Pambula Walks

 This is a bit of a step from Mallacoota, but have included it in this blog as we did it from Mallacoota, and will probably do it again from there.  Also I want some of my early commentary to be seen by people from, or visiting, Mallacoota.

We had gone to Merimbula to get a few things that I needed and to put some additional value into the trip Frances found a couple of walks in a brochure put out by a consortium of Councils (East Gippsland; Bega Valley and Eurobodalla).  Where we went is marked by the two orange pins.

For the first of these we actually meant to go to Wolumla Peak, but the stupid brochure didn't say "go 14km along Wolumla Peak Rd" so we started walking at the river crossing.  I have complained to Bega Valley Shire about thus

There were lots of butterflies around as we walked up the road.  The iNaturalist AI rates this, one of the common species on the day, as a Wonder Brown.

The underlying rock appeared to be sandstone.

The slope running down to the Pambula River was both steep and thickly vegetated.

Beside the track again, were many ferns.  the AI rated this as a Shiny Fan Fern but a local expert has said S. lobatus (Spreading Fan Fern).

We returned to the car and headed off towards the Goodenia Rainforest walk.  Learning all the time, I put that into the GPS before setting off, finding that it was 8 km up the "road".  The road was pretty rough, and after about 4km pretty narrow.  However when we arrived at the parking area we found a Mazda 3 parked there!  The walk was mainly out and back so we met the owners of this as we went down (and caught them up on the drive out: they were sensibly going very slowly to protect the car.)  To complete comments on visitation we met yet another group going down as we came back up.

This unusual looking insect was crawling around on the steps.  I suspect it has only recently emerged from a pupal case.  I think it is genus Amata (Tiger Moths).  Nope, it turns out to be Oenosandra boisduvalii, Boisduval's Autumn Moth.

A collection of epiphytes.

The track was pretty steep.  Frances discovered that the area at the side of the step had a much lower vertical step as soil had washed down.  This made the walk back up much easier.

An occasional spiky vine across the track kept one alert!

A long flight of steps: quite new, so the soil-wash effect was not yet evident.

More epiphytes!

Vines are a major element of the biomass of rainforests.

A babbling brook in the bottom of the gully we were descending.

Ferns and moss.

This fruit looked familiar and so it was: Pittosporum revolutum.

At the bottom of the walk the track does a small loop though the forest.

Coming back up, one's attention was occasionally grabbed by the height of the trees.

A very nice walk and well worth the bumpy drive.

The picnic area at the car park was pretty well set out with tables etc and graced with loud calls by the Superb Lyrebirds which are starting to get in tune for breeding.  The recording was not great but the shaking tail feathers can be heard at the end.

To do with birds

 I'm putting this image first to get it on Facebook.  It was get explained a bit further down.

My first effort today was a bike ride to Bucklands to see if the Nankeen Night-Herons were around.  They weren't, as far as I could tell.  En route I checked the huge fig tree opposite the school bus stop for fruit: very little that I could see,

Getting past Mullet Creek I looked back at the jetties and realised that I had 5 species of Cormorant and relatives in one image!

1 Little Pied Cormorant; 2 Little Black Cormorant; 3 Great Cormorant;
4 Pied Cormorant, 5 Australasian Darter

I have previously managed to get these 4 Cormorant species + Black-face Cormorant in one shot (on the Breakwater at Glenelg SA) but never before 4 Cormorants and a Darter.

Here is a closer shot of the Great Cormorant and the Pied Cormorant.

A little further along Lakeside Drive (the jetty near Schnapper Point Drive) I spotted a familiar shape on the jetty.

Yes!  A Squidgy Heron.

I came back over Stingray Point mainly to check the figs by the grassy area,  Both trees seemed covered with fruit so will I think be good for Figbirds, Topknot Pigeons and Channel-billed Cuckoos a little later in the season.  On the way down the hill I saw this person checking things out.  Laid back as usual and only about 1.8m off the ground.

We then went off to the Bunker Museum site to check out the BLA nest boxes to see if there was any activity.  The opening image is me preparing to insert Caroline's pole camera into one of the boxes.  (That was the second highest we found: I couldn't get the probe in the highest.)  Here is the route we followed: the pink ring is the site of the Bunker.

In total there are 33 boxes here: 20 put up by BLA and 13 by the Historical Society.  We found 26 of them, but none were currently occupied.  Here is a link to a summary.

Sundry explorations

This post will cover all sorts of things done and seen in the period 23-24 February!

Having noticed a post to Mallacoota Birds with an excellent picture of a Powerful Owl in the rainforest Reserve at Cann River we decided to visit the village on 23 February and go for a walk.   This is the route we followed.  The sandy strip is the river: obviously the image was captured in a drier period.

Cutting to the chase you might notice a 'tick' in the track where it first approaches the river.  This was where we searched for the Powl.  The directions included the words rainforest, wooden steps, whitewash and Powerful Owl.  We found the rainforest and the wooden steps!

There were a lot of berries in the area.  

These have been identified on iNaturalist as Solanum pseudocapsicum Madeira Winter Cherry.  It is an escapee from gardens (aka "weed").

Solanum aviculare is definitely a native, "Kangaroo Apple".  The species has appeared dramatically since the fires, but last year much of the fruit dropped while still green.  This year it all seems t have ripened to the yellow/orange stage.

In the field this material looked most like Spanish Moss, but when seen close up it is definitely Old Man's Beard (Clematis sp.).

This fungus was pretty spectacular but I am not game to put a name to it yet.  The species suggested by my books all seem much smaller than this specimen.  After posting to iNaturalist it is clear it is Piptoporus australiensis (Curry punk)

This bridge needs a little work to become wheelchair accessible!  

There is a good flow in the River, and it is about to become stronger!

On the way home we called in at the Drummer Walk beside the Highway.  It has been fully repaired and well worth the hour(ish)we spent there.

Always good to look up through a tree fern.

A couple of snaps along the Thurra River.

Frances pointed out a Rufous Fantail along the way.  I was able to get a half-way adequate snap thereof!

On the 24th of February I went toMullet Creek to check the bats (Grey-headed Flying Foxes) .  They went retaking the area near the road, from which mowing appeared to have driven them out.  A 1.5m long Goanna was prowling the bush on the edge of the camp.

Later on that day a fairly spiffy thunderstorm came over home, dropping 4.2 mm of rain at a peak rate of 61mm/hr.  This clip from Blitzortung.org shows 21 lightning strikes in the preceding hour.

The storm dropped 5 mm on Gabo but totally missed the Airport BoM station.

The rain caused the Galahs to go even more crazy than usual.

A lot (my guess was at least 50) of Rainbow Lorikeets were also up in the Angophoras.  They tended to be within the foliage so their antics were not so obvious: but they were VERY noisy.

This one looks as though the rain had made the colours run!

The storm ceased at home after a short while.  Another snip, an hour later, shows a much higher number of lightning strikes as it wandered off out to sea.

 

 

Natural History around Christmas 2021

 This is sort of a miscellany of things, mainly natural, seen at Mallacoota in lateish December 2021.

The first few images are of birds seen on a ride from home to Bucklands on 24 January,  First is a Common Bronzewing.

Then an immature White-headed Pigeon.

A Wonga Pigeon (one of two wandering around on the floor of Mullet Creek).

A Eastern Yellow Robin.

The next two images are from the Casuarina Track.  I knew this was a Golden Whistler, but being backlit the 'Golden' doesn't show up too well.

A bit of work with Photoshop Express solves that!

On the ride I went over Stingray Point and found a couple of Hyacinth Orchids.

On the Casuarina Track there was quite a lot of Bursaria spinosa (Blackthorn)  ..

.. and Dianella berries.

A beetle of some sort.

A Yellow Admiral with the head, if nothing else, in focus.

A rather large caterpillar.

A rather used footbridge.  The tree was at least 40 m high before adopting a more horizontal growth form. See 3rd image below.

House Sparrows are still nesting at home.

Our main business on Christmas Day was an expedition up the Inlet in friend's new boat.  Here it is at the South-West Arm Picnic Area jetty.

This is entering Double Creek, with Captains Creek off to the left

One of our objectives was to search the banks of Captains Creek for possible Striated Herons.  This was not successful but did prove the concept! 

A huge nest, probably Sea Eagle, on Double Creek Arm;

We walked the track at South West Arm  and found this attractive mix of old Banksia cone and moss.

Common Brown butterfly I think.  

A fungus: will ID later.

On the morning of 28th I got a couple of OK shots of a New Holland Honeyeater in our garden.

Also onthe 28th I took this snip of Marine Traffic, showing the Sydney - Hobart flweet coming down the coast.