Sometimes the view from my kitchen window, is better than a nature documentary. This is a female wallaby, who is probably gestating a joey in her pouch - as you can tell by the hanging sack.
This new baby critter, will pop its head out for the first time in spring/summer, to taste its first blade of grass. Then before we know it, they'll practice jumping around our house, and call our backyard home.
All seen from our windows, year round.
EDIT TO UPDATE: Upon further research, I have discovered these are Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Not Wallabies.
Beautiful! How lucky you are. The only furry things I see are rabbits. But plenty of birds, snakes and the occasional echidna. We're both lucky to live amongst natural bush.
ReplyDeleteWe do feel very lucky to have them around. When we first came here, we felt bad for plonking a house in their territory, but as we didn't put up fencing or keep dogs, they came to see the new infrastructure as something to hide around. They get an incredible view from our back landing (where the wallaby is) and I think that's why many females bring their young here, to practice their jumping skills. They can see any predators coming a mile away.
DeleteTo think it all started with one injured joey too. She must have had ticks or something, because she kept twitching her ears constantly. We think she may have had her hearing effected, along with the inability to jump really well. We thought she was done for, but she managed to raise herself in our backyard. It was easier terrain to navigate if you're injured and looking for food. She then attracted a mate, when she was old enough, raised her young here and then all the female wallaby's started doing it!
They may all be her daughters, for all we know. We don't see her around any more. She had a distinctive curl in her tail and twitch in her ears, which is why we dubbed her 'twitchy'. But the very thing we felt bad about (our house) probably saved her life in the end, and kick-started a whole new mob which now call our backyard home.
Do you actually get to see the echidna's at your place? Lucky you, if you do! We only see the termite mounds they scratch open. I agree that we are very fortunate to live where we do. I feel very dwarfed in my gardening attempts, in comparison to what's happening out there, naturally. :)
Love it! Although i never know which are wallabies and which are small kangaroos! I call them all skippies.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made this comment Farmer Liz, as I went and did some research. I called these wallaby's because I followed the example of size - these are small, not large like kangaroos. However, I found a good source of information which cleared it up for me, here:
Deletehttp://sites.psu.edu/lifedownunderwithgabby/2014/01/21/whats-the-difference-between-a-kangaroo-and-a-wallaby/
Observing the information here, these are probably Eastern Grey Kangaroos, not Wallaby's. To confuse things even further, there is something else entirely called a Walleroo. I don't know if they're a cross between the two, but it certainly shares the different features of both kinds of macropods!
I can see why you call them all Skippies, lol. ;)