Scientfic name  Wallabia bicolor       

Common name   Swamp Wallaby

    Notes

                   The Swamp Wallaby is the mammal I see most frequently on Sassafras, when I'm out about in the forest I will hear them most days, thump thump through the bush, just a few hops, rarely more than 6,  to the next shrub to have a nibble on. I see them every other day, they are generally solitary and quite shy, they seem to have fairly set territories.  If I go to the same location (quite a few different places) I will see the same Wallaby, I tend to be  there at the same times, rarely more than an hour after dawn.

                  I believe all of the larger tracks through the bush here are Swamp Wallaby tracks, If I need a new track I will open up theirs for my use, clearing the Privett away up to head height, the tracks don't need to be any wider most of the time.  I know they use the tracks I open up myself, those they did not make.

                 The only time I see two Wallabia bicolor together are Mother and Joey and this is also the only time I see them eating grass, usually very late afternoon, getting dim.  They head back into the forest or good dense cover if I get any closer than about 50 metres, though I can get as close as 30 metres if I pretend not to see them and it is fairly dim.  Walking up to the general vicinity of a Swamp Wallaby, without either of you knowing about it, will result in the Swamp Wallaby running rather than hopping away, I try not to do that.

So that's the issue with photographing wild Wallabia bicolor, quite shy and usually only around in the dimmer light, not much different to photographing plants here, it tends to be dim but they don't bound away.  You have to be lucky unless I suppose you actually set out to photograph them, sorry I'm not that dedicated.

This is the closest I have been with a camera, at full 200mm zoom, I had to manually focus, too much vegetation in the way even with central point focus, not quite in focus but you get the idea.

This is at the bottom of a small gully, quite damp most the year, still a lot of Small Leaf Privett left at ground level, Wallabia bicolor will eat tender privett shoots, small and large leaf, quite happily.  I was there photographing a Common Silkpod and this bloke bounded down into the gully.  He waited there long enough for me to take another 3 photos.  Following is the cropped set of 4.

Yes images 3 and 4 are slightly different, he is checking me out, compare vegetation and fur around the head, shoulders and left paw, he is moving his head for a slightly better view, we talking just a few millimetres, perhaps 5.





   You don't get much time with Swamp Wallabies, off he hopped over the gully after this shot, I was lucky he was in view and stopped for long enough.  I did have the 50x zoom video camera with me but it doesn't have a manual focus.  The right camera was on the tripod.