DRAMA IN MY OAK TREE



Brush-tailed Possum, note Pied Currawong's tail above



The Pied Currawongs and Noisy Miners were being unusually vocal this morning.  The currawongs are nesting but I have not been able to discover where.  I've noticed them breaking off live twigs from the silver birches next door and flying off with them.  I have not observed the miners and currawongs interacting before.

A glance out the window explained the excitement.  In broad daylight, a normally nocturnal brush-tailed possum was sitting in my oak tree, apparently alert, being bombed by the currawongs, who were, in turn, being bombed by the miners.  I have to assume that there was something wrong with the possum, or he would be sleeping in his drey, not active during the daytime.  However, as far as I could tell, he was fine.  He could certainly run up the tree quite fast.  Yet, he chose not to return to the safety of his drey.  He is still high in the tree as I write and the currawongs are calling constantly.

Many Melburnians dislike our possums.  Here we have both brush-tailed and ring-tailed and they're both undeniably very cute.  They can make a mess on the paving and apparently they like to eat roses.  If you chose to grow roses, I'm sure you can share a few with our native wildlife.  I'm on the side of the possums.

Only once has a possum irritated me mildly.  Someone forgot to close the flue on our chimney.  (It wasn't me!)  A possum fell into the ashes in the fireplace, got such a fright that he urinated, then proceed to leave sweet little black footprints all over my beige curtains.  He celebrated, too, in my kitchen, creating quite a bit of havoc for one small marsupial.  We found him the next morning, asleep, behind the couch.  A very cute little ring-tail.  He was taken outside, where I hope he was reunited with his family.  No one has forgotten to close the flue since.

The currawongs are still calling outside, but I can no longer see the possum.  I do hope he is safe.