wildlife – bobmcgee

2026 …

A happy and prosperous new year to everyone who deserves it, which is almost everyone after subtracting the despotic, criminal and corrupt.

January the first. A new calendar game. Go for quantity or quality? Early to bed last night up at four this morning. I decided on some forest birding and headed about 90 minutes drive east of Melbourne to Mount Worth State Park. Tall forest of Mountain Ash with Blackwood beneath and Tree Ferns in between. Epiphytic ferns on everything and enough fungi to poison your whole family. Beef Wellington anyone?

The first birds on the list were quintessentially Australian – King Parrot, Laughing Kookaburra and Australian Magpie. First native mammal was a Wombat running for its life. They run with rather more grace than you would expect such a short legged stocky creature.

The list extended to just 21 bird species but included Lyrebird and Large-billed Scrubwren and it’s unlikely that I’ll see them again until late in the year.

For a nice introduction to the trails in the park click this <LINK> but be aware that the Giants Circuit is currently closed (cos Parks Vic, what can I say).

Fur Seal …

There is a seal colony on Lady Julia Percy Island about 22km from Port Fairy and occasionally a seal or two will pay us a visit. I found one this morning in the mouth of the Moyne River playing with a fish fillet that looked more like it had been donated than caught. The seal was shaking it and throwing it and occasionally chewing on it. It was having a grand old time.

The Australian Fur Seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus is a subspecies of the Brown Fur Seal. It is found around the shores of Bass Strait and Victoria, it breeds colonially on smaller islands. Adult males will weigh between 190 and 280 kg (420–620 lb) the girls are a bit smaller. The nominate subspecies is found around the shores of southern Africa.

Wallaby …

A walk around Griffiths Island, especially early or late in the day will almost always turn up a few Swamp Wallabies. As long as you don’t go too close they tend to just stand and look at you. Occasionally you might also see an Eastern Grey Kangaroo, they are not so tame. When they’re bounding along Swampies tend to keep their heads low and travel in a horizontal posture. Eastern Greys are more upright.

Despite their name Swamp Wallabies are not regularly found in swamps. An alternative popular name is Black Wallaby but they’re not black. Their scientific name is also a dud Wallabia bicolor since they are rufous, black and cream.

Mallacoota, the Wrap …

Mallacoota is a visually splendid, isolated town with a resident population of 1,183 in the last census. It is situated on a lake system and surrounded by the forest of Croajingalong National Park. Summer visitors outnumber the locals, they come to fish, bird watch, hike and for the wild flowers. The town is 25km from the Princes Highway via a narrow winding road through the forest.

In late December 2019 a lightning strike in the national park started a fire about 60km from Mallacoota. There may have been 10,000 people in the town at that time. Strong winds and high temperatures were expected in the next few days. Many people left. There were still about 4,000 people there when the road out was closed on the 30th of December.

The fire reached the town on the 31st destroying some homes and businesses. The firestorm was so fierce and the smoke so dense that the small airport could not be used for evacuation or fire suppression. After the fire had passed the roads in its wake were unusable. The Royal Australian Navy commenced evacuation by sea on the 3rd of January.

That would have been a summer holiday never forgotten.

The forest has recovered well as Australian forests will but there are still charred trunks and many dead branches emerging above the canopy. We saw Grey Kangaroos and Red-necked Wallabies and were serenaded of an evening by a male Koala. Goannas were out and about and the birding was good. We spent five nights there before taking a couple of days to drive from the far east of the state to the far west.

Minus 18°B …

This is my (temporary) new way of expressing temperature. In Mallacoota, Vic it’s 5am and 8°C. In Broome, WA, it’s 26°C, Of course it’s only 2am there and the humidity is 77%. So for a Broomite in exile it feels like -18°B. Which is better – snuggled under the doona frightened to come out or lying on top in a lather of sweat?

For those of you who live not far north of the Gulf formerly known as Mexico that’s 46°F, 79°F and feels like -33°B. For those in Canada I apologise for being such a woos. Heading into a winter like yours and living next to the Rufous Doofus it takes a lot of courage to be a Canadian.

Yesterday’s weather (before the very impressive thunder storm) photographed by Gayle McGee …

Meanwhile the long lens has been getting a workout. The Pelicans here are well educated creatures that gather where fishermen gut their catch. They too are feeding chicks.

Bundaberg …

Rum, Ginger Beer, Sugar of course, macadamia plantations, the Burnett River and 73,747 people. Plus a dog friendly botanic gardens with rather more wildlife than the average, nesting birds, turtles and Eastern Water Dragons in abundance.

Heading South …

We left Ingham in the rain but arrived at Finch Hatton in bright sunshine. The caretaker at the Show Grounds was complaining about the heat and we were pleased to take advantage of the shade offered by some large fig trees. Cane harvesting was under way with trucks bringing in cages of cut cane for transfer to the trains which are such an interesting feature of the sugar country.

Finch Hatton is a good base to visit Eungella National Park, Eungella Dam, Kinchant Dam, Finch Hatton Gorge and a new find for us, De Moleyns Lagoon. If you search Google Maps for it you will find it in two places. Being a lagoon the one with the blue patch associated with it is the one you want which didn’t stop my in-car navigation system from directing me straight across a cane field to the other one. I ignored the advice. The one true lagoon can be found by taking Brand Road to what appears to be its end at the Council Tip. Keep the tip on your right and continue on a gravel track to a locked gate. The astute bird watcher will quickly solve the problem posed by the gate and drive on to the water’s edge. It is worth the effort.

That night we went to bed to the sound of a raucous argument between a Little Red Flyingfox and a Ring-tailed Possum over who owned the figs above our heads. We woke the next morning to the equally raucous and persistent calls of a Channel-billed Cuckoo.

The next camp site was 213km south at St. Lawrence adjacent to another excellent wetland birding place.

Today we made another step down the Bruce Highway, crossed the Tropic of Capricorn near Rockhampton and tonight we are are camped at Tannum Sands near Gladstone. It feels so urban after our sojourn in the less densely populated north and northeast of the country.

The Daintree …

Years ago any trip to Far North Queensland meant a trip on the Daintree River with Chris Dahlberg. He had a great deal of charm, knowledge and a boat. His patter included a routine that never failed to amuse. He would spot something and say “Come with me” which was of course unavoidable when captive in a boat surrounded by crocodiles. When Chris gave it away there was a vacuum into which came a guy with a boat … bring your own knowledge and charm. But now there is a worthy successor in Murray Hunt and the Daintree Boatman Wildlife Tours. Depart at 0630 from the Daintree Village boat ramp. Murray knows his stuff.

The tour officially lasted two hours But Murray could not drag himself and us away from a big male crocodile on a cow carcass so we got a bonus half hour. My bird list reached 27 species including three very lovely additions to the year total. Why could they not have been found in the Woolworths car park?

It was raining. So what.

Wetherby …

From Cooktown we retraced our steps to Mount Molloy up on the tablelands. A hilly 227 km on good made road, enlivened on this occasion by a major bushfire near Palmer River. Traffic controls were in effect, a pilot vehicle led groups through at a decent pace but in one direction at a time. The fire was right up to the road with the Rural Fire Service in attendance. There was some delay but we were in capable hands. Big shout out to the Fireys and the traffic controllers for keeping us safe.

Our destination was Wetherby Station one of our favourite camping destinations in all of Oz. The station is owned and managed by John and Kathleen Colless. They run big black beautiful Brangus Cattle. The station was founded by William and Elizabeth Groves around 1878 and there is a fine old homestead and lovely gardens. The present owners have sustainability as a top priority. The cattle get plenty of grass but are kept out of the creeks and lagoons and the fencing around the main lagoon is designed to keep the modern scourge of feral pigs at bay while it is rehabilitated as a wooded swamp. Rifle and Spear Creeks run through the property which because of its location, climate and variety of habitats has an enormous bird list.

We spent two nights camped all by ourselves by Rifle Creek. It could easily have been more. (Certainly would have been if Mount Bloody Lewis was open). Birding in and around was good. We left on 364 species for the year. Bird number 6 in the count down was Cryptic Honeyeater. At number 5 – Scarlet Honeyeater, number 4 – Black-faced Monarch, a staggeringly beautiful bird in the forest gloom. Number 3 – Yellow Honeyeater, the label says it all. Number 2 – Fairy Gerygone, pretty enough. Number 1 cannot be far away. Please let it be worthy of the honour.

The last three birds were photographed within a few metres of our camp site.

The link you need Wetherby.

Crater Lakes …

The Atherton Tableland is a different world from the thousands of kilometres of savanna just a short distance behind us. It’s cooler, it’s very much greener and it’s much more populated. It would once have been a forest. Now it’s scattered remnants separated by farmland. We are camped at Lake Eacham just outside the National Park. This is home for four nights.

A short walk takes me into dense rain forest, the light hardly penetrates through the trees towering above. The birding is tough, done largely by ear. The photography is even tougher done largely without light! Bird density seems low but the variety is high. Lists are not long but there seems to be something new on every one.

The crater lakes are Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine. They formed when magma approached sufficiently close to the surface to turn the groundwater to steam producing explosions that created the craters now filled with water. These events were fairly recent. Barrine is the older forming about 17,300 years ago. Eacham formed about 9,130 years ago. Both are surrounded by lush rainforest and are National Parks.

The wet tropics has 23 bird species that are either endemic or largely confined to the region. Nine of those species are only found at higher altitudes, essentially the Atherton Tableland. And there’s no shortage of more wide ranging species. Those tall trees are so inviting you can even find Kangaroos in the canopy. It is a very special place.