Where’s Wally 2?

Wally and friend (ring-tailed possum)

I fear for Wally. Our Wally is a frog who has appeared previously on this blog site (click HERE to view). He has been a night-time visitor to our bird bath for the past four years. Wally is not big enough to trigger the remote camera but when a larger animal does, Wally is usually somewhere in the scene. You can locate him by his eye-shine. It’s a case of “Where’s Wally?” (see picture left), as in the kids’ picture books. With the regular herbivores that visit the birdbath—Sugar Gliders, Common Ringtail Possums and Common Brushtail Possums—Wally is particularly safe from harm.

Recently the bird bath has been frequented by a Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa). These creatures are known to eat invertebrates, small birds and mammals—in my books there is no mention of reptiles or frogs. But phascogales are opportunistic feeders and the sequence of still shots below show Wally minding his own business at the back of the bath, the phascogale seeing Wally and moving towards him, then an empty space where Wally once had been. Wally is now nowhere to be seen—and has not been seen since.

My hope is that Wally ducked under the rock and got such a fright that he (or she) has been hesitant to peek out of the bird bath again. Only time will tell.