An outing to Cann River

 As Janine and Roger had come East for a few days we arranged to meet them in Cann River for coffee and then head off to explore a few spots.  We were joined at Wild Rye by Joe Stephens who shared his local knowledge with us.  This enabled a PLAN to be developed (quoting the late Sir Terry Pratchett via the Wee Nac Mac Feegles "Now we have a plan, all we need is towork out what we're going to do.")

Step 1 of the PLAN was to go to the Beehive Falls on WB Line Rd, about 20 km up the Monaro Highway which was an existing eBird Hotspot.  According to the altimeter in the Pajero the Falls are 450m AMSL.

Here is a slightly better map of the area from iNaturalist.  The x is - I think - the location of the falls.

We started a bird list where we turned off the highway 

...  and added to it as we drove up about 3 km to the Falls and added quite a few more species at the end circle (in the middle of the blue line) where we stopped for a snuffle. 

These are a couple of images of the Falls, which didn't have a great flow.

A close up of the Falls, trying to get the milky effect that good photographers get with flowing water.

As we drove along we spotted a few Dipodium rosea (Rosy Hyacinth Orchid).

At the last stop there were a few, somewhat used, Caleana major (Large Flying Duck Orchids.

A large Persoonia sp (Geebung) - I think at the high point.

Lobelia gibbosa: this species is having an excellent year from the coast upwards.  I presume the fire has removed much of the competition.

Lomatia ilicifolia: also flowering much more this year that I have ever seen before.  I have made the image large because (a) its spiffy and (b) that shows the visiting ants better!

A Chrysocephalum, probably C. baxteri.

A mystery plant.  I have called this Wedding Bush in the past.  Frances was dubious about that ID, as was Janine today, so I shall lob it into iNaturalist.  Advice there is definitely genus Olearia with a suggestion of O. myrsinoides with O. erubescens as another possibility.  Looking at those two species in Vic Flora suggests that there is no clear distinction between the two species: the leaves are the best marker but even they seem to have a fair overlap in shape.  Lump them!

This is a species of Senecio (groundsel) which was rather tall with a purple stem.  Flora of Victoria lists 45 species possible in East Gippsland so I settle at genus level.

This is a leaf beetle Paropsis atomaria which seemed quite happy walking around on Rogers hand.

The iNaturalist app reckons this next one is Ecnolagria grandis the Honeybrown Beetle.  However a  guru on iNaturalist reckons it is only identifiable to subTribe Lagriina (within which the Honeybrown Beetle, along with 5 other genera, is classified).

This was a cicada.

A couple of the termite mounds had taken some serious damage during the fire.  As a naturalist friend commented there is a lot of organic material in such mounds.

There was much discussion about just what this was, ptions included scat; a coughed up pellet and a nest under construction.  It was being well visited by ants but some of the components looked a bit large for ants to schlep around.

We were the second group to visit this area, recording 16 species, bringing the area total to 20 taxa.  While none of the species were rare, I think it is worth revisiting as the vegetation continues to regenerate.

We then drove up Buldah Rd to check the vegetation in the bed of Chandlers Creek.  Basically all burnt out.  I wouldn't say the area looked regressive, but I would have panicked if someone had turned up with a banjo (even more than I usually get alarmed if a banjo appears).

On the way up to WB Line Rd, Janine had heard the distinctive call of a Rufous Songlark so we had to stop to see if we could relocate it.  It turned out the spot was the junction of West Cann Rd and the Monaro Highway a little North of Noorinbee.  

When we arrived the weather greeted us by changing from 'average' to 'ordinary' so scoffing the lunch we had purchased from Wild Rye was in order.  I had a steak and kidney pie which on the official pie rating scale scored a pure 7.  That is not a bad rating - the cellophane wrapped jobbie at Chillagoe scored 0, and probably only got that high because I was damn hungry.  However today's sample lost 3 points because it was barely warm: not surprising since it had been sitting in the car for about 2 hours!  So the honest rating should be 10, as is typical for a Wild Rye pie.

We had some discussion about a call we heard with a choice between Mistletoebird and Jacky Winter.  As we saw a heap of Jacky Winters but no parasitic plants - let alone the birds named after them -  the conclusion was the Robins won.  Here is a photo of one of them.

We did eventually work out where the Songlark was calling from (in fact there were two of them) and it then proceeded to fly round us as we stood at our turn point.  Every time I tried to photograph it on auto mode my camera focused on veg nearer than the bird.   Every time I switched to manual mode the bird flew away just as I zoomed in on it.  This is the best I got - I leave it to you to imagine what the bad shots look like.

We recorded against a new personal Location, which should appear, once moderated as "Monaro Hwy at West Cann Rd South". Our list of 27 species is here.  (Later in the day Joe rang to say a Channel-billed Cuckoo had been reported from what sounded exactly like this spot!)

Our final call was to the Cann River Rainforest Walk which starts in the caravan park beside the highway.

Here is a particularly rainforesty area.

This weir on the Cann River produced an Australasian Reed-Warbler and looked to have potential for lots of other stuff.

Throughout the area were many fruited plants.  These attractive small red berries were Coprosma quadrifida (Prickly currant bush - and they did look rather like Red Currants) 

Lower in the profile were some Dianella - I think D. caerulea.

Definitely a Clematis and I will go for the default C. aristata.

I hope someone will get to this with a set of secateurs and some Round-up (or Agent Orange - I'm not fussy).   Honeysuckle is not what is needed in this lovely area.

There were many Muttonwood trees around, most with a lot of developing fruit.  It should be Pigeon heaven in a little while.  In the meantime it seems to have have attracted a far less desirable species, Taxonomist vulgaris: in some places it is called Myrsine howittiana and in others Rapeana howittiana.  Flora of Victoria doesn't register Muttonwood at all!

While Janine and I were looking at the weir we heard a loud squeak which we recognised as the alarm call of Frances.  She had come across a 1.6 m Red-bellied Black Snake try to absorb a few rays (although there were few rays available. at the time).  It didn't hang around for a photo but disappeared down its hole- possibly 5cm diameter.

 Common Brown Butterflies were quite common.

So were Yellow-faced Honeyeaters.

This young (by streaks) Brown Goshawk was quite chatty and very cooperative.

A Red Wattlebird was enjoying a Coprosma.

Our list for this site - proposed as a hotspot "Cann River Rainforest Walk" to distinguish it from the generic "Cann River"  hotspot"- contains 39 species (of which I saw 33)

.

After this Frances and I were feeling our years and headed for home.  The birdlist for the outing was 58 species of which I observed 56.

Recent Mallacoota weather

 The weather has been a little strange recently.  

Monday (14 December) and Tuesday were very windy with runs of 363 km and 352 km respectively.  These are the 5th and 8th longest runs I have recorded since starting my site here in February 2019.  Not surprisingly this is highly ranked in the two day total runs, coming in at 5th in the competition.  

Wednesday was completely different with a total run - perhaps "amble" is the word I am searching for? - of 37 km which is ranked 20th shortest daily run.

We had wondered what the weather going to be like as the BoM forecast mentioned 10 -15 mm of rain but the text talked about 'drizzle' rather than rain.  Consulting the BoM Glossary it emerges that the key feature of drizzle is droplet size so a period of sustained small-drop rain would satisfy both criteria.  And so  it was: here is a photo from 10:15, and pretty much as good as the day was.

This post is not sponsored by the Mallacoota and District Business and Tourism Association!

The radar showed a continual series of rain events heading South, sort of towards us but just offshore.  

0944 hrs

1436 hrs

1624 hrs

My WS ended recording 6.0 mm while BoM at the airport had 5.8mm (ie the same).  In contrast Moruya Airport (on the coast halfway up the images) recorded 131 mm.  I guess for this system we can blame Mt Dromedary - near Narooma for those not familiar with our ranges -  rather than Drummer for diverting the rain away from us.

2 walks

Panboola Wetlands

On 14 December we went to Merimbula to get a few supplies unavailable in Mallacoota.  We decided to call in at the Panboola Wetlands (at Pambula) to see what was around.  This is the route we followed.

The sculpture at the entrance is most impressive.

So was the Flying Fox camp in the first area we walked through.  At least several thousand bats in the colony at point 1 in the route image.

It was as last time amusing to get to the bird hide and find it to be totally overgrown with weeds.  They seem to do a reasonable job of mowing paths but make no effort to control the reeds thus defeating the purpose of the place.

A further problem arose at point 2 where the track for the return leg of the loop was very indistinct.  We were following the brochure and were sort of able to work out where to go, bus a small sign would seem to be needed.  

Moving along we came to an openable gate, with a path (3) apparently going in the right direction.  Unfortunately at the end of the path, by some sheds was a locked gate (4) which we had to climb.  No biggie, but the mown track we followed was not on the map.  The solution is simple: another small sign at the river end of track 3.

It was pretty warm and the are surprisingly dry so we found few birds.  Given the impressive opening, and the work done in keeping the paths mown its a pity the visit was stuffed up by the lack to two signs, possibly costing $10 each.

Goat Island

A friend recently told me of being able to get to Goat Island with only a shallow wade at low tide.  As the tide on 15 December was about as low as it gets (0.02m) we decided to have a go.  Our route is shown as the blue line in this map from eBird.  The yellow line is the approximate position of the main channel down Harrisons and out to the sea and the green line a minor channel towards the wharf.

As I said, the tide was low.

Something stirred up the flock of terns and gulls.  They reminded me a bit of the videos of murmurations of Starlings, although only about 500 birds, rather then several thousand, in this flock.

Here is the minor channel looking out to sea..  It was, as suggested by my friend, only calf deep.

Here is a section of the tern flock.  I spent several minutes peering at them from about 100m distance trying to find a specimen that wasn't a Crested Tern.  No luck.  I then peered closely at my photographs and again had no luck.  

There were 4 Little Terns flying around but not seeming to show any inclination to build nest sites either of the sea-side dunes or the island.

A couple of Ravens channeled their inner Cormorant.

A lone Eastern Curlew was spotted.  My guess is that the bill length is more like that of a male, rather than the female usually seen here.

This group of Australian Pied Oystercatchers were very noisy and appeared to be displaying.  on looking at the image 2 of them have flags, but I didn't get the numbers.

It is easy to tell where the tern flock have been!  As we were leaving a fisherperson headed out towards but instead of flying off, the flock shifted about 25 m and settled down again!

A shellfish of some description burrowing into the mud.

These canoeists battled up the minor channel, in which they a located in the image, but decided to pull their vessel back over the sand back towards the wharf.

Lotsa kelp on the beach ...

.. but not much diversity.

Life in Rock Pools

In 2019 we were most impressed by the amount and diversity of marine life in the rock pools at Bastion Point.  This year there seems to less life both in quantity and diversity (and the 'mix' has changed).  We wonder if this is because of the amount of ash/charcoal washed around following the fire or some other reason.  Since the breakwater was constructed well before 2019 I don't think that is the answer,

Explanations welcome: we decided to try to assess and photograph what is present, and to think about what is missing (or present in additional numbers).  The 13th of December was a good day for this as the low tide was both very low (0.12m) and at a good time (1413 hrs).  I shall add names to the beasts etc as I discover them,

Before getting to the wildlife here is a work of man: an excellent set of new steps, so we don't have to dice with death walking down the footpath-free road.

A snip from Google Earth shows the two areas we snuffled around.

One of the extra life forms is the Sea Hares.  Not only are they around in large numbers but they are depositing egg masses under every rock ledge.  The blobs are all Sea Hares (looking a tad used as the water has receded leaving them in a dry situation).  It appears as though one of them is still emitting eggs (the yellow string).

A scuttling crab.

A Top Shell (I think).

I describe this as brown gooze.  I think it is some form of sponge but it could be algal.  This is the first time I have noticed it and it was present in large quantities close to the water between the breakwater and the Point

Throughout the area was large areas covered by this green seaweed.

There was also the usual brown laminate kelp, but that was lower down and only exposed because of the low tide.

A few standard limpets were around but no Shield Limpets.

A few Chitons, not no really big ones,  They seemed lower in numbers than we have found in the past,

Mussels were present and they seemed low in numbers (especially compared to the masses found at Betka and Quarry Beach).  This clump also seemed larger than usual.

Barnacles were evident.

The most excitement was an octopus spotted lurking under a rock ledge.

It eventually emerged and was photographed

I was initially disappointed with the image but on looking more closely I have got a fair few features of the animal which I have labelled in this version.

At one point it revealed its underside which was quite colourful, but I didn't manage to photograph that!  From memory I would assess the size of the body as about 10cm diameter.

Near the Point a large pool had a few cooperative fish.  Some were about 10cm in length ...

.. while others were much smaller.

There were a few sea anemones around, mainly of the purple blob style and all drawn in due to the low tide.

One of the Eastern Reef Egrets obliged with its presence.