Rare footage of a kangaroo awkwardly swimming for its life in the ocean has been captured by a drone operator off the isolated northern tip of Bribie Island.
Doug Bazley has been taking part in a two-week trial with Sunshine Coast council's TurtleCare program to help volunteers find and protect marine turtle nests by locating tracks in the sand from the air.
Carefully and legally flying at a distance that avoided disturbing wildlife, at first, Mr Bazley thought his drone had spotted an unusual recent visitor to the region's beaches.
"All of a sudden, I see this thing floundering in the water, and where it was, was quite a distance from me, and I couldn't get really close, so I thought it was a seal," Mr Bazley said.
"I brought the drone back and landed, and I moved position further along Golden Beach, but for the life of me, I couldn't find it again."
Not a seal
When the photographer returned home and zoomed in close on his footage, he was shocked to see an Eastern Grey kangaroo swimming across the treacherous new passage that has split Bribie Island in two.
"I certainly couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. It was pretty crazy,' Mr Bazley said.
"It's either come across from South Bribie or it's gone for a swim to make an attempt to leave North Bribie and turned around going back onto the beach, I'd say."
High tides and huge seas driven by ex-tropical cyclone Seth carved a new passage through the northern end of Bribie Island at the end of 2021.
"There was quite a family of roos living on that northern tip, and I have been watching it. I have had wildlife carers contact me and ask, could I keep an eye out on the beach there," Mr Bazley said.
"This was the first time I had seen a kangaroo there for a while."
While he could not find the animal again, Mr Bazley believes it was close enough to the island to make it safely back to shore.
Fascinated followers of his Blueys photography Facebook page have marvelled over his video of the kangaroo battling the ocean current.
"They're not exactly built for swimming. They don't have the flippers on, that's for sure," Mr Bazley said.
"But I remember growing up out west. Every time we'd have floods, we'd often see kangaroos swimming across the rivers. They're quite strong swimmers, actually."
Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast founder Claire Smith agreed that kangaroos could swim quite well.
"They will cross bodies of water that aren't too wide if they're motivated enough to get from one grazing area to another," Ms Smith said.
"Or they will get in the water to get out of the way of danger. Danger usually is something like dogs, or it could be people.
"They're not designed to swim, you know, they've got little tiny arms at the front and great big legs and a tail that isn't designed to paddle, so they can only do short distances."
Ms Smith said earlier this year, a "brave" member of the public pulled an exhausted swamp wallaby onto his tinny in the Pumicestone Passage.
"It really was in a bad way because it had taken on board a lot of water, and that's the danger if it's a bit choppy, if they get tired," she said.
"So, to see kangaroos in the water at the tip of Bribie Island is not really a great thing because there is the danger of drowning."
The rescued swamp wallaby was in care for three months before it was fit for release on the mainland.
Ms Smith urged anyone who found a marsupial in the water off Bribie Island to call Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast's 24-hour-hotline on 0458 682 152 or 1300 animal rather than attempt to rescue the animal themselves.
"Please don't try yourselves," she said.
"You can end up making the problem much worse and create more fear in the animal.
"It doesn't matter if it's a kitten, a kangaroo or a dog, if something is stressed, it's more likely to give you a whack or a bite."
