Marsu-poo-als

Possums and pademelons poo prolifically. So do tree roos, but they don't start with P. (Unlike possums, which begin their evenings with pints of pee.) (But I digress.)

Following in the (careful) footsteps of Forest Walk Art and Calling Ravens, I've collected and photographed some scats from the garden. They're now forming a petite poo pyramid . I'm sure the flies and dung beetles will be beside themselves with glee.

Top left: Lumholtz's tree kangaroo. 

Bottom left: Red-legged pademelon. 

Right: Coppery brush-tailed possum.

Tree roo poo

Pademelon poo

Possum poo

There'll be a test on this later.

On the move

Well, it was good while it lasted. But the inevitable has happened and our cassowary has been relocated to a site more suited to its needs. Somewhere with lots of fruit and nobody to bother it, I hope. Somewhere without nitwits that drive too fast on narrow roads and who let their dogs roam through the rainforest.

A night of moths

Rain has brought forth the swift moths. I saw the first yesterday — it battered the window pane so heavily that I thought the glass would break — and tonight they are out in numbers. About a dozen are fluttering around the carport and patio lights as I type this. I think these are Oxycanus buluwandji, a species endemic to the Wet Tropics.

Swift or ghost moths (family Hepialidae) have long lives as caterpillars, but only a transient existence as adults. The moths last for a day. So brief are their lives that they do not even have mouthparts.

I'm going to switch off the lights so they don't waste their last few hours.

Parrot party

Monday and Tuesday in the Melicope tree.

Adult male

I do not think that any country in the world is richer than Australia in different species of the parrot tribe; and brilliant as many of them are in their colours, to my fancy there is none to equal the King Parrot (Aprosmictus scapulatus of naturalists*), nearly the size of the magpie at home; the body colour of a rich glossy purple green, with a breast of flaming red. The king parrot, as he floats from one green tree to another, is one of the most splendid objects in the Australian bush...

"An Old Bushman", 1865
The Intellectual Observer

Adult female (and below)

Juvenile male

Camera shy

__________

*Now Alisterus scapularis

Wake up call

This is what I saw when I opened the front door this morning.

There could be a whole television series in this possum.

Your one stop shop ...

Malanda, Far North Queensland