Monday 9th May 2022. 1305 – 1425 hrs

Weather

Overcast with occasional showers in the morning but becoming more persistent and heavier this afternoon. Very little breeze. Track damp to wet with widespread muddy sections. Water level up about 30 mm and increasingly turbid. Moon First Quarter.

Wildlife Report

Along Bunya Street I noticed a pair of raptors swooping across the road and as I approached a Pacific Baza landed on one of the street lights. I took several shots and moving on I discovered it’s mate in a neighbouring tree dismembering a large green insect, possible a Praying Mantis or a Stick Insect. More shots were required.
At Allumbah Pocket I found “Mrs Green” the Green Ringtail Possum concealed in a small clump of very dense foliage but was able to find a way to photograph her.
Another Green Ringtail assumed to be “Nosey” was found in the tree near the Old Boiler Shed.
A visiting couple from NSW were on the Suspension Bridge and indicated that they were watching a Platypus which was diving recurrently around the Stepping Stones. I joined them and took several photos.
I checked out The Other Side and by the time I reached the Memorial Bench the Platypus had moved upstream and was stirring up mud in the nearby shallows. I got an interesting shot of it covered in black mud on surfacing.
I moved on to Snodgrass’s Pool where I found “Whitespot”, another GRP, with her joey in the Syzygium Tree on the bank.
Along the nearby path to the Upper Level I photographed an Eastern Water Dragon and returning to the Pool snapped a pair of juvenile Saw-shelled Turtles on a log.
I had not sooner done this than another Platypus appeared moving downstream but paused long enough for me to get a single shot of it.
Nothing was seen then until The Log Jam where a pair of adult Saw-shelled Turtles were perched on top of the concrete slab.
After this I saw little until reaching the base of Picnic Peninsula where another Turtle and a Water Dragon were sharing a log sloping against the opposite bank.
Under the Highway Bridge I paused as usual to photographed the Large-footed Fishing Bats and also spotted a pair of Pacific Black Ducks in front of the Platypus viewing Platform though they were too distant to photograph.
As I crossed the Bridge however I managed to get a shot of the Ducks and also a juvenile Water Dragon on the rocks below .
The pair of Bush Stone-curlews were waiting for me art Nick’s Camping Area where I got a delightful shot of the larger bird standing on one leg.
At the Left Bank a small tree had recently fallen making access a little more difficult but was worth the additional effort as I almost immediately spotted a Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo. This appeared to be a single sub-adult which I suspect is the young male seen here previously with his mother.
At this point it started to rain quite heavily so I headed home, pausing only briefly for a shot of “Tatty” the Coppery Brushtail Possum who was exposing her after regions in the Fig Tree.