Friday 1 June 2012

Dispatches from the Tropics: 1 June 2012

It's cold. Cold and wet. It was cold and wet in May, but now it's colder and wetter. Did I mention that it's cold? And wet?

The wildlife has been quiet lately. Not as quiet as me, but, given that they don't have a blog (either individually or collectively) it is hard for the wider world to assess that.

I saw a tree kangaroo hopping across the back garden a couple of days ago. (The tree kangaroo was hopping. I was standing at the kitchen door, idly wondering in which direction to cast a banana skin so the paddies would not associate it with my house.) One of my neighbours told me that there's a mother and at-foot joey around the place, so I might see them soon. (If it stops raining. See first paragraph.)

Red, the adult male pademelon, is back after a prolonged absence. He returned with a scratched and infected eyelid and badly scarred ears. I'm guessing he'd been in a fight. Either that or he really needs to be more careful about where he gets his body piercings done. He sooked around the place for a while (see previous post), but is now back to his feisty self. This mostly involves hissing at other pademelons, boxing brush turkeys and lounging in the front garden. (When it's not raining, that is. See first paragraph.)

The possums haven't been around for the past few days, but prior to that, they'd almost imprisoned me in the house. I couldn't go into the garden after dark for fear that one of them would slip into the kitchen when I slid open the door. Among the quartet of coppery brushtails is a young possum who is following in Little Poss's footsteps. Literally. Mini Poss has taken to climbing the flyscreens with almost the same enthusiasm as her predecessor. The good news is that Mini Poss is much more mild-mannered. I have yet to see her trying to claw open another possum's mouth to steal what they're eating. Another bit of good news is that this recent absence of possums means that I am free to go out at night without worrying about marsupial raiders. The only problem is...it's raining. (See first paragraph.)