Common Blackbird attacks Common Brushtail

[Marg Peachey <>]

John,  

I wonder if the possum was eyeing off the blackbirds eggs or chicks for dinner!

Marg Peachey, Kambah

On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 12:52 PM, John Layton <> wrote:

While sitting on the porch yesterday enjoying the cool evening we watched a Common Brushtail Possum scampering along the overhead power cable kindly provided by ACTEWagl to give possums a means of commuting above the bosky backyards of better Belconnen.

 

Suddenly the suburban peace was punctuated by the rachety-ratch alarm call of a Common Blackbird as it dived perilously close to the possum’s posterior. Two more similar attacks went ignored as the possum pattered nonchalantly along. But with the next foray the bird darned near parted the fur between the it’s ears and the possum flipped upside down, continuing along with its tail looped around the cable. It seemed to travel just as fast as when upright, paws pumping like the cylinders of a horizontally-opposed engine.

 

This sudden change of possum posture confused the bird which flew back several metres, perched on the cable and chittered away angrily while swivelling from side to side. The possum reached a crossbar, sat down, looked back at the blackbird and appeared to gesticulate rudely with a forepaw. (Well maybe that’s just a tiny bit anthropomorphic.)

 

John K. Layton

Holt.

 

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Marg Peachey

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