Barbara took me to feed the kangaroos/wallabies at the Bonorong wildlife center. I had great wildlife in Tasmania and Wollongong. Added to the Tasmania list are alpine ravens, pademelons (both in the wild while running and biking) and piles of other birds I can't name.
The joey gets to eat too! They are totally not interested in our food. If you look carefully above you can see a joey's head sticking out. When we first saw that combo only the joey's leg was sticking out and it looked like the kangaroo was a mutant.
The Tasmanian devils were extra active that night. I got to hear them
scream at each other. They look completely cuddly until that moment.
Unfortunately, the large numbers at Bonorong are in part due to a
contagious face cancer they are suffering from. Marsupials. I suppose
if you grow up with them you are used to it, but for me they raise all
kinds of interesting evolutionary questions, like why aren't more
mammals marsupials or, on the other hand, why are there any at all?
These tawny frogmouths are so cool. We almost missed them as they were sitting all together and were well camoyflaged with the trees. But then we got lucky and got to watch them eat dinner. Saying "just cool" repeatedly is not so great for you as the reader, but that's what I want to do.
And we finish with an albino possum. Possums are bad news in New Zealand, but loved in Australia and an albino one is pretty cool.
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