Hello lovely people, and welcome to the very end of 2017.
In keeping with my trend over the last few months, this month’s field visit was once again someplace I could squish into my schedule at the last minute, because I ran out of time to do it sooner. I will work on fixing that approach next year.
I needed to go to Barellan yesterday, so I decided to look for likely spots to stop and poke around whilst there.
Hello lovely readers!
My ‘being less busy in November’ turned into ‘being sick and then getting busy again in November’, so I didn’t manage to get anywhere all month. Until this evening.
This evening I finally found the secret entrance to Marrambidya Wetlands in Wagga Wagga.
As I mentioned last month, I have been All The Busy this October, with no time to head out for a proper field visit. However, having known in advance that that would be the case, I took my camera around with me all month and tried to photograph as many incidental wildlife sightings as I could.
I got off to a great start, when a work colleague – after seeing how excited I was over last month’s nesting Tawny Frogmouth – told me where to find another that she and her dad had found while out walking. She even took a photo of the surrounding landmarks to show me so I’d be able to find the exact spot. I do work with some lovely people.
Sorry folks, I didn’t manage to get out for a proper field visit this month.
I did however get these pictures of a Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) nesting at Narrandera Common.
I have been so busy this month that I nearly didn’t manage a field visit, but with today being the last day of the month, the weather being nice, and my having no hugely urgent work that desperately needed to be done today, I decided to take a day off and go for a walk/drive out bush somewhere.
I further decided that ‘somewhere’ would be MIA1 – a former state forest reserve that is now part of the Murrumbidgee Valley National Park, and is located between Narrandera and Leeton. MIA1 is one of the sadly numerous reserves in the Riverina that I have spent my life driving past, but never actually visiting. I fixed that today.
This month in big rocky lumps jutting out of very flat landscapes, I visited Cocoparra National Park near Griffith.
Today I visited Galore Hill in Lockhart Shire. I visited Galore Hill last August, and it was a bit of a shock to realise that that visit was nearly a year ago now.
I wasn’t going to do another wetland for a few months, because I feel like I do wetlands a lot, but a friend of mine told me that Fivebough Swamp was spectacular at the moment, so I decided that was too good to pass up, and off to Leeton I went. As coincidence would have it, I ran into the same friend and her sister while I was there, and we spent a while wandering along together before parting ways.
Today was the Annual Koala Count in Narrandera. I have been every year for the last several years, except when it’s been called off because of rain or flooding, and as I did last year, I decided the Count could be April’s official field visit.
Sorry folks, I have had a complete lack of free time in March, and didn’t manage to get in a field visit. I did attempt to do a bit of a study of native vegetation used in streetscaping in Wagga Wagga while out walking with my nieces the other day, but I underestimated the impatience of two preschoolers who wanted to get to the park.
I did have the delightful experience last night of hearing a Southern Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae – also known as the Mopoke) sounding-off very close-by outside my house as I went to bed. You can listen to a recording of their call here. Their call reminds me of cartoon cuckoo-clocks, the sort of sound that if you heard it in a TV show you’d think it didn’t sound anything like a real bird. I’m not sure if the one I heard was in my garden or a neighbour’s, but it sounded quite close, and called several times before falling silent, which quite made my night. There are a lot of mice and rats around at the moment, which may have drawn it into town, but I do hope it hasn’t eaten any poisoned ones; birds of prey are one of the tragic by-catches of rodent baits every time rodent numbers increase. Aaaand that was a great way to put a downer on my story about hearing a fun bird last night.
In other news: the insect field guide I had on back-order from CSIRO arrived yesterday, which makes my first ‘proper’ insect guide. My other invertebrate guides are for spiders, water bugs, and ‘garden pests’, so I’m pleased to finally have a book which will help me ID actual terrestrial insects that I see around the place.
This is the book I bought, available for purchase here.
April is shaping up to be busy as well, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got something happening every weekend, but I will do my utmost to get a proper field trip in to share with you all. See you then.
Riverina Wildlife 