Wednesday 25 September 2013

Lurkers...

The power went off just on dusk yesterday. This is not an uncommon occurrence in an area of trees, cyclones, flying foxes and dodgy drivers, but Ergon techies usually sort it out within an hour or two. So, there I was, sitting in the dark and looking at the stars, of which there are an awful lot in these clear tropical skies, when I heard a thump, followed by the rattle and crash of things falling off shelves.

It's not difficult to distinguish between the sounds of different synanthropic vertebrates. Possums are heavy-footed and obsessed with getting into the house via the flue on the wood heater. Fawn-footed melomys (native mice) climb onto desks, benches and bookshelves, but rarely knock things over. Green tree frogs (Litoria caerulea) combine clumsiness with an surpassed skill for house-breaking. And so I picked up the torch and went looking for the frog.

Which was perching on the in tray.


I left the front door open and the frog happily went out into the garden to spend the night feeding on insects and doing whatever else it is that green tree frogs do at night. Thinking that the frog would stay there — because Born Free and all that — I closed the door. I had underestimated the anuran house-breaking skill. During the night the frog found its way back in, sat in the sink for a while and then returned to wherever it spends the day. I expect we'll go through this again tonight.