Friday 16 July 2010

The view from my window

Despite being so close to the house, the Melicope bonwickii in the front garden is important to the local fauna. It is the site of turf wars between the Victoria's riflebirds and the spotted catbirds. Lewin's honeyeaters guard it against incursions from Eastern spinebills. During the day, brush turkeys perch in the lower branches to watch the world go by. At night, coppery brushtails take their place.

Prime real estate?

Having not spotted any (live) tree kangaroos for a couple of months, I was both delighted and surprised to see this from the living room window.

Under the misapprehension that there was something interesting in the Melicope, this tree kangaroo hopped over from the forest and scrambled up the trunk. It realised the mistake very quickly. Then it discovered that down wasn't as easy as up.

After negotiating its way through the tangle of climbing pandan (Freycinetia), it hurtled off into the scrub. It's good to know the neighbours' dogs haven't killed all of them.