Wednesday 6th July 2022. 0910 – 1025 hrs

Weather

Rain. 125 mm in the gauge over the past 3 days. Beautiful bright sunny morning with blue sky apart from some light cloud along the Western horizon. Quite cool. No breeze initially but beginning to fill from the SE later in the Patrol. Track wet but better than expected. Some ephemeral streams and a lot of water draining off the grazing land. Water level up 100 mm, cafe au lait in colour and a strong current. Stepping stones invisible with strong eddies covering them. Moon Phase – First Quarter tomorrow.

Wildlife Report

All trees have had leaves stripped by a good drenching which should have made spotting easier but the tree dwelling animals are not there to spot!
Saw nothing at Allumbah Pocket and the first sighting was not until the path to the Upper Level near Snodgrass’s Pool where I took shots of a White-headed Pigeon and a Brown Cuckoo-Dove.
There were a fair number of visitors along the track including two organized groups and they were in fact all that I saw until the approaches to Highway Bridge.
Several Golden Orb-weaver Spiders were present in the Lomandra clump while under the bridge there were more Large-footed Fishing Bats present than recently. I have noticed previously that more seem to shelter during periods of rain.
A recent query motivated me to measure the concrete joint where the bats were photographed today and it was found to be 40 mm wide.
While crossing the Highway Bridge I spotted “Calamity” the Coppery Brushtail Possum in the bush near the bridge centre though she was very difficult to photograph.
In the Paddock next to the Car park I saw a Forrest Kingfisher perched on a post although too far away for a good photo.
The Bush Stone-curlews were lying down in the Pizzeria Beer Garden this morning, perhaps recovering from the night before.
The juvenile Brushtail Possum had her black tail hung out to dry from the Hollow Tree but that was all I could see of the family.
Along Bunya Street I saw a White-cheeked Honeyeater feeding from the only flower on my neighbours Bottle Brush tree.
At home the Bees were out enjoying the sun after three days when they have hardly left their new horizontal hive.

White-headed Pigeon. Columba leucomela

Near Snodgrass’s Pool

Brown Cuckoo-Dove. Macropygia phasianella

Still drying out

Golden Orb-weaver Spider. Nephila pilipes

Ventral view of juvenile spider

Large-footed fishing Bat. Myotis macropus

The concrete join is 40 mm wide

Common Brushtail Possum. Trichosurus vulpecula

Difficult to make out but a pink nose and part of one eye can be seen at the lower left corner!
Tail hanging out of tree hollow.

Forrest Kingfisher. Todiramphus macleayi

Back is turned towards us

Bush Stone-curlew. Burhinus grallarius

In the Beer Garden

White-cheeked Honeyeater. Phylidonyris niger

One of my favourite Honeyeaters

European Honey Bee. Apis mellifera

Bees enjoying the sun. No they don’t like yoghurt – the pot makes a convenient way of presenting sugar supplement.