Clouds etc

 On the evening of 27 March the clouds visible from our lounge looked rather attractive and interesting.

In this collection I was interested in the number of layers as well as the range of species.

Of course, no significant rain was evident.

Various walks around Mallacoota

 We have had a very pleasant visit from some Canberra friends and took them for a few strolls (as well as rattling a few hoops on the croquet lawns).  This included our friends joining us in our early exercise walks, which didn't attract photography.

The first walk was to the wastewater treatment plant (aka the poo pits) to check the waterbirds.  Most of the usual species were seen on our basic loop.  A highlight was a posing Sacred Kingfisher: they have not been common this Summer.  As likely to migrate soon this was bird of the day.

Although legless reptiles are far from rare here we didn't see any.  A good looking goanna ascended a little up a tree.  

After waiting for photos it ascended further, showing just how long its tail was.  It is still not one of the big bruisers that can be found.

Crampons au naturel!

In the afternoon we headed for Quarry Beach primarily to show off the rocks, but also because it is a nice place.  One of out friends got a tad excited when he saw a Porpoise come completely out of the water.  The rest of us would have been excited too, but had to settle for this view.

At the Western end of the beach the Cormorant Rock was devoid of Cormorants.

Perhaps they liked their water more relaxed?

Not a great number of birds seen but a very pleasant walk.  We retuned home for rests and naps and then headed to the croquet lawns where the Cricket Team were celebrating the end of their season with a BBQ.  We played a couple of games (very badly in my case) before heading in to the Bistro for a dose of linguine: very pleasant it was.

The first business on Monday was a stroll from Pebbly Beach towards Shipwreck Creek.   A few interesting bits of natural history were seen on the way but photos began at Two Heath Cove with a large rock showing the power of the sea.

Frances is currently reading about geology in this area, primarily a book by Leon Costermans and Fons VandenBerg "Stories beneath our feet".  Leon is perhaps best known for a book about shrubs and trees  but his bio reveals his training in geology! So she took this image of some of the rocks.

The track in to the Cove is a tad overgrown, as illustrated by this snap by Rob.  I guess one cannot expect Vic Parks to fuss about keeping tracks not designated by them clear.  Note also the pink tape marking the entrance/exit from the side track (there is more at the Cove end to help us spot the way out).

On the way back we spotted this nice fungus: to my surprise it as a bolete (with a pore surface rather than gills): possibly Austroboeletus sp.

There was next a loud squeak from our leader as she spotted a local having a nap beside the track.

A little bit of the red belly can be detected in this image

Having got the manual focus mode to work I thought I would use it!  This does reveal the Gahnia seeds on the snake's head!

We don't often see echidnas around Mallacoota and this one was wandering across Lakeside Drive.  It dug in at the bottom of a steep bank.  Although we have been advised that they shouldn't be moved (so they can follow their scent trails back we reported it to the local carers who would try to shift it up to the top of the bank (as it was less than 25cm off the road).

More croquet followed, with me playing a little better.

Yet more bats

 There is still a major flight out each evening, usually with a focus towards Lakeview.  I visited the camp this afternoon and it seems to have expanded towards the road somewhat, so the numbers are, I think, up on the estimate calculated by Tony Mitchell a few weeks ago.  Here are some photos:

Nosferatu!

The flyout started at 2128 and was not heavy this evening.  This is part of the stream heading towards Lakeview.

This shows the few that were heading high, for reasons known only to themselves.

I had a feeling that the main flight out was using the "back door" below my line of vision, heading towards Betka.

A short ride in Mallacoota

 After successfully finding a Powerful Owl yesterday (by following directions given by other birders) I went back on my bike to try my luck again today.  When I got to the area there were my informants from the day before assisting another birder to photograph Rufous Fantails.  They knew why I was there and advised that:

1. the Owl was there but had shifted across the creek, and 
2. they had scratched a line on the dirt to mark the spot.

After a little searching my crappy eyes picked up the mark, and a gap in the foliage nicely framed the Owl.  It had no prey today, so just as well it had surplus bat yesterday.

Riding home I had just got to the boardwalk area and noticed  bunch of folk peering into the bushes.  On stopping there was a chubby chappie (or chapess) peering out.

As I started the ascent of Mount Angophora I noticed a Whistling Kite posing nicely.  Needless to say it bolted at the sight of the camera but after a swerve round another Angophora it perched to adjust a small bird it had picked up en route.  At 150m range I couldn't get a clear look at the prey, but suspect there is 1 less New Holland Honeyeater around.  The Red Wattlebird looks totally unfussed.

A right Charlie's Creek track.

 I have read a few explanations of why, in English slang, the phrase "a right Charlie" means a fool.  This one is well off (my understanding of) the mark, and I suggest the author gets professional help.  I was always told that it is a reference to Mr Chaplin, reflecting the number of daft situations in which the Little Tramp finds himself.  Whatever: the meaning seems to have a fair application to the walk we did today, shown in the following extract from Google Earth.

I will come back to this a little later, but as a depiction of the two tracks I'd say the material Google accessed was an approximation drawn by someone in the Bairnsdale or Melbourne offices of Parks who has never been East of Orbost.  And their drafting tool was the famous "thumbnail dipped in tar".

Here is the track which eBird logged from where we actually went.

At an early point we came across this sad specimen.  I have asked iNaturalist for suggestions about identification (the first suggestion by their AI - emphasising 'Artificial' rather than 'Intelligence' - was European Dormouse).

The track - well cleared (presumably to let the Parks contractors get to rebuild the jetty at the end) is surrounded by densely regenerating Acacia scrub of which A. terminalis was well into bud.

The bloodwoods (Corymbia gummifera) were well into flower, explaining why a proportion of the fruit bat flyout has been pointing in this direction.

It never fails to astonish me how the autofocus function on my camera will find something other than my target to focus on.  In this case it has ignored the blossom (~80% of the image) and gone for Frances arm (~5% ) in the background.

A nice new jetty with some anglers well ensconced.  When we were last here (before the fire) the piles of the jetty were covered with sea squirts: they have yet to re-establish.

A Pelican passed over, giving me at least one bird snap.

Here is the eBird track.  Many diversions from that shown on Google Earth, amounting to an extra kilometre of distance.  It also suggests far better the amount of ups and downs along the way rather than the flat track I had been expecting from the straight line on Google Earth.

Flowers were generally hard to find.  A pretty little Dianella sp.

An orchid!  Eriocholus cucculatis , with the vernacular name Parson's Bands: the column etc always makes me think of a ranting evangelist, rather than a timid Parson.

I find it hard to capture steepness in photos.  This was one of the early gullies which the track took.  This was quite a surprise as on our previous foray (from the Double Creek car parking area) partway along the track the difficulty had been flooding rather than altitude sickness.

The contrast between the burnt black branches and the green foliage justified this image.

Two interesting holes: I think Bandicoot, but advice has been sought.

An attractive butterfly kept fluttering in front of us.  Every time it landed it shut its wings rendering itself both less attractive and harder to find against the fallen leaves.

Eventually I got a shot of the upper wings: a Variable Sword-grass Brown (Tisiphone abeona).

Colourful Gahnia sp. fruit

Finally we get to Charlie's Creek: by this stage I had realised that the track shown on Google Earth was garbage, as we had already done 2.9km and that shown was only 3km.  It was also interesting that the last1 kilometre we had walked had had NO maintenance from Parks for at least 2 years, and possibly not since the fire.

I had hoped that with the shiny new signs at each end of the track they would have fixed up the crossing here.  Hah: I am talking about Viv Parks here.

Frances crossed upright doing a sideways shuffle.  I sucked in my dignity, threw it away  and crossed on hands and knees.  But I didn't fall in!

Along the rest of the track the wattle showing signs of flowering was Acacia longifolia.

This is the low lying area which was flooded last time we walked this track.

Attractive bark on some sort of burnt tree.

Double Creek: a pleasant sight as it meant the end was close(r).

Nice new signs are always possible in Parks-land.  Slashing a track, or replacing a bridge not so often.