A three roo day

Apparently the American band Three Dog Night took their name from the custom of Australian indigenees (presumably the desert mob, not the salt water people) of stacking an extra dog on the bed when it gets cold.  It was quite warm on our walk this morning so we were happy with our single (small) dog.

However we did come across three species of macropod. (A 4th - the Wallaroo (Macropus robustus) is possible, but I have never identified one on the property.)

I didn't manage to get a photo of the Swampie (Wallabia bicolor) as it crashed away through the Kunzea.

The first sighting was of a red-necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus).
It is interesting that the genus is Macropus - a common genus of Kangaroos - rather than Wallabia.  This must imply that the 'Wallaby' is used in the vernacular sense of 'small kangaroo' rather than whatever science underlies the taxonomy.

They are very pretty animals so I don't apologise for a couple of extra images.  This one also posed nicely, about 10m away, for quite a time - and in fact was still static when I walked away.

A bit further on a couple of the common Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) displayed the usual amount of terror at the sight of the small dog.  (They had hopped out of the way, and she had lunged briefly in their general direction, so protocol was satisfied.)
 Having a bouncing dog - with places to go and things to sniff - did mean this image isn't as sharp as the ones of the red-neck.
As well as the red on the shoulders of the roo the sky was a trifle colourful at dawn today.

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