There’s a kangaroo loose in the garden

Female Western Grey Kangaroo, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Female Western Grey Kangaroo, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Yesterday morning we had the delight of having a Western Grey Kangaroo in our garden for a few minutes.

I need to explain that our garden is rather larger than most; we live on a 5 acre (2 hectare) block of land on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia. This is not the first time we’ve had a kangaroo on our land, but it is unusual. It’s only happened on one other occasion over the last 25 years. Might have had others but my memory is fading. We’ve seen individuals along the road on other occasions, and sometimes we see one or two in the paddock opposite our driveway. They are far more common in the large tract of mallee scrub about a kilometre up the road from our driveway. Whenever I go birding up there I usually disturb several of them.

The species found around here is usually the Western Grey Kangaroo. It is theoretically possible to get Red Kangaroos here but I haven’t seen any; they tend to be found much further north in dryer parts of the state. I was not quick enough to get the camera to take a photo of the roo which paid us a visit. Instead, I’ve posted two photos I took recently on a visit to the local open rangeĀ  Monarto Zoo which is about a ten minute drive from our home. The zoo has many Western Grey Kangaroos within its boundaries. They naturally occur there and have remained within the confines of the outer perimeter fence of the zoo.

The two photos on this page are of the same female. In the photo below you can just see the joey’s face poking out of the pouch. Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Female Western Grey Kangaroo with joey, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Female Western Grey Kangaroo with joey, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

The kangaroo we had visit us only stayed for a few minutes. When I tried to get a little closer it bounded off through our orchard, across our open paddock and then down the road along side our property. It jumped three 1.2 metreĀ  (four foot) fences so effortlessly they might as well not have been there. The route it was taking was an easy way back to the scrub area where it had come from – and away from the busy road in front of our place.

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One Response to “There’s a kangaroo loose in the garden”

  1. […] details of this event – with photos – on my blog called Trevor’s Birding. Western Grey Kangaroos, Monarto Zoo, South […]

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