Carol" (carolling) which is heard across Australia every day in the bush, on farms and in Urban backyards
During breeding season Magpies (especially males) feircly defend their nest and territories by basically dive bombing any percieved threat whether in the air on the ground including humans, sometimes resulting in a jab to the back of the head, or at the very least a huge fright. They prefer to wait untill the quarry is not looking, so often the first you know of it is when wings are beating beside your ears.
