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(BIRDSONG)
WOMAN: When I first came here, I must say,
I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
It is unbelievable that such a place can exist
with a city the size of Sydney.
When we first looked at the reserve, it was weed central,
and so it's been a very gradual transition
from weed central to now what I think everyone would agree
is a really beautiful nature reserve of native vegetation,
and it's being used by native animals.
Two of the most recent animals to come into our reserve
are the eastern rosellas and the brush turkeys.
I have been in a position where I've just walked down my drive
and just passing me without saying so much as "good day"
has strolled a brush turkey.
They are remarkably interesting birds because they build mounds.
The male brush turkey is the one who makes the mound,
and he basically scratches up
as much leaf litter as he possibly can, and soil.
What he's doing is he's building, basically, an oven
so that when he can attract a female,
she will come and she will test the temperature,
and if she considers it to be a good temperature
for her to lay an egg in,
she will scratch away some of the vegetation
and she will pop down and lay an egg
and scratch it up again and then disappear,
and he's just left to do more work until the next one comes.
They are beginning to build mounds
in the gardens that are adjacent to the reserve.
(LAUGHS) It's quite an amazing sight to have a mound in your garden.
They're huge. They can be up to five metres in diameter.
And, of course, if they start to build a mound in your garden,
well, you've got a choice -
you either watch them and enjoy them
or else you try and fight the turkey,
who is a very determined soul when he's building a mound.
My relation to this place has grown.
It's become really intimate,
and working in the reserve and doing bush regeneration there
and seeing how the animals respond to our planting and removal of weeds
and just watching this natural world around me
has been the most enjoyable process of my whole life, really.
I've really loved it.