Sunday 15th December 2019. 0922 – 1030

Huge storm clouds and thunder resulted in only 1.5 mm of rain. Sunny with scattered cloud. No breeze. Track damp.

Greeted this morning by a Pacific Black duck swimming in front of the picnic area at Allumbah Pocket. The regular Eastern Water Dragon was on the usual rock across the track from the Memorial Bench. At Platypus Bend the pair of Orange-footed Scrubfowl were again digging in the leaf litter on the far bank. A very nice Black-face Monarch came and performed in front of me when approaching Log Jam Peninsula. No turtles to be seen on the logs but a Litter Skink came to check us out. While leaving the Peninsula a male Green Ringtail Possum was seen climbing the trunk of a tree. He clearly did not like being seen in the open and managed to climb to a point where he was obscured at least in part by surrounding foliage.
Near the Overhanging Bushes, a Platypus caught sight of me while lying on the surface and exercised an emergency dive before retreating to the opposite bank.
A group of Bush Stone-curlews were on guard round one of the rock islands in the paddock behind the Car park and the pair seen yesterday were in almost identical position in a neighbours garden.