I've lived here more than 9 years, but never have I seen grey headed flying foxes roosting here (no colony lives here and they should never roost alone). Now it is becoming such a common occurrence that the wildlife rescue groups can't keep up with it. Hopefully this one will find the colony overnight when they fly over and reunite. The rescuers don't come out unless they are somewhere 2 days in a row.
That's a bad sign of the plight. They are already a vulnerable species and with the heat and dry, they are not doing well and too often become exhausted and can't make it back to the colony. This is the second one I've had right beside the house this week.
Late afternoon it did wake and began feeding on the bottle brush flowers, so I hope this one is ok.
They are one of the most important pollinators for the koalas food trees.
Thank you for the awesome questions and comments on my photos.
I am in awe of your dedication and knowledge , not only of your Koalas but other threatened native animal species around you . I hope this one is all right and will get back to its colony unharmed . Thank you for sharing this with us .My first thought was a red koala !( how daft of me !! ) Love how you have caught the light on his rich red fur ! fav
@beryl would you believe - in the next branch of this bottle brush tree was Bullet? Neither of these 'should' be in this tree but again nothing is right - I've had 3 different koalas in this tree over the past few weeks. You might remember I found Ryder in this tree in on that windy day. Either everything is upside down or I've missed koalas in the tree right beside my bedroom for 9 years ... I know what I suspect ...
@beryl@gilbertwood I have to say, I knew little about them until the first one stranded here, a 7 week old on the power lines and he was rescued and successfully raised and released by WIRES.
As a result of this fella I started to learn a lot and now I'm really concerned about how they are going to make it through another hot dry summer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be-nF640IAw
So different than our bats. Our bats look as big as blue jays when flying, but in the day they curl up in a corner and are practically invisible and no bigger than a very small mouse. When I first saw the photo...before I read....I was trying to find the koala in there.
@shutterbug49 how interesting! we have microbats (and I have a vulnerable species of those here called the little bentwing bat) and then the macro bats like this fella. These can weigh up to 1kg each so are a fair size. The microbats are more like the size of a small mouse.
It's so sad. I can't understand how easily we destroy our Mother Earth. We save individuals and meanwhile entire species are dying. Man is a damn egoist!
Fabulous capture.
As a result of this fella I started to learn a lot and now I'm really concerned about how they are going to make it through another hot dry summer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be-nF640IAw
Fabulous capture.