Thursday 13th February 2020. 0745 – 0850

No rain. Bright sun shining from cloudless sky. No wind. Track damp with few muddy patches. Drying.

An exciting start to the Patrol this morning.
Looked to the right as entering Allumbah Pocket and immediately sighted a chocolate coloured Brushtail Possum and a Lumholz’s Tree Kangaroo in the same tree just to the right of the entrance. The Tree Roo was unfortunately well concealed but the Possum made up for this by waking up and giving us a superb view.
On reaching the far side of the Suspension Bridge sighted two Green Ringtail Possums in the same tree just to the upstream side of the suspension cables. These proved to be a male and a female so suspect that there was some funny business going on!
The surprises went on when we arrived at the Horseshoe of rocks across the path from the Memorial Bench and found another male Green Ringtail low down in a small tree in full view of anyone passing.
Almost vertically above him were White Spot the female Green Ringtail Possum with her joey enjoying their high level perch!
Went on to spot a Platypus at the downstream end of Flood Tide Island. She seemed very surprised by our presence but came back for another look twice! I had to be quick on the trigger but managed a couple of shots.
Just downstream of the Log Jam a large log has managed to block the Creek resulting in a build up of floating weed and leaves above it. No Turtles were seen but there was a rather nice spider in it’s web just at the tip of the peninsula.
At Stringers Stretch saw a Platypus at extreme range clambering on a floating log but light was poor as I took some rather optimistic photos.
Met a couple from Stuttgart in Germany who were watching the same Platypus and had seen three previously this morning. Pointed them in the right direction to see the arboreal mammals!
A final Platypus was sighted at The Narrows just below the Highway Bridge but no worthwhile photos.
At the viewing Platform there were no parents on the Rufous Shrike-thrushes nest but one of the chicks could be seen.
On the East side of the Car Park a White-bellied Cuckooshrike was enjoying breakfast while s single Bush Stone-curlew was standing beneath! Who care about cars?