Saturday 20th February 2021. 0805 – 0915

Weather

Rain in gauge 28 mm. Overcast with intermittent light rain and drizzle, brightening later.
No breeze. Track wet but minimal mud. Water level high and creek flowing fast. Platypus “hovering” in the current at the Narrows.

Wildlife Report

Decided to Patrol early this morning as the rain was quite heavy during night and often this means good platypus viewing.
Before starting, photographed a moth which had decided to check out the kitchen. This as classified by me as a “hawkmoth” but with an interesting “tail plane”. In the course of trying to identify it discovered that there are several thousand different moths in Tropical North Queensland and I believe this to be a Hermit Hummingbird Hawkmoth!
On arrival at Allumbah Pocket I immediately sighted a Green Ringtail Possum but unfortunately high in the tree in deep shade with bright patches of sky showing between the leaves. It was impossible to obtain a well exposed photo even using flash.
I continued across the bridge and in the area close to the work shed at The Other Side I found a small group of Fairy Gerygones feeding in the foliage and was lucky enough to obtain some images.
At Snodgrass’s Pool I met a group of visitors and was describing to them the “boiling” of the water which indicates the presence of a Platypus below when one of the young women spotted just that behind me. A male Platypus surfaced and we followed him upstream to Platypus Bend where the group left me to resume their walk.
The Platypus however continued to progress at a speed similar to mine and was photographed at a number of locations including the Log Jam, Stringers Stretch and The Narrows.
I saw a group of Bared Cuckooshrikes but they were not hanging around to be photographed and then snapped a very disheveled Magpie Lark in the gum trees at the side of the track
I was joined on the way by a couple, originally from Liverpool but now living in Cairns and later by another pair from Mossman, originally Kent. I was interested to find that the male partner is a guide for Crocodile Cruises on the Daintree River.
Hoping to increase my fairly limited tally I crossed the road to the vacant lot where I found my regular family of Bush Stone-curlews and continued to the overhanging Fig Tree where another Green Ringtail Possum was easy to photograph and the Chocolate Brushtail Possum was showing just enough of himself to let me know that he was at home!