Trail Camera: 25 - 29 November 2023

 Here are more of the usual suspects plus an exciting new addition. And at the end, a tale of a wildlife encounter on our trip to Melbourne.

First off, one of our favourite birds to watch, a Wonga Pigeon

Next a video compilation of the Swamp Wallaby and joey

Glimpse of a bandicoot

Another Swampy

And yet another - its lovely to see a few survived the bushfire.

Currawong

A Satin Bowerbird (m) and the exciting new addition, a Sacred Kingfisher

A a video of them bathing as a Wattlebird arrives to wait for a drink.

Yellow Faced Honeyeater

Red Browed Finch on the left , Yellow Faced Honeyeater on the right.

Brown Headed Honeyeater and White Naped Honeyeater in flight.

White Naped Honey on left and Brown Headed Honeyeater bathing

Begging a drink - Ravens

Satin Bowerbird (f)

Swampy mum again

Hind legs and tail of joey pop out as it rearranges itself in the pouch

Raven family reappear as Swampy mum departs

I'm hoping it's an Antichinus!

The Sacred Kingfisher makes a reappearance.

A soggy Swampy - taken in the middle of 3 days of rain, totalling 145mm. Is this a new Swampy?

Lyrebird comes in for a bath

A video compilation of just a little of the Lyrebirds bathing session.

Now for the travel tale.  To start we must go back to the middle of November when our car was serviced. After a delicious lunch at the Pickled Octopus to celebrate a birthday with friends we returned to Moruya to collect the car.  During the handover the mechanic informed us they had had to remove a rats nest from the engine :(

I must confess it is not the first rats nest we found in the engine bay. So the night before the start of our approx 660km drive to Melbourne it was suggested that we check for nests before our departure.

Of course, the next morning, in the rush to get away nearly on time we forgot. It wasn't until we were approaching Tathra that we remembered. L pulled into the park on the left hand side and we got out to check. No new nest and only a few remains of the old one - phew. After getting rid of the remains as best we could I was just about to close the bonnet when I spotted.......

....  not a rat but a Diamond Python jammed into the alcove behind the bonnet hinge.

No wonder there was no rebuilt rats nest!  But what to do?  Where we were parked there was water on one side and road on the other. Lowering the bonnet as far as we dared we cautiously drove across the road to the boat ramp parking area and nosed into the bush that was on one side.

Next came the 'You grab it" - "no, you grab" carry on, until it was clear that each of us was too chicken.

We tried some gentle prodding that only encouraged the python to leave the alcove and slither deeper into the engine bay. There followed an hour of fruitless ringing of local snake catchers, WIRES and anyone else we could think of. Just about to put our last option in play - ring the neighbours to come and get us and try again tomorrow - the phone rang, it was the Bega snake catcher, he would be out in half an hour.

Unable to grab the Python from underneath the car, we were again in despair when suddenly it's head popped up beside the water container. The snake catcher crawled out from underneath the car and dived for the python.  

Unfortunately Phil, I think his name was, refused more money to release the python back at our place and L and I felt guilty for the remainder of the day for being responsible for displacing the little python - besides we need him at home to deal with our rat problem.  In between feeling guilty we did wonder how many local trips it had been on - at least into Bermagui the night before for dinner with G.

And lastly, just because I like it. During a break in the rain, late in the evening on Christmas Eve.

Saturday 2 November 2023 The Murrah

 Our plans for paddling Cuttagee after 120mm of rain -

were swept away when the lake burst open early Friday morning. The following pic was taken at 11.56am

And this one at 5.10pm.

Keen to paddle, early on Saturday morning we drove down and checked out the Murrah. There was still plenty of water coming down the river and if we timed it correctly we would have the aid of the incoming tide to paddle back upstream. 

Back home we checked the tides - a high tide of 1.7m at the entrance at 12.11pm. L did some quick guesstimations and announced we had to be on the water no later than 9.30am.  Having alerted our paddling partners to the change of plan we met down at the bridge and after negotiating some slippery sooty mud left behind by the receding flood waters we launched about 9.20.

L had timed it perfectly - we had an easy float down the river to the lagoon, pulling in well short of the entrance we stopped for morning tea and strolled to the sea. Approx 40mins later the level in the lagoon had risen by 30-40cm and the incoming tide was starting to overcome the downstream flow. It was time to get back on the water.

Heading back we could see there was now enough water to detour around the back lagoon. After leaving its shelter and returning to the river we discovered the easterly breeze had steadied which along with the incoming tide allowed an easy paddle back to the bridge.

And lastly, a spotted gum near home, peeling like a banana

18 - 24 November 2023 Trail Camera

 The 'watering hole' we set up on the edge of the bush in 2019 survived the fire and last week G and I dug out the trail camera and set it up to see what else had survived.

Here are the results: sadly no little birds. However as 3 ravens seem to have taken up permanent residence around the area perhaps the small birds have been kept away. Their presence seems to intimidate even the wallabies.

Swamp Wallaby

Red Necked Wallaby - male

Currawong

Wonga Pigeons

Swampie with baby - every exciting to see.

As seen through the tail of a Superb Lyrebird wandering past.

The male Swampy awaits his turn.

A Purple Swamphen has been hanging around the garden for the past couple of weeks.

Superb Lyrebird

Another Swampy -

 moved off as soon as the Raven appeared.

Red Necked Wallaby

So, - the Raven's are stealing the pellets Wires has asked me to put out for the kangaroos and wallabies

Eastern Grey Kangaroo.

And finally a photo taken on the 23.10.23 of a large goanna that somehow survived the conflagration.

notice the size of his claws.

Saturday 28 October 2023 Cuttagee after the bushfire

 Our first chance to paddle since the Coolagolite fire, 25 days ago.

We drove through devastation on our way to the lake and were happy to find the scrub lining the shoreline of Little Cuttagee hardly touched by the fire.

It was a different story however when we made the turn and looked up the lake.

After the 60mm of rain it was difficult to tell the track of the fire - the dark green of the new growth being the only indicator.

At the Far End boundary - it burnt 'cool' through here.

Another shot a little further into the park.

We poked along the shoreline quietly observing - the fire having burnt with greater or lesser intensity in different spots - the silt jetties at the entrance to the creek having been particularly hammered.

After stopping for breakfast up the creek (where we had the pleasure of watching a kingfisher repeatedly dive for fish) we returned to the big bend and headed up the backwater for a looksee - how did that house survive? We saw our first Sea Eagle since the fire - I'm guessing from its plumage, a 1-3yo. Unlike our previous paddle, beside the occasional swirl there was not a fish to be seen.

As we returned down the creek we found the forecast wind had arrived and decided to skip paddling to the top of Cuttagee and crossed the lake to return home by the most sheltered route possible.

Here's the vid. Rather long, I'm afraid (and boring for those who don't know the lake) - even with L being ruthless and cutting my edit down by half. The couple of roos we saw got the chop, as did most of the swans and other bird life. I think the glimpse of the wombat went too. Though Aafke will be pleased to hear that Rob's Seat survived - the fire and the cutting room!

Looking south from Far End, taken on 26th October.

11.3kms