Animals

Black Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)

On our walk this morning, we saw the rock wallaby again. It let me get close, and only dashed away down the creek bed when heavy traffic thundered by. I had my real camera with me (FujiFilm FinePix A607).

wallaby

Black Wallaby. 30 July 2015

I did mention seeing this dark furry wallaby back in June. It stands so still that I don’t usually notice it’s there until it crashes off, but today I remembered to look. Luckily, there is some sun to show off the lighter colour on its front. If you click on it a couple of times until it is full size, then you can see the pale muzzle which tells us it is a fair age.

The wallaby is less frightened of me now, after a couple more sightings. He dashes along the dry creek bed, and goes underneath the road via the rectangular pipes beneath the road bridge.

Here’s a photo from Wikipedia

sswamp wallaby

By jjron (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Wikipedia says:

The swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the black wallaby, with other names including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Queensland), and black stinker (in New South Wales) on account of its characteristic swampy odour. The swamp wallaby is the only living member of the genus Wallabia …

The species name bicolor comes from the distinct colouring variation, with the typical grey coat of the macropods varied with a dark brown to black region on the back, and light yellow to rufous orange on the chest. A light coloured cheek stripe is usually present, and extremities of the body generally show a darker colouring, except for the tip of the tail, which is often white.

The gait differs from other wallabies, with the swamp wallaby carrying its head low and tail out straight.

The average length is 76 cm (30 in) for males, and 70 cm (27.5 in) for females (excluding the tail). The tail in both sexes is approximately equal in length to the rest of the body. Average weight for males is 17 kg (37 lb), females averaging 13 kg (29 lb)

Here is a photo I took back in June, with the camera phone. Under the footbridge, looking along the creek bed to the road.

Under the footbridge

Under the footbridge, looking towards the road.

Today, I’ll keep working my way through my index cards, firming up the plotting for my novel. I’m only a third of the way through, so far, and it has proved a very valuable exercise. Last time I did plot cards my heart wasn’t in it, and I ended up with scribbled-on pieces of index-card sized paper. These cards are the real thing, and asking myself several questions about each scene makes me really think about what’s happening … or not.

I’ve found where my last bit of lost writing was hiding – inside text files within zipped backups. I love Scrivener’s snapshot function. I’m able to keep several versions of the same scene together without inflating the word count.

I hope you are having a good day.  🙂

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17 thoughts on “Black Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)”

  2. Wonderful that the wallaby has found a path along the creek bed, and not over the road!
    Good to hear about your writing progress too, Christine. I’m re-re-editing mine. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Would the bird-taming trick work? Dress a dummy in old clothes and a big floppy hat and sit it where the wallaby hangs out. Possibly place a wallaby snack near its foot on occasion. (With birds, you put seed in gloved hand.)

    After a while, YOU go out dressed like this.

    Liked by 1 person

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