In the treetops.

For all the round bellied possums... and for all the sparkly chested hummingbirds, this post is for you.

A family of active, chubby little brushtail possums live in the overgrown canopy of our two red and pink flowering bottle brush trees. High up in the tangle of dead jasmine vines which join these closely planted trees together, they reside, happily feasting off our scraps of stale bread, old apples and slightly mouldy oranges. I'm enamoured with their little pink noses and large ears. With the wonderful sense of play they approach each snack with. With their swinging prowess and their tiny claws. And those little shiny, black beady eyes. Magnificent.

We've only ever seen three, and are on familiar terms with the papa possum. He comes up to the backdoor to inform us that the bird feeder, suspended from the white flowering hibiscus from which they feast, is empty, and the cat bowls too. It is not unusual to find me topping up this hanging smorgasbord of possum treats at the witching hour in order to keep the peace, even though I know you are not meant to feed them. It all began somewhat accidentally when the possums started to nibble on what little the sparrows, pigeons and blackbirds left behind in the feeder. Now, in the morning, all that remains are a few rogue orange skins flung on the bricks below, any remnant of flesh sucked, chewed and chiselled off. Since we've taken up this occasional feeding, they've let the potted succulents be... and no one, ourselves included, will touch the fruit from the stubby, curly leafed grapefruit tree. Each small harvest we lament the purchasing of the grapefruit which only yields tiny, sour green produce... if only we'd planted an orange tree.

{The Hummingbird Case, Melbourne Museum}

A recent trip to the Museum afforded me a further peek at possum lovelies and their furry friends, as well as several fine, colourful mushroom displays and a Hawaiian detour, resort wear from the "golden age of aloha wear". Of the vintage Hawaiian costumes, I've narrowed it down to my favourite two... one "designed exclusively for Valerie's Surf Shoppe out of rayon, a green sarong dress with matching bolero, oriental print featuring kimono clad men & women meeting by the water's edge with surrounding pagodas, bridges, weeping willows, lotus flowers and floating junks". And the second, a white label Alfred Shaheen brown cotton "Bird of Paradise Border print strapless sarong dress with detachable stole, with a background Tapa print with gold screen print overlay"... whilst I'm not sure these descriptions do either justice, neither do my yellow photographs.

A detour through the Living Forest before reaching my favourite display, a beautiful freestanding black display case with a central branch seemingly buzzing and flapping with the movement of over 200 hummingbirds of all different varieties. Each one has been wired in place, mid flight, swooping, diving... wings extended, sequin like chest glittering in the half light. I manage to take a few sneaky photos of the one thing I never tire of seeing, I'd happily take it off their hands if only they offered. They can keep their giant tortoise shells and wasp wings from the Andes... all I want is this.

Leaving the Museum and walking through the Fitzroy Gardens, we were lucky enough to discover several recently cut, large tree branches. We selected the mossiest and curliest of the branches and hastily carried them back to the car... for reasons to be revealed late August. The cats are now busily giving these various tree parts the once over... tree branches which no doubt many a possum has scampered over.

Follow your own possum trail...
Wear your possum - clothing from NZ, where the Australian Brushtail is an introduced pest.
Which possum is that in my garden?
A new species of Mountain Brushtail Possum is discovered.
Learn to love your possum neighbour.

A favourite hummingbird myth of mine, that each year they migrate across great bodies of water by hitching rides on the backs of geese. Find your own Hummingbird titbits...
The Hummingbird Limited - from the Museum of Yo-Yo History.
A Sword-billed Hummingbird from Colombia, 1886.
A pair of 30 million year old Hummingbird fossils are discovered.
Anna's Hummingbird - Tucson Botanical Garden, Arizona.
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird and friend.

{A Squirrel Glider with pearl-grey underparts, this little chap is mostly silent.}

{A Long-tailed Pygmy Possum, he shelters in a spherical nest of leaves in a tree hollow or sheltered cranny.}

Comments

[Julie]

Enjoyed reading about your possum family!
The picture of the glass case with the hummingbirds is spectacular!!!!
And i love the drawings...what about a drawing of a hummingbird???!!

p.s. i also love my coffee too! ;)

[louise]

When is our Hummingbird case arriving? I've cleared a space for it already... fantastic links as always. and a Hummingbird drawing sounds like an ace idea.
lj

[tiffany]

your little possum neighbors must be so cute! i don't think i've ever seen a possum up close...well outside a zoo in louisiana when i was 6 - and those ones were ugly. not the adorable racoonish faced ones like you've pictured.

lovelovelove the faces on your squirrel glider and your pygmy possum! so sweet!

have a great day, gracia!
tiff*

[shari]

hi gracia,
are the possums in australia a bit nicer? years back t and i were on a walk and ran into a huge possum at night that hissed loudly at us while at the same time raising its hair up on end.

and at our new place, we have sooty tracks making a trail from the roof to the ground. i need my track guide but it's either possum or raccoon.

love your drawings and all things hummingbird! xoshari

[elaine haby]

how wonderful to have tame possums who understand to leave the rest of the garden be..... perhaps I really should give the rintail in the garden some tasty delights and tell him please leave the mandarin tree for me. Love your drawings

[jac]

Hate to say it, but I am a New Zealander and the conditioning is too strong ... AARGH! POSSUMS! I actually quite like ringtails but can't stand the brushtails. I have a brushtail hot water bottle cover ( http://www.nznature.co.nz ) and I regularly threaten the possums that live in our garden with the same fate ... I'm not nice enough to leave out broccoli for them!! :P

[Karen]

The possums are the cutest!

[Hayley]

Hi Gracia!

Your possums are much cuter than the US ones; our look like giant hairless rats with scary bat-like features. Growing up the possums would hang out on the back fence of our house and our dog would bark at them all night. Dad would go out in his robe with a flashlight and the "possum stick" [broom stick with no sweeper] and push them off the fence into the neighbours yard to silence the dog. They would come back almost every night.

Great links too! I had no idea there were so many species of hummingbird [I guess I thought that was a species to itself]. 203 species at your museum! Impressive.

I love your drawings! The little paw on the bottom is too cute!

Cheers!

[bugheart]

ooh
all the lovely
possum stories...
i have always
had a soft spot
for them
but most people
hate them here...
perhaps
american possums
are uglier?
i think they
are cute...
such beautiful
drawings-
i could stare at
them all day...

[Briana]

I serously need to take a trip to that Museum.

[Holly Ryan]

The Hummingbird Case is one of my favourite exhibits of all time tool! Great sneaky pics Gracia.

[maditi]

we have a marten living underneath our roof and I´m horribly afraid of him whenever he wanders in the garden at night ...
I guess I would be very scared of your possums too - what if you stopped feeding them and they´d attact?!?! sorry, just some thoughts of a slightly paranoid-animal-person ;)

[gracia]

Hi there Julie, a request for a hummingbird you say? Hmm, we'll have to see how the little guy turns out... I've never drawn one before and when I do, you'll be the first to know.

Hey there LJ, I was thinking the very same thing... now that we've cleared the space for it, when will those delivery drivers deliver the goods. If only they had a postcard of 'our' hummingbird case for us to put in its empty place (for the time being only).

Hi Tiff, ugly possums? Surely this is not possible... though I fear I am in a minority, a possum fan club of one. I loved that at the New Orleans zoo, in the Cajun section, they included cooking recipes alongside several of the racoon and nutria exhibits. There were also some sorry looking kangaroos in the Australian mammals section, looking forlorn and shabby. Glad you liked my squirrel glider and pygmy possum too.

Hi there Shari, I think you and T have met the same possum that has been roaming the globe, turning people off the possum family in droves. He is somewhat of a bad egg and not typical of all possums... a bad apple, the black sheep of the family... though I am by no means an impartial judge on this topic. Will those sooty tracks be making an appearance on your flickr files?

Thanks Mum, sadly I'm pretty certain that feeding the little family of ringtails in the back garden will have no effect on the plight of the mandarin tree... they're just too tasty a treat to leave alone.

Hey there Jac, love the Eric the Possum hand puppets featured alongside the possum fur water bottle covers, gloves and scarves... cute and educational New Zealand goodness. And just who was the bright spark who thought of introducing the brushtails all those years ago... such craziness! How could it not have been foreseen that this would be damaging to the ecosystem it is introduced to.
( http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MammalsIntroduced/AustralianOpossums/en )

Thanks Karen, there are plenty more to come too... and a promised hummingbird as well.

Hi there Hayley, giant, hairless, ratty, batty type possums in your neck of the woods too? Clearly I'm residing in a sheltered little pocket where my possum neighbours are well mannered, obliging and attractive furry lodgers. LJ's Dad has a similar technique to your Dad... he shoos them away with a broom of an evening.

Hey there Gwen and thanks. I'll send you an "I'm a Possum Fan" badge to wear. And I'm thrilled you like these latest two drawings.

Hi Briana, and I think I need to take a stroll through some of your local museums too...

Hello Holly, I've no idea why they've hidden this little gem around in a poky part of the museum... perhaps it is there only for the lucky few who seek it out?

Hi Maditi, your words conjure up perfectly for me an image of your rogue marten wandering through your night time garden... a little bit like the weasels in The Wind in the Willows. Those weasels of the Wild Wood were terrifying... and look what they did to Toad Hall.

take care, grache

[Catalina]

I went to Australia and a possum's family was living in the roof..........noisy..but I love them!

[michele]

Hi gracia
I am one of the 5 mai tais. Thanks for your kind words about our exhibition. It's cool to know people have checked it out and fallen in love with the clothes as much as we have! Cool possum pics too! I have learnt my lesson about hand feeding possums in the flagstaff gardens. After generously sharing part of my summer roll bar (I know, not good for their teeth or diet no doubt) the little blighter proceeded to chomp its way up my thumb. Ouch!
michele xx

[lisa s]

love the hummingbird tidbits....

that display case is AMAZING!!

[gracia]

Hi Catalina, noisy possums in the roof sounds about right... thankfully our troupe of furballs prefer the bottlebrush tree as opposed to the roof. Thanks for stopping by too.

Hello one of the five mai tais Michelle, I certainly did fall in love with those wonderful Hawaiian costumes, sarongs and more! Such a marvellous collection of gems which you all clearly enjoy. Hope your thumb did not need to be surgically removed after a possum nibble... it made for a great story though. Thanks also for swinging by...

Hi Lisa S, the hummingbird case is pretty hard to top...

take care, grache