I had read a couple of months earlier that Simon Cherriman had seen a Wambenger (Brush-tailed Phascogale Phascogale tapoatafa) at the end of a guided bird tour. This is a critter I have been wanting to see for many years. The exact location wasn’t given but was in the Perth Hills region. A couple of months later I got another email from a different source that mentioned they had a Phascogale hanging around – Bingo – I had a pretty good idea where now!
My new mammal watching buddy joined me on a still, nearly moonless mid May evening – perfect conditions.
We walked for approx 2 hours – seeing about 4-5 Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) and a couple of brush-tailed possums I couldn’t get shots of as they were too high in the trees.
We found a nice Bleating Frog (Crinia pseudinsignifera) just by a pond (identified by its call) and couldn’t get a great shot of this Motorbike Frog (Litoria moorei) as it hopped into a hole too fast for us.
Just as we were heading to the car to call it a night my buddy heard something in the trees – success!! It was a Wambenger and it moved fast in the tree..
We got a few average shots but really didn’t want to disturb it.
A great night of spotlighting with 3 different mammals and 2 frogs – all very close to a capital city. The location I will also keep quiet as it is great to see – its pretty close to Perth and too much activity would surely bother it.
One last point – we did find this scat that we haven’t been able to ID – some have suggested it might be a Quenda – we didn’t see any but might be a possibility.
Unidentified scat – approx 5cm long
Wildlife Watching in Australia 