Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Today, while walking home from the lab, I happened to look up at one of the trees near our flat's carpark, and spotted a little grey bump. Curious, I walked closer, and saw that it was a possum! I'd seen its droppings on the sidewalks before (eww...), but hadn't seen it face to face until today. Excited, I ran home, grabbed the camera, and started shooting it (with the camera, of course).

Can you see the little fella?

There it is! It's supposed to be a pest in Australia, but isn't it adorable? :)

We've also shared the flats with many other animal friends, including :

Many hares

Several foxes

One of the foxes trotted across my path one night, less than 5 metres ahead of me, much to my fascination!

A mopoke (tawny frogmouth owl)

The mopoke stayed for about 2 weeks, then disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

We've also seen other bird species in the area, like the rosellas, parakeets, kookaburras, magpies, cockatoos, crested pigeons, and many others. Sometimes, when I stay up late in the night/morning, I can also hear the calls of a cuckoo just before sunrise, but I haven't caught sight of one yet.

A blue-tongue lizard

We had a resident blue-tongue lizard, until someone's car ran over it, which was very unfortunate... it was such a beautiful creature. What made things worse was that it happened in summer over the weekend, and the carcass just lay in the middle of the road and decomposed, giving off a very ripe and pungent odour... not a pleasant memory :P

And of course, no one can forget the resident stray cats and dogs.

I also came close to getting a pet carpet python too, after one of the lecturers let me handle hers (which she keeps in her school office!). Nearly volunteered when she asked if anyone could take care of it while she went away for a holiday, but Karen has firmly declared that if the python comes, I have to go. Therefore, since I still need a place to stay, I didn't volunteer ;) So, no pythons... Not for now anyway. Heh.