Category Marsupials

Possums with my new thermal camera!

wildlifewatchingaustralia 3 Comments

The camera was purchased with my own funds and I have received no financial benefits from this review. As part of my blog I would declare if I have been supplied with equipment on the basis for providing a fair review.

For quite some time I have been dreaming of a thermal camera and reading (a little jealously at times) accounts of people using them to find mammals. I was recently very fortunate to be in the position to purchase one! I had initially thought of going for a Pulsar, like many in the mammal watching community, but I contacted Night Vision Australia and they recommended I look at the Wolfcub series of thermal monoculars. Once I explained the way I would be using it, they said that whilst the Pulsar would work, they recommended that Wolfcub had a wider viewing angle and would allow location of mammals without as much scanning.

I wasn’t able to find any reviews on them for Australian conditions and animals, but then worked out that they were rebranded Hikvision thermal monocular scopes – a very well known brand globally, but being sold in Australia under the name Wolfcub. I was able to locate a few international reviews – here and here. My main aim is to find some of the smaller creatures on my hit list which have eluded me so far, such as the honey possum and pygmy possum.

In a nutshell: thermal camera detect heat and resolve it in an image – much like the old-school predator movie where the creature tries to hunt Arnie! They have a focal length much like a camera lens which determines the field of view.

I finally decided on the Wolfcub Explorer 3L – which has a 25mm lens, weighs just under 500g, IP67 waterproof rated and 2m drop proof. In addition, it contains 16GB memory for taking stills & videos. It also has a Wi-Fi hotspot which can broadcast to an app on a smartphone for others to view but also control, take stills & video from another device. It is powered by an internal battery which lasts about 5 hours with the Wifi turned off. It is charged and memory accessed via a USB-C port on the bottom. The features indicate it has an included laser pointer but that has to be turned off for the Australian market to comply with regulations. Images of the unit below.

I played around with it at home but was very keen to get out and test it on some Aussie mammals. I decided to go back to one of my suburban brushtail possum spots as I knew they were there and it’s not too far from home.

I headed to John Oakey park in Gosnells and I have written about it on the blog a number of times before. I initially found the thermal camera a little strange as I found my depth perception suffered just viewing trees through a digital screen.

My car by thermal camera

I soon spotted my first possum – at first by spotlight (as that’s what I am used to) but then quickly found it on the thermal camera. One of the camera features is the green cross which highlights the hottest spots on the sensor. It is the red dot right and below middle.

Possum visible as red dot right and below middle of image.
Right White-hot – Left Fusion viewing palette

I was soon finding many possums and getting used to the strange world the thermal camera exposes. The wolfcub has 4 different viewing palettes: Black hot, White hot, Red Hot & Fusion (predator mode!). I found that initially the red hot palette helped spot possums, but was surprised at the latent heat remaining on tree surfaces, rocks and the pavement.

The below series shots the same possum as I got closer – I guess I was maybe 30-40m away when I was first able to pick up the possum.

This is the same possum once close enough to take a traditional photo.

I was quickly getting the hang of using the thermal for initially finding possums, but also doing comparisons if I could headtorch them from the same distance. In some cases they were not visible just by spotlighting. Spotlighting relies on picking up the reflective membrane in the animals retina – so they can be missed if their head is obscured or turned away. The thermal camera picks up heat but may not penetrate through trunks or thick layers of leaves which may obscure animals as well.

General photos of the possums after locating on thermal.

I also took some video images to give an idea of what it looks like through the view finder. I must say the resolution in the viewfinder is higher than is recorded in stills and video. See below for a video of a possum found on the railing of the bridge over the river.

I have created a YouTube playlist to see more videos.

I found a couple of mums with joeys which was nice to see.

I still have a lot to learn using the thermal camera but it adds to the tools I have at hand. I am yet to try on smaller mouse size creatures as that is the real purpose for buying the camera.

I hope this write-up was useful – I will write up more as I use it. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like to know more.

Tutanning nature reserve with the WA Nats

wildlifewatchingaustralia 1 Comment

In Sept 2019 the WA Naturalists arranged an excursion to Tutanning Nature Reserve (just over 2hrs from Perth, East of Pingelly) – one of the Wheatbelt’s under-visited reserves compared to Dryandra Woodland or Boyagin Nature Reserve. The reserve is 220 ha – remnant Kwogan shrubland with more than 300 species of flora and a vital fauna refuge. It is an island in amongst the cleared agricultural land of the wheatbelt. The reserve is managed by the Parks & Wildlife service of DBCA.

When the excursion was suggested it was recognised I had been before (see blog) so I was asked to lead the excursion and my friend Tanya offered to assist 🙂 We had 12 people attend all up (6 visitors and 1 member) attending their first excursion, an overnight trip.

We stayed at the Percy Marshall Field Station within the reserve. The google map can be found below.

Percy Marshall Field Station

For additional information on the reserve follow these links from the Shire of Pingelly – Tutanning NR & Percy Marshall Field Station (includes track map). It can be booked for a small fee by contacting the Narrogin office of DBCA.

We met at the field station for lunch and explored the building and facilities. I set up my swag on the verandah but there are two rooms with bunks beds and can accommodate 10 people. In addition, there is a kitchen area and toilet/bathroom surrounded by a verandah. Water is supplied from tanks that you need to pump and power comes from a supplied generator.

There were a number of really interesting signs on the verandah telling about the history of the reserve and the field station.

Once we had most people together we went for a drive. The plan was to drive slowly looking for numbats as they are present in low numbers in the reserve, but there are few reported sightings. We didn’t come across any numbats, but on the first drive saw a couple of echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).

A couple of people found a huge fungi but I got distracted by a large granite outcrop where we found number a of variegated dtella (Gehyra variegata) underneath rocks. While lifting rocks is a great way to find herps, it is critical to put them back in exactly the same position as it is crucial habitat that is easily disturbed.

We headed back to the field station to prepare dinner and enjoyed a lovely sunset from the verandah as it set over adjacent farmland.

Sunset from field station @ Tutanning Nature Reserve

Once we had enjoyed dinner and some wine we headed out for a nightstalk with a plan to head up to the nearby dam to look for frogs and anything else we might find. Bleating froglet (Crinia pseudinsignifera) and Western Banjo frogs (Limnodynastes dorsalis) were heard in the dam but none seen clearly. Many spiders were seen as their eyes are highly visible under spotlight.

After the walk a few joined me for a night drive – I was hoping for red-tailed) phascogale (Phascogale calura) and tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) as they were seen on my previous visit. We headed up to Tammar Rd, adaptly named road as this was the location of the previous sightings. We parked in a clearing and walked along the road and spotted a lovely Western spotted frog (Heleioporus albopunctatus).

Western spotted frog @ Tutanning Nature Reserve

We headed back with no sightings of any nocturnal mammals, but just after turning off Tammar Rd, we were rewarded with a pair of Tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) in amongst pink everlastings.

Tammar amongst everlastings @ Tutanning Nature Reserve
Tammar wallaby @ Tutanning Nature Reserve

The next day I woke early, enjoyed breakfast on the balcony and the surrounding bushland.

Bush surrounding the field station @ Tutanning Nature Reserve

We decided to do the Tutanning walk trail which is a 6km moderate Class 3 walk loop that starts at the field station. It has a number of reflective trail markers and interpretative signs. I have included the signs in the images below.

We walked through Sheoaks and found a number of Cowslip orchid (Caladenia flava), Sugar orchid (Caladenia saccharata) and saw a few birds as well.

We then headed through a section with impressive Proteaceae.

Next we came to some higher ground with wandoo woodland – good habitat for numbats and echidna, however no numbats were seen. We did find a very fresh dead fox – possibly a victim of 1080 poisoning. The reserve is baited to protect the native fauna.

We walked through a number of granite outcrops with some amazing moss and climbing Drosera plants with lovely white flowers.

We were on the home stretch of the walk and we came across a number of Echnida – we assume they were either congregating for an echidna train or resting afterwards. It’s an amazing mating behaviour when many males will follow a single female in a single file line! Count how many you can see!

It was so amazing to see so many together. We had been pleased with just the 2 other single sightings the day before. I managed to get a little video of the action as they were all quite active. We kept our distance as we didn’t want to disturb them but one came right up to our group before ambling off!

I managed to get a few photos of the underneath of an echidna while it was climbing a branch showing the spineless furry bottom and amazing claws.

Below you can see evidence of the echidna diggings for termites – they leave a lot of ground disturbed.

Echnida diggings @ Tutanning nature reserve

After this amazing sight we finished the walk buzzing! It’s a great walk and I recommend it. It’s very isolated so you want to ensure you keep safe with friends knowing where you are and proper supplies if you get into trouble.


We returned to the hut and started packing up. In the kitchen we found this interesting diagram of the mosaic fire history of the reserve.

We also enjoyed looking through the visitors book and added our own entry.

We then followed the leaving instructions for the hut and left the reserve. On the way out we found this Fox den (identified by the musty pungent smell) and rabbit warren (copious rabbit droppings).

We all had an amazing weekend and I received a lot of positive feedback. Joan wrote up the club report which can be found here .

Quokka @ Rottnest

Rottnest in winter…

wildlifewatchingaustralia Leave a comment

For the second year in a row we went to Rottnest Island for a winter holiday. Rottnest sits just offshore of Perth (18kms) and is a favourite holiday location for locals and tourists alike. Being surrounded by water, the island is actually warmer than Perth, but you hope for sunny spells and not too much rain!

Quokka at Rottnest

The most well known wildlife at Rottnest is the marsupial Quokka (Setonix brachyurus). They can be easily found especially in the main settlement and have become famous worldwide for the ‘Quokka selfie’. If you google it some 400k results show – with some celebrity examples in there!

They are small macropod (kangaroo family – macropod means big feet in latin). It’s not widely known, but they can also be found on the mainland. Due to habitat loss, changing fire patterns and mainly predation by introduced feral foxes & cats, they are hard to find and populations are vulnerable.

They are very cute, aclimitised to people, and very photogenic.

  • Quokka checking pouch @ Rottnest
  • Quokka @ Rottnest
  • Quokka @ Rottnest
  • Quokka @ Rottnest

This quokka was found in the settlement eating a fig leaf while its joey had a nibble as well – cute!

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

The other mammal that can be seen at Rottnest is the New Zealand Fur Seal at a resident colony at Cathedral Rocks on the western side of the island. See my previous blog for more information as I didn’t visit it this time.

The other wildlife attraction on the island is birding. There are extensive salt lakes and often rare birds are sighted. There are also a few sub-species of reptiles endemic to the island but as it was winter none were observed.

I went for a walk one day and saw a number of birds.

Pied oystercatcher @ Rottnest golf course

What better way to end with a pic of a Quokka taking a snooze. They tuck their tails under themselves!

Easter possums of Mandurah

wildlifewatchingaustralia 1 Comment

As part of our annual Easter family tradition, we spent the Easter long weekend in Mandurah, along with family friends. We took the kids out spotlighting for the critically endangered Western ringtail possum ( Pseudocheirus occidentalis).

We headed down to Dawesville just south of Mandurah. It took some time initially but we were able to find some possums alongside the road in Peppermint trees (Agonis flexuosa). We mainly found ringtails but also found a few Common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula).

  • Common brushtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Western ringtail possum hiding @ Dawesville
  • Western ringtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Western ringtail possum @ Dawesville

This was the first year my daughter joined as she was 2.5 years old. It was a little too much overall for the kids as they were all tired, but they enjoyed the spotlighting – the car trips there and back were challenging.

The spotlighting gang – Easter 2019

Russ and I went out another night (without the kids) to Warrungup Spring Reserve. We had been once before but I had information someone had seen a Brush-tailed phascogale, so I wanted to check it out.

We saw quite a few brushtail possums with the occasional ringtail and a lovely Tawny frogmouth. No phascogale and some distant views of Western grey kangaroo.

  • Common brushtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Common brushtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Tawny frogmouth @ Dawesville
  • Western ringtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Common brushtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Common brushtail possum @ Dawesville
  • Western ringtail possum @ Dawesville

It’s really nice to see so many ringtail possums in a location just an hour south of the Perth CBD, but you still have to remind yourself that this species is not doing well.

Searching for Quokka in Jarrahdale..

wildlifewatchingaustralia 1 Comment

I have been looking for mainland Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) for sometime and saw information that people had found some in Jarrahdale. While they were careful not to disclose the exact location I saw some facebook chat about a location a little out of the main strip of Jarrahdale where people had seen Quokka in the mornings, so wanted to check it out.

I took my 4 year old son Liam for a drive hoping we might get lucky and find some Quokka’s enjoying breakfast. We took off a little later than planned but made good time to the location.


We crossed a bridge over a dried up river so the habitat seemed good with thick riparian vegetation but also with a fair few blackberry bushes. Once we found the spot (a gravel parking area fringed by forest) we parked up and waited for some movement.

We waited for some time (as long as a 4 year old can sit still!) and then jumped out of the car to take a closer look. We skirted the fringing vegetation and quickly found this likely looking scat. While I can’t rule it out as Western grey kangaroo it had the features of a Quokka scat – size 1-2cm, cuboid and slightly flattened. These were also fresher than the ones I had previously found in the Canning Dam region.

  • Possible Quokka scat @ Jarrahdale

When walking through the fringing vegetation we found we had we had to be careful even with the small little seedlings on the ground as they were often Blackberries with nasty thorns.

  • Liam pointing to the scat @ Jarrahdale

We headed towards the bridge and we heard something mid-sized move suddenly in the vegetation but it was too thick to see properly. Given the likely scat I think this is my unconfirmed closest encounter with a mainland Quokka – but I will have to try again! 🙂

Heading back to the car we found this amazing bug – the wonderful iNaturalist & awesome bug ID app MyPestGuide Reporter – run by the Agriculture Department’s entomologists on the hunt for the next nasty pest! Through both avenues it was ID’d as a Red-banded seed eating bug (Melanerythrus mactans).

20190304-2019-03-04 08.35.22
Red-headed seed-eating bug @ Jarrahdale

Searching for Quokkas at Canning dam…

wildlifewatchingaustralia 2 Comments

I am currently behind on my posts – so this is actually from January!

I decided to continue my hunt for mainland Quokka’s (Setonix brachyurus) in the greater Perth region. Despite what most people are aware of – they don’t only live on Rottnest Island where they are easy to find, they can also be found on the mainland, but are much rarer and cryptic. I have looked in the Canning dam area before as I found a paper and it listed
Midgegoroo National Park as one of the trapping sites where they had caught animals. My brother was down from Port Hedland and he was keen to join me as well for a late night spotlight.

We started off looking for herps in the Canning Dam proper – parking near the gate and walking up the road looking for eyeshine. It took some time walking around before we found our first Barking gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii).

Barking gecko @ Canning Dam

We then headed further down towards Albany Hwy to my Quokka spot – I was pleased to have company as it’s an isolated spot. On the way we found a freshly road-killed Carpet python (Morelia spilota) – such a shame. There must be a few around as this is the second dead specimen I have found and my friend Jimmy found one on a previous trip.

  • Roadkilled Carpet python @ Canning Dam Rd

  • Roadkilled Carpet python @ Canning Dam Rd

We drove down a gravel track and parked as close as to the location as we could. I have had information from a scientist that Quokka’s are found in West facing streams in riparian vegetation – which means it’s tough to get through. We spotted a couple of kangaroos in the distance and heard the yipping of a fox but didn’t see any Quokka – strike 2!

We found some scat that I can’t say is 100% Quokka but the size seems right and it was cubic and slightly flattened.

We also found some diggings and then scat which I believe is feral pig.

An interesting night in the correct habitat for Quokka’s but I think if any were around they would have disappeared as we came crashing through the thick scrub! Another observation was this cricket that I am hoping to get a proper ID on iNaturalist – currently thought to be one of the Raspy cricket family (Gryllacrididae).

We had a good night – perhaps a hint of a Quokka but I need to keep looking for a confirmed sighting and photo!

The critically endangered possums of Busselton…

wildlifewatchingaustralia 3 Comments

Over Christmas we had a holiday with extended family plus friends and headed to Busselton for a camping holiday. It was the first time camping for my 2 year old daughter and both kids were excited to have cousins and friends with us. We were staying in the Siesta Park region.

From a wildlife perspective the camp caretaker told me he often sees Quenda (Isoodon fusciventer) in the sand dunes – especially crossing the track. This was new to me as I haven’t heard of them being in this area before. Unfortunately I didn’t see them during my stay.

Our first night, once getting the kids to bed, we heard a rustling in the trees as we were relaxing and having a chat. We shone a light and saw our first
Western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis). This turned out to be a nightly occurrence as we were in pretty good Peppermint tree habitat.

The Western ringtail possum are now critically endangered through a combination of habitat loss, predation by cats & foxes and car strike as they have to travel on the ground & cross roads due to loss of trees. While I don’t distrust the science, it is hard to get into your head that something you see somewhat easily in the right habitat, is actually struggling for survival. This species unfortunately makes 11th place onto the top 20 Australian mammal species likely to go extinct with a 25% chance of losing them forever.

Western ringtail possum @ Busselton

Another night a few of the blokes went to the Possum spotlighting trail leaving the kids asleep. It’s a 1.5 km walk set up especially for night time with reflective trail markers. I have blogged on this trail before.

We saw 30 odd ringtails, 15 Common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), 5 or so Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) but no rarer species that have been seen here such as Bush rat or Brush-tail phascogale.

I used my Echo Meter Touch 2 bat detector but no bats were heard. I did however find this Moaning frog (Heleioporus eyrei) – picking it up with reflective eye shine.

Moaning frog @ Possum spotlighting trail, Busselton

We also spent time snorkeling along the beach near the campsite and had some fun with an underwater camera. Look at the top left picture – can you see the flounder? The same fish is in the image below while moving.

One of the last evenings we kept the kids up and took them spotlighting just as it got dark – all were excited especially my 2 year old Sienna who had never been before but heard stories from her big brother! There were 7 kids from our group but we collected a fair few other kids from around the campsite. We saw about 8 possums all up and the kids had a great time & learnt about wildlife!

  • Sienna with headtorch!
  • The gang looking for possums
  • Western ringtail possum @ Busselton

All in all a lovely holiday with plenty of possums seen 🙂

Dryandra woodland in a night!

wildlifewatchingaustralia 3 Comments

Our good friend Karen was visiting from South Africa and she expressed interest in seeing some Australian wildlife. I don’t need much encouragement so we planned a quick evening trip to Dryandra Woodland. It’s a little over 2 hrs from Perth and it was my first time spotlighting there without my usual mammal watching buddy Jimmy!

I was keen to return to try and find Western pygmy possum that I have blogged about before – so we spotlighted on our way to that location and came across a few possums.

Brushtail possum @ Dryandra Woodland

We spent quite a lot of time looking in the flowering vegetation but again I lucked out on Pygmy possum – one day 🙂 I was hopeful that I had seen something with a bright eye reflection but on closer examination of the photo it was a spider way up in a tree!

We spotted a few Woylies in the region but they were fairly skittish – Karen had a close encounter with one I had spooked and it bounded her way!

  • Woylie @ Dryandra

  • Woylie @ Dryandra

  • Woylie @ Dryandra

We headed down to the sandalwood plantation to look for more Woylies and also possibly find Red-tailed phascogale as we had found them before. We only found more possums but got a good shot of Karen with a possum in the tree above.

Karen with a possum in the sandalwood plantation.

Later we found a beautiful Tawny frogmouth that let us get very close.

Tawny frogmouth @ Dryandra

And something I don’t often sight, a possum on the ground. I know from seeing camera trap footage that they are often on the ground there, but I usually see them up trees as they feel safer. We then took a little video once it headed up a tree.

Possum on the ground @ Dryandra
Possum @ Dryandra

We finished off the night going past a couple of spots that had been good for Chuditch previously, but no luck tonight. We saw our last possum and then headed out of the woodland. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

Brushtail possum @ Dryandra

Tammar wallabies of Garden Island

wildlifewatchingaustralia 5 Comments

For a long time I have been wanting to visit Garden Island (HMAS Stirling) which is just off Rockingham, South of Perth. It’s a working naval base and as such access is restricted. Like Rottnest Island there is a remnant wallaby population surviving on the introduced predator-free island, with a large population of Tammar wallaby (Notamacropus eugenii). They can be found on the mainland but are quite timid and not often seen. I think both being a island and the restricted access due to naval operations has allowed fauna to flourish and much of the vegetation is as it was Pre-European settlement.

My friend Russell offered to arrange a trip as a birthday gift – asking a mutual friend Dan who is in the navy to facilitate access. They both gladly gave up a Saturday evening. Public access to the island is usually only available during daylight hours via boat – so this was a special treat. Russ and I met Dan just at the start of the causeway as you can drive onto the island. We went through the security checks and drove further into the island into some of the navy residential areas. Just as we were about to park we saw our first Tammar. I was very excited and then we just kept seeing them!

Tammar wallaby @ Garden Island

The wallabies were everywhere. They are taller than a Quokka but smaller than a kangaroo and beautifully marked. They seem quite unfazed by human presence but would dash away into thick vegetation if you go too close.


Tammar wallaby @ Garden Island

I really enjoyed photographing them – they had quite varied colouration – possibly age and gender related or perhaps just natural variation.

    We saw so many wallabies and I took a lot of photos – it was pretty hard which ones to choose so there is a fair amount posted here!


    Tammar wallaby @ Garden Island

      I captured this short video as it allowed me to get very close.

      Tammar wallaby @ Garden Island

      As we completed our loop we came onto a grassed area with thick bordering vegetation and we saw more wallabies than ever.

            This video (sorry its a little shaky) gives an idea of how many there are in some locations and also how they blend into the vegetation.


            Tammar wallabies @ Garden Island

            As we completed the loop more were seen in amongst paths and car parks.

              Our last couple were sitting in the car park for some reason near a motorbike!

              It was a great evening with many, many Tammars seen. It’s wonderful to know there is a good sized population of this wonderful macropod on a protected island which is much less known than its famous Quokka cousin.

              Numbat survey at Boyagin Nature Reserve with Project Numbat

              wildlifewatchingaustralia 3 Comments

              My buddy Jimmy had been talking for a while about the annual numbat surveys he helped with, for Project Numbat and Parks & Wildlife Service (part of DBCA).  I had been interested for a while but with little kids it’s a huge ask to leave my wife with the kids all weekend, this year the ever gracious Mel was happy for me to join the team.

              Jimmy had been instrumental in my first sighting of numbat and it wasn’t an ordinary quick glimpse but an extended viewing of a pair just before mating.  It was my 4th time trying to see them which gives an idea of the rarity and how difficult they can be to find.

              Project Numbat survey both Boyagin Nature Reserve and Dryandra Woodland once a year.  Project Numbat are a not for profit group with a focus on community awareness and conservation of the numbat.  The type of survey we would be conducting was a digging survey as just visual surveys can miss animals and they leave distinctive markings when they forage for termites which persist.

              Jimmy and I headed down once I had the kids mostly ready for bed.  We would be staying at the lovely Lions Dryandra Woodland Village and travelling to Boyagin daily which is about 30 minutes away.  We got there after dark and couldn’t help but go for a spotlight – we were hopeful for Pygmy possum that Jimmy had seen in some flowering bushes a year earlier and also after a couple of trips Jimmy had made earlier in the week.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the evening for Pygmy’s but we found a couple of lovely Woylie (Bettongia penicillata) in the area.

              • Woylies @ Dryandra Woodland
              • Woylie @ Dryandra Woodland

              We headed back to Lions Village to get some sleep as we had a full day of surveying the next day.

              We got up and had breakfast with the other volunteers.  Also joining us was Dr Tony Friend from Parks & Wildlife – Mr Numbat himself!  We had six of us in total and split into 2 parties and headed out to Boyagin to make a start for the day.  My group comprised of Tamara (President of Project Numbat) and Jimmy. 

              First task of the day was to practice in identifying numbat diggings – they are quite small, not too deep, discrete diggings without a mound of dirt.  These are left after exposing termites in their galleries just beneath the surface and licking them with their long tongues – they are also often grouped in a run as the numbat follows the food in the galleries – see below photo.  Other diggings that need to be ruled out are the following:

              • Woylie (deeper v shaped hunting for underground truffles) – often earth left mounded
              • Quenda (funnel shaped)
              • Rabbits (often with scat present)
              • Echidna (messy often covering a large area)
              • Numbat digging @ Boyagin
              • Numbat digging @ Boyagin

              The survey consisted of driving to pre-defined locations and then the group surveying an area of 100m radius for a period of 10 mins.  If diggings were found others confirmed or disagreed.  Once located, a quick search was also made for numbat scat – hard, quite heavy black with shiny bits of termite exoskeleton inside.   The locations are spread out throughout the blocks of Boyagin and allow year-to-year comparisons of numbats.  Records were kept on Project Numbat Toughbooks in a GIS application.

              It was rewarding to find evidence of numbat foraging and also noting how you can tell if a site habitat was more ‘numbatty’ depending on the vegetation and fallen trees present.

              We saw plenty of Gould’s sand goannas (Varanus gouldii) crossing the tracks and also got a glimpse of a black-headed monitor (Varanus tristis) but it didn’t stay for photos!

              • Gould’s sand goanna @ Boyagin NR
              • Gould’s sand goanna @ Boyagin NR

              We came together for morning tea & lunch and it was nice to hear how the other group were getting on.  They, like us, had some sites with repeat records of numbats from previous years, some had new records where they hadn’t been found before, and some sites that previously had diggings but didn’t this time.  Such is the way of scientific survey.

              We finished off the day’s surveys feeling like we had made great progress – setting ourselves up well for the next day. Tamara cooked an amazing green chicken curry with rice which went down a treat after all the work of the day. Just before dinner one of the team mentioned they had seen a Gould’s goanna just outside our cottage.

              • Gould’s gonana @ Dryandra
              • Gould’s gonana @ Dryandra

              That night the rest of the team were going to settle in for a relaxing night and enjoy some well earned beverages, but Jimmy & I we wanted to see more wildlife. We headed out as it got dark going back again to our Pygmy possum spot – with still no luck! We had a very nice viewing of a Tawny frogmouth that just stayed put. We also saw the usual collection of Woylies, Brushtail possums and Western grey kangaroos. We also spotted a nice Western spotted frog. Highlights were spotting a couple of Chuditch – in a couple of hotspots that seem to have animals every visit – no photos as the animals were skittish that night.

              We headed to the sandalwood plantation previously mentioned to see if we might see Red-tailed phascogale, and it’s always good for Woylie. Many woylie were seen and Jimmy saw an Echidna that I didn’t see. Hitting the carpark I found this beautifully marked Wheatbelt stone gecko (Diplodactylus granariensis) – a new species for me. We headed back knowing we had another full on day tomorrow.

              The second day Jimmy & I were with Tony Friend (numbat guru). We changed plan this day deciding not to meet for morning tea but would meet for lunch at one of the dams. Discussions with Tony were great and I learnt lots about many topics!

              At one point we were just heading for a corner where two tracks met and Tony calls “Numbat! and I would like to catch it”! It bolted, as did Jimmy, who hadn’t seen it from the back seat but was doing his best to find it… Unfortunately it was too fast and this was our only sighting of the weekend. Tony will sometimes attach radio collars or make an assessment of the general condition of the animal, so not just catching for fun.

              I learnt heaps from chats with Tony and totally enjoyed the day. We caught up for lunch and learnt that the other team had seen a carpet python which Jimmy had been dying to see – but no luck for him this weekend! We headed out after lunch completing the last few sites before finishing for the day around 2pm. We took some team photos before we headed back to Perth. A great weekend all round – I learnt heaps, met amazing new people and had lots of time in the bush!  

              Stroll through Kings Park

              wildlifewatchingaustralia 3 Comments

              My beautiful wife and I try to get some date time each fortnight.  This fortnight Mel had the brilliant idea to drop the kids off with their Grandies and go for a walk in Kings Park next to Perth CBD.  Kings Park is Perth’s botanical gardens, combined with lovely parks, play areas and two thirds of it bush in a 400 hectare reserve very close to the CBD.

              It was feeling like spring weather and we headed to the park planning to walk through the botanical gardens which should be full of flowers this time of year.  I also wanted to walk down “Law walk” as I had heard on facebook that someone had seen 12 Quenda (Isoodon fusciventer) during the daytime on a walk recently.  It’s surmised that an unauthorised release of Quenda occurred in the park as their genetics indicate they come from the Bibra lake region and the staff both love and detest them – they are digging away, do what bandicoots do, but can’t read the signs to keep out of the immaculately tended botanic gardens full of rare plants!

              It was really busy and we found it tough to get a park but immediately felt at peace once we started walking through the gardens.

              Once we headed down to Law walk I saw what I think were possibly bandicoot diggings but didn’t see an actual Quenda.

              Suspected quenda diggings @ Kings park
              Suspected quenda diggings @ Kings park

              As we headed down the path a little further we saw a bounce of a bird that was unmistakably a Fairy-wren.  It settled on the fence and we could see the blue of an eclipse non-dominant male.

              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings Park

              We then caught a glimpse of a brilliantly coloured bird with a couple of other drab cross the path in front of us.

              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings Park
              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings Park
              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings Park

              It was the dominant male and I had a suspicion it was a Variegated fairy-wren (there are many species in the wider Perth region).  I checked with the brains trust (WA Birds fb group) and they confirmed it was this species but also advised it had been recently split from the widely distributed Variegated fairy-wren and now was known as the Purple-backed fairy-wren! (Malurus assimilis).  It is also possible to determine which species the female belongs to with this imaginative titled Birdlife Australia article ‘50 shades of brown!‘ see a photo of a female below.

              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings park
              Purple-backed fairy-wren @ Kings park

              We followed the flock and I saw one other new species for me – a Varied sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera).  Not a great shot but was able to tell the species from underneath.

              Varied sittella @ Kings Park

              A lovely walk with great company (wife without kids!) on a beautiful Spring day – the warmer weather is coming!

               

              Ringtails in Dalyellup

              wildlifewatchingaustralia 1 Comment

              Liam, my 4 year old son and I, went to stay with my good old friend Daz & family – mostly to see them but also to look for Western ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) they have in their garden and the adjacent remnant Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) forest in Dalyellup, just south of Bunbury.

              The Western ringtail possum has been classified as critically endangered in 2018.  Some sobering reading in this article – the Western ringtail has a 25% chance of extinction in the next 20 years and has the somewhat dubious honour of being in position 11 of the Top 20 Mammals at risk in Australia.  While I have to trust the experts – it seems a little strange for something I can find fairly easily and have blogged about in a couple of other locations (follow the possum category below to find them).

              It’s a 2 hour drive south from Perth and Liam handled the drive very well.  We settled in and then Daz took us with his son to the Bunbury wildlife park.  It is a council run park with mainly native animals and encourages animal interaction with suitable species – its a great place to take the kids if you are in the area.

              Liam loved feeding the birds and kangaroos.

              Daz feeding Indian ringneck @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Liam feeding cockatiel @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Liam feeding kangaroo @ Bunbury wildlife park

              They have a really nice selection of natives including tammar wallaby as below, quokka, wombat, red & grey kangaroos, potoroo, dingo and a small selection of reptiles & frogs.

              Tammar wallaby @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Tammar wallaby @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Tammar wallaby @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Red kangaroo @ Bunbury wildlife park
              Kangaroo with a Liam joey! @ Bunbury wildlife park

              That evening we geared up, dressed warmly and headed out to find some possums just after the sun had gone down – Liam was super excited!  Our first possum was sighted in the front yard of the house!

              Western ringtail possum @ Dalyellup

              We then headed into the Tuart forest which is mixed with Peppermints (Agonis flexuosa) & Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) trees.

              Western ringtail possum @ Dalyellup
              Western ringtail possum feeding on Jarrah @ Dalyellup
              Western ringtail possum@ Dalyellup

              All up we saw approx 6 possums in a small section walking for under an hour – I had been hoping for other species as Daz has previously seen a Brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa) in the area, but no luck this time.  Liam was pretty tired by about 8pm (an hour past normal bedtime!) so we headed for home and bed.

              The next morning we went down to The Lakes also in Dalyellup for a walk and see some birds.

              It was a lovely sunny morning and we could hear plenty of Rattling frogs (Crinia glauerti) and Banjo frogs (Limnodynastes dorsalis). I made a recording on my phone and submitted it to the great citizen science project FrogID.  I encourage everyone to download the app on your smartphone and record frogs wherever you hear them!  We saw some nice birds.

              Australasian grebe @ The Lakes, Dalyellup
              Hardhead @ The Lakes, Dalyellup
              Hardhead @ The Lakes, Dalyellup
              Little pied cormorant @ The Lakes, Dalyellup
              Musk duck @ The Lakes, Dalyellup

              Just as we were on the other side we noticed a possum drey (they make a nest of leaves to sleep during the day).  Daz has noticed that the openings generally face North-West which we surmised why that might be.  He has experimented making one out of 2 hanging baskets joined together filled with coconut fibre and peppermint leaves – and had an inhabitant for a period in his garden!

              We then went for a quick look in the tuart forest looking for herps under the leaf litter using a rake.  We also lifted rocks, bark and wood – always being careful to put it back where we found it.  No herps found but we did find a nice centipede that I didn’t get a photo of.

              Liam and I then headed back home to Perth to see my wife Mel & daughter Sienna.  We had an awesome weekend and Liam loved Daz’s son and especially his Lego and treehouse!