Friday 7th February 2020. 0710 – 0815

No rain. Bright sunshine. Sky clear apart from scattered small area of high level cloud and increasing cumulus from the East. Light breeze. Track damp, drying.

Allumbah Pocket clear. While crossing the Suspension Bridge noticed small parallel waves coming from downstream with no obvious source. Moving on a few metres revealed a pair of Pacific Black Ducks drifting in mid stream and guessed that they had probably just landed.
An Eastern Water Dragon was located in the paddock close to The Other Side. This appears to be a common spot to see them when walking early presumably because it catches the morning sun and warms up before the rock piles.
White Spot the Green Ringtail Possum had moved along to the trees opposite Snodgrass’s Pool where she was curled up into a real ball of fur. Couldn’t see any sign of Joey but am sure he was tucked in somewhere!
No Turtles this morning, but saw the typical bubble pattern of a submerged feeding Platypus right at the tip of Log Jam Peninsula. Sure enough the Platypus soon emerged and spent several minutes performing repeated dives right in front of me, resulting in some good pics.
No Possums in the Overhanging Bushes but found another Platypus opposite Bush No 4 and snatched a couple of shots before it moved to the far bank and continued on towards Picnic Peninsula. Caught a glimpse of another Platypus in Stringer’s Stretch but it did not reappear.
I happened to notice that the wooden bench along The Narrows had at least 20 Cicada nymph cases along it’s rear edge. It is obviously a popular spot for adult Cicadas to emerge!
At The Viewing Platform photographed the Rufous Shrike-thrushes nest and one of the owners before showing it to two local ladies and told them where to find the Possum. They reciprocated by giving Thomas his keenly anticipated pats and strokes!
The pair of Bush Stone-curlews were in the same spot on the East side of the Car Park. There were another dozen or so in the paddock along with a scattering of Geese and Ibis.
Along Bunya Street two Masked Lapwings were escorting a juvenile and making a lot of noise about it!

Pacific Black Duck. Anas superciliosus

Ducks downstream of the Suspension Bridge

Eastern Water Dragon. Physignathus lesueurii

Nice brightly marked Dragon

Green Ringtail Possum. Pseudochirops archeri

White Spot curled into a ball. I think that Joey is lying in front of her.
A very similar shot but I liked the curl of her tail!

Platypus. Ornithorhynchus anatinus

At the Log Jam
Near Overhanging Bushes
Heading towards Picnic Peninsula

Cicada Nymph Cases

Some of the nymph cases on the edge of the bench.

Rufous Shrike-thrush. Colluricincla megarhyncha

Surveying the scene before entering the nest!

Bush Stone-curlew. Burhinus grallarius

Next to the Car Park. Have made up since yesterday!

Masked Lapwing. Vanellus miles miles

Discouraging me from approaching too close!