Brown bandicoot

Source: Googleimages: wet tropics.gov.au

A small brown form appeared in the headlights of my car as I neared the bridge over our creek last night at about 8.45pm. It was a northern brown bandicoot eating grass seeds on the edge of the road and it stayed put for maybe ten or fifteen seconds before bounding off into the shelter of the rank grasses that grow down to the road edge. We have a few on our property as well, their presence betrayed by the diggings in the lawn as they search for grubs. Unfortunately we most often see them as little brown corpses on the road as we drive to work. Sometimes we'll see as many as three unlucky animals that were in the wrong spot at the wrong time the previous night. There's been more red necked wallabies dead on the road these past few weeks and no doubt as the weather warms up we'll start seeing brown snakes on the road as well, most of which will end paying for the body-energising warmth of the road with their lives.