Kangaroo

The kangaroo family/mob [had to look up the collective noun for these animals!] have once again been grazing on the green grass across the road.  I grabbed the camera, which does not have telescopic lens ... unfortunately ... but I did wind the view finder to its best view, sneaked across the road trying to walk quietly on the gravel.  My quarry was in sight!  However he [or she] had excellent hearing and stood up listening.  I managed a couple of photos before it bounded away beyond my picture taking distance.

 

 

The best photo I cropped, but you will see the distinctive shape and colour of a  red kangaroo which are the most common in this area.

The white blobs are melons that grow wild and prolifically and over which I wage a continual war.  I must add that our place does not have melons ... they are pulled out at the 'poking head through the soil' stage!

Green, green.

Searching through my mind for a title the Tom Jones song flickered into my consciousness ... and how apt it is.

After the dryness of summer we have had rain, not just one rainfall, but several over the past weeks and a transformation has occurred.  Outside it is Green, green!  We now have a lawn which to me is rather upside-down as in New Zealand I mowed lawns in Summer, here in Western Australia I mow lawns in winter.

 

The photo shows the greenness ... and while it appears to be just a photo of rural Western Australia [which it is] there is a wonderful tale surrounding this scene.

 

Two weeks ago as I was adding more rubbish to our bin parked across the road where it waited patiently for the bin-man I heard a strange noise.  I looked and there down the neighbours' boundary fence were two kangaroos trying desperately to jump across or through the high wire that kept them from the shelter of a small bush area.  The smaller kangaroo managed.  It took several minutes of what was obviously a time of panic for the larger kangaroo to finally find a place to jump over.

 

I believed there were kangaroos living in that bush area to the top left of the photo. 

 

Last night as I sat eating my meal I noticed some brown blobs in the paddock.  Even though I had new spectacles [not as good as my old ones for distant viewing!] I wasn't certain if they were kangaroos or dead grass.  Leaving my meal I grabbed the binoculars, hurried outside for a better view.  Four kangaroos were grazing near the large gum tree.  One, a large one, must have heard me for it raised its head [and it was then I knew I was looking at kangaroos] and loped out of sight.  The others continued to graze for the best part of quarter of an hour. 

 

We have kangaroos nearby!!  I feel sorry for folks not living in a rural area as the sudden appearance of native animals and birds keeps one fascinated.