Safe in the Pouch

Lots of footage at the moment of mothers and their joeys. Might be a bit same-same, but we don't get sick of being in their midst, watching and observing their behaviour.

One morning we were sitting on the deck watching a small mob as they grazed. We started filming and were surprised when the mum moved towards us.

The mother was quite aware of our presence, but wasn't too fazed.

Early in the sequence, a male starts to court a female. Scratching at the ladies tail encourages her to urinate. He sniffs the urine to see if it's a good time. You can guess the rest.

In the background (easier to observe on the high definition version), their is a large male chasing off other suitors, as he was trying to have his way with one of the ladies.

A high definition version is located at :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL9sjMuKe5E

Enjoy!!

A Tough Day at the Office

The following footage shows another young joey spending time out of the pouch. Still wonky on it's legs and repeatedly returning to mum and her teat for reassurance.

Typically, whilst others in the mob relax the mother remains standing - if danger approaches, by standing the joey has quick access into the pouch.

During the clip, you might notice a female making contact with a male (left of screen). This is most unusual as it's normally the male that initiates contact. The male pays no attention so the female moves away and lays down herself.

Apologies for the bumpy film.

Noting, a high resolution movie is available at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4AS3Kk9O1w

Enjoy!!

A mother and her joey

Spring is done, so many mothers are busy tending to the needs of their young - the following footage of a mother kangaroo and her joey was recorded a few days before Christmas.

Based on the wonkiness of the joey's legs, it's probably only the third or fourth time out of the pouch. Typically, the joey stays close to mum and keeps going back for reassurance, sticking it's head in the pouch to suckle on a teat before getting distracted and focusing on other matters............not unlike a human child. As is the way with native wildlife, there's lots of itching and scratching, scratching and itching.

The mum appears to be an experienced mum and will have had a few joeys over the years. She is on the alert, attentive, and seems quite sensitive to the joey's needs.

Have a Happy and Safe Festive Season!!

A Wallaby Joey revisited

Leaving the camera at the usual location, we gleaned a few more hours of footage of amongst other things, a mother wallaby and her joey. This is the wallaby mother with the "pinky" from an earlier posting : Wallaby Flat - a week in the life : Part 1

We've condensed the recorded movie grabs into just on 4 minutes and you'll witness lots of scratching and grooming, the testing of legs, annoying mum, foraging, feeding from mum, and at the end of the footage, returning to the pouch due to the mother wallaby sensing danger.

The wallaby joey is very strong with it's jumping so early in it's development - in contrast, kangaroo joeys can be quite clumsy when initially using their legs to jump, and it takes a little while for the kangaroo joey's to control the power in their hind legs.

When kangaroo mobs graze around the house, we often hear the kangaroo mother's give a clicking sound, which alerts the joeys to return to the pouch. Occasionally, the mother kangaroo will give the joey a reaffirming "hurry up" by tapping them on their back.

In the attached footage, the wallaby mother does a similar action. As there's no audio, we don't know if Wallabies "click" but somehow the joey knew that it was time to get back into the pouch.

Enjoy!!

Voyeuristic Tendencies

As mentioned in a previous blog, our home acts as a hide, so we often find roo's looking through the windows.

The kangaroo's are very inquisitive, so it's not too surprising to have them peering through the windows and with glazing being reflective, they're often more focused on their own reflection than on what's going on inside.

The following photo was taken last Saturday. This young lady has a little pinky in her pouch, with another joey "on the foot", not too far away (not in shot).

After taking a few snaps, we were fortunate enough to also get a wee bit of footage before she ambled away.  

Enjoy!!

A hi-res video can be viewed at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-d6vN7q6M

........................and found the following snaps in our photo archive:

A young fella looking at us, looking back at him - through the kitchen window

Peering out the front door with the camera, careful not to disturb mum with young joey in pouch

Lounging around the deck one sunny morn'.

This fella was way too intimidating to venture outside - taken from the safety of the home

Wallaby Flat : a week in the life : Part 2

As mentioned in our previous blog, in the 1-1/2 hours of footage recorded recently we observed two (2) females, both with joeys in the pouch.

This footage (Part 2) includes a larger female, with an older and recently out-of-the-pouch joey. The joey has fur which gives the dark colouring - when compared to the "pinky" in the previous footage.

The mother is easily recognisable by the damage to her left ear - so we've named her "Cauliflower".

Enjoy!!

Wallaby Flat - a week in the life : Part 1

We purchased a motion sensitive camera a while back and have been developing our skills and techniques. All too often, we seem to set the camera too high and we currently secure the camera to  existing trees and fallen branches which limits our positioning, so it might be time to buy a tripod.

The attached movie was stitched together from over 1-1/2 hours of footage recorded over a one week period. The camera was set to record a 60 second bite (maximum period) whenever the camera sensed movement or heat, resetting to record again once 30 seconds had elapsed.

Much of the footage we recorded over the period included two (2) females, both with joeys. The spot we chose seems to be a favorite for the wallabies. There was no footage of kangaroos, nor foxes, which is a surprise based on other recording sessions we have undertaken.

The footage below includes the younger female (of the two mothers we filmed), with a young joey (pinky) which had yet to emerge from the pouch. 

We have set the camera at the same location to try and get more footage, especially of the joeys as they develop. We are still working on the 2nd clip and will post once it's finished (in a week or two). 

Enjoy the 1st movie!