Rare photo of a Possum

BackyardPossum.Cropped,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

This morning, there was a huge racket around the house as I was having morning coffee and reading the news. A couple of crows were hanging around the side of the house, and there was the sound of claws on the corrugate steel roof. This happens from time to time, and I didn't think much of it, since the crows around here are regularly harassed by minas and magpies. The smaller birds do not like the crows, and sometimes flocks of the little ones will dive-bomb the crows to get them away from nests or little ones, or whatever.

I have a small family of possums who live in the trees around my house. I've got four mango trees, which provide great shade in the summertime. Well, after about a half hour of the crows clearly going after something or being attacked, not sure of which, I went outside to see the goings on. It turns out that one of the possums had been cornered by a pair of crows. At one point, the possum made a dash for the back side of the house, across the roof and into the stand of golden palms near my deck.

Possums are related to the o'possums of North America, since they are marsupials, tree-dwellers, and nocturnal. It's pretty rare to see them during the day time. I'm not sure what was going on, but I'm guessing this poor fella was caught out after sunrise, spotted by the crows, and chosen as a target for eating. Fortunately, it survived the attack. I helped a little by shooing off the crows when they were too near.

Terrified, this one has been hiding out literally inches from the railing on my back deck, well protected in the stand of golden palms. I've seen the possums at night, and I hear them all the time. They have a distinctive call, a little chirp they make to help each other locate themselves. They call each other all the time at night. Occasionally, late at night, I hear them scream; they're probably fighting or mating...it sounds vaguely like cats fighting or mating. I do see them climbing around on the tree at night, and a pair of them were hanging out on my deck railing late night one time when I went out.

The crows are still popping by from time to time to harass the little fella, so I've been heading out to shoo the crows away. I don't much like the crows...they are loud and obnoxious, and with all the food in area, they can go feed somewhere else.

I was fortunate enough to catch a few photos of this one after one such raid attempt by the crows. Very big eyes, forward facing large ears, a pouch, and a very long, strong, prehensile tail. I'm pretty sure this one has a couple of young, since I've seen a family of three once or twice, climbing along the trees or the electrical wires, and come face to face with them when I've gone downstairs to the garage. I especially like the toes...there seem to be four, with a very wide spacing between two pairs. Very efficient for grasping branches.

It's rare to see them during daylight, so I'm glad I had a chance to catch this photo. I hope it survives the crows.