Husby and I were sitting on the lounge this afternoon when he said "there's a bilby in the backyard!"
I've never seen a bilby in real life, and so we both got up (carefully and quietly, so as not to scare him) to have a look. And there he was, scratching and snuffling around in the garden right near our back door! I grabbed the camera (again carefully and quietly) and husby took some photos.
After checking on the internet, we decided it wasn't a bilby (they have much bigger ears and don't really live in our area!!) but rather more likely a bandicoot, and probably a bit of a baby one at that. Still very cool, considering we live in suburban sydney, where a possum* is common but not so much a bandicoot (as far as I know!)
(*not nasty opossums like you get in the US, much nicer, although still a bit of a pest!)
17 comments:
Watch out for grass ticks on yourselves and Nellie as they are carriers. Ruby had Lyme disease last year, from hundreds of them looked like bread crumbs in her hair. On the positive it is a sign that your backyard is really healthy
Oh how cute!!! No chance of sneaking up quietly here with three Elephant Labradors!!!
Bandicoot is one of my favourite words but I thought it was a bird! That little fella is cute
That is so cool! My parents have had them in their yard, but they live in the middle of rainforest, not the middle of a massive city!
(Hope you're not trying to grow vegies - a bandicoot will strip your crop!)
You have such great names for animals in Australia. Bandicoot is so much more fun than squirrel!
Even the animals are better in Australia! (Though frankly, I'm thinking this guy looks a whole lot like what we call a... rat. Just kidding! ;)
That's a very astute bit of snout spotting on your behalf. I would have just freaked out and assumed it was a rat.
Aw, he's kind of cute from 5000 miles or so away. ;)
how amazing! I had a friend that did a her honours on the bandicoots at north head - but I can't believe you could find one in the burbs! We had them everywhere when I lived in the noosa hinterland and apart from the holes everywhere they are very very cute.
Wow! Now that is amazing!
I've got a crafty possum in the roof - he knows not to eat the enticing apple in the cage! Love the cute little bandicoot, though... does look like a bilby! Just in time for Easter.
This is GOOD THING. You won' have grub infestations and you have (as Snoozen said) a very healthy backyard
Although if you try to grow anything with root vegetables - they will get eaten
there is a reason stealing potatoes out of people's paddocks is called 'bandicooting'!
Certainly second the warning about ticks on yourself and pets. I grew up in an area with bandicoots and ticks abounded.
When we were just up the road from you, we found bandicoot snout shaped holes in the yard on occasions. Then there was the echidna we found sharing our space, not to mention the brawling possums. Glad you got a photo.
It was always a running joke with me that everything in Oz has pouches. Now even your rats do! =) So funny I looked up the bandicoot cause I couldn't believe that it was anything other than a rat. Oz is a very interesting place. One of my favs! =)
Cute little guy! Definitely nicer than a possum. I hate the Canberra possums. Loud, aggressive and hungry! He looks much friendlier.
You did well to snap a photo, we have them rummaging by our front door all the time given our proximity to a national park, but they are ever so quick. Hasn't stopped us startling each other coming home in the dark on many occasions!
Well that's just too cool for school! Could you get it to hold TimTam for scale?
My verification word is yawperat. Is that what they call a bandicoot in Queensland? Or is that a suburb of Dijabringabeeralong?
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