13.12.08

Saurday wrap-up : the wildlife report


I started the weekend with my own personal wildlife.Only people with working dogs are silly or desperate enough to be out in the dog park at 6.30am on a rainy Saturday morning.
We exchange bleary, resigned monosyllabic exchanges or simple nod
s of recognition with one another. 
The secret special club.
We are the ones with the high maintenance dogs that after about 36 hours indoors with no exercise (it's been raining non stop here) greet you at dawn like a chorus of deranged Muppets on crystal-meth. 
And out you must go.

Now, by popular demand
(and by popular what I actually mean is one person . . . well she is popular, so I guess that counts)
needle's edge brings you . . .

Marsupials!
Asleep!
specifically some Tasmanian devils


who I've gotta say are pretty damn cute when they're still babies like this little guy and their heads aren't covered in gouges and open wounds from where they've savaged each other over a bit of food. 
These guys are vicious.
Maybe  not as vicious as, say, a funnel web spider which will punch it's way out of a plastic container if it's in a bad mood*
But put it this way, I would not be picking a devil up and giving it a cuddle, unless I really wanted to lose my arm
They seems so genetically hard-wired into them to fight one another over food even in this conservation park** where food is plentiful.
Yet once it's nap time there they are happily snuggling in a big post-prandial pile. 

And . . .
some Eastern Spotted Quolls.
Asleep
(note the feet :  squee )



And . . .
a Tawny Frogmouth.
Half-asleep


All images you can clicken to embiggen of course, or see more here


*Apparently this is true! Andrew says so, so that's good enough for me.

** more on the plight of the Tassie devils later. What I found out about the disease that's threatening the population of them would make any caring person's blood boil, but considering my current state of sleep deprivation-addled mind best not written about right now lest this post dissolve into a polemical/political rant.

oh, and Blogger? fyi you are currently giving me the right royals. Note to self must change blog service pronto.






15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the photos, I've been patiently waiting!

I LOVE the quolls, just chillin. No biggie.

And that bird is beautiful. Is it an Owl? (I will google...)

But the note about the spider was enough to give me nightmares... I watched a documentary on them and I thought I was going to vomit from fear. I only lasted 15 minutes - those are scary creatures. I'm not sure I cold camp among them without massive amounts of valium.

13 December 2008 at 3:28 pm  
Blogger m1k1 said...

Vote for cute: The "feet" have it.
I think the Tawny Frogmouth is my favourite big bird. I have a photo of 3 of them "being branches" at the zoo in Adelaide.

13 December 2008 at 5:42 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi there - where were the quolls photographed?

13 December 2008 at 7:22 pm  
Blogger comfies said...

ah, the feet! so adorable i can't even stand it.

15 December 2008 at 3:46 am  
Blogger pungsnotded said...

"a chorus of deranged Muppets on crystal-meth" conjurs up such images! Great description!

And those photos are great!

15 December 2008 at 9:13 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes, my Jack Russell, though teeny tiny, goes crazy-nutzoid if left without exercise for that long.

Poor Devils. Piled up like that they are very sweet.

Rather terrified about the Funnel Webs now, though. Sheeeet. Still. Desperate to live in Tassie. Very.

15 December 2008 at 4:51 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anything asleep is instantly more adorable isn't it.

Unless it's one of those snoozing aged relatives that dribbles and lets one out while watching a sporting game - not that I have any of those luckily....

19 December 2008 at 6:52 pm  
Blogger shula said...

A funnel web?

Escaping from a plastic container?

See now, THIS is why I continue to live in Melbourne...

Jesus, Mary and Joseph....

22 December 2008 at 11:34 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey there Carson!

I'm glad to be back, and have certainly missed a lot! When I escape from this job, and get home, I'll put my feet up and catch up.

I'm with you on the dog walk, but Della doesn't do rain––ugh.

Right now we have a hawk who has established her nest in the old water tower of the building next to mine. Her and Della had a stare down recently that was chilling.

18 March 2009 at 7:10 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

Tawny Frogmouth, isn't that some character from 'Lord of the Rings'

27 October 2009 at 7:30 pm  
Blogger herhimnbryn said...

I know that 'working dog' take me for a pre-dawn walk now attitude. Ours has us right were he wants us!

Great images.

27 March 2011 at 3:48 pm  
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That animals look so cute!
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