Wildlife Seen on Your Last Walk?

[tasadam]

Actually, that lizard photo reminds me of a bit of wildlife I did see on the last walk - (Click on it for a really close look.)

[Pteropus]

Yesterday my girlfriend and I were at the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and dropped into Kondilla Falls near Montville on the Blackall Range. Walking in we came across this mob of sawfly larvae crossing the track. Amazingly they had not been trodden on by the large volumes of people walking in to the falls. We spent approximately 20 minutes making sure they got across the track safely.

Sawflies are actually wasps. These larvae had the most interesting way of communicating that they wanted to move on. They would occasionally stop, then after ~30 seconds a lead larvae would rear up, which triggered the next one to rear until all in the group were pulsating up and down. Then as they started to move they would keep tapping their tails on each other, presumably to let the following larvae know they were still moving. Then after ~30 sec to a minute the lead larvae would stop, and the group would bunch up a little before coming to a stop. The 30 or so seconds later it all starts over again. Took them ~20 minutes to move 1 metre...

For more information on sawflies see -> http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane ... wflies.htm

[phan_TOM]

Mother nature never ceases to amaze Andrew, great observations, thanks for that & love that second shot.

Nice shepherd work by the way

[Bluegum Mic]

Sigh! Sadly the only wildlife I saw on the trail this morning were about a dozen mountain bike riders and two dogs of the boutique "oodle" variety I heard a snake does that count

Fantastic photos. I've seen similar things with caterpillars back in Syd. My favourite is to stumble upon the echidnas doing something similar.

[Pteropus]

Thanks guys. Tom, I think that second photo could do with some inspirational caption or the like, such as something about climbing to the top of the mob, or something similar
Bluegum, I once saw four big fat echidnas doing the same too! By the way, after such a lovely sunny day yesterday I woke up to the sound of rain (or drizzle anyhow)...

[Bluegum Mic]

Yes they're very cute the way they follow each other along like that. Yes I timed my walk to perfection. Big drops started to fall as I unlocked the car.

[phan_TOM]

I once saw four big fat echidnas doing the same too

I can beat you on that one with 11 Andrew, all nose to tail just wombling along through the bush. I think it is some kind of a mating ritual with a female leading the way and the males all vying for a bit of the action, quite a few different animals do something similar. On that note did you know that the male echidna has a four headed penis (!)... I've also seen one taking a swim across a creek which seems highly counter-intuitive.

Heres a big one getting stuck into an ant nest in the back yard paddock of our old place which bordered on national park, biggest one I've ever seen, easily 50cm tip to tail (notice its tail is extremely spiky too). All the exposed earth you can see is caused by daily, or at least weekly, visits by a number of echidnas getting at the ants, in the end they managed to rip up a huge bank probably close to ten metres long and 2-3 metres high...

Yes they're very cute

They look pretty hardcore but once you see their little faces or hairy bellys they are truly adorable.

I'll share a couple of pics of this goanna that was sauntering around the backyard recently too, he was a decent size but the most notciable thing was its hiss when I disturbed it which managed to make my hair stand on end and gave me a momentary lump in my throat, really big noise and clearly saying 'don't %&^#$ mess with me', sounded like someone had turned open the valve of a large gas cylinder. He must have been a bit camera shy though and slowly made his way up this silky oak (with a cutting glance or two thrown over his shoulder as he went I should add )

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Goanna-2.jpg (503.04 KiB) Viewed 482235 times

[Pteropus]

...I think it is some kind of a mating ritual with a female leading the way and the males all vying for a bit of the action, quite a few different animals do something similar. On that note did you know that the male echidna has a four headed penis (!)... I've also seen one taking a swim across a creek which seems highly counter-intuitive...

Yes I believe its called a "love train". And yes the echidna is well endowed, apparently to fit the females split reproductive tract. Never heard of a swimming echidna but most animals have some ability to swim.

Nice goanna mate, but beware of standing under them on a tree...ever seen a goanna defecate

[puredingo]

Not only the defecation factor to beware of I was once standing under a tree watching a Goanna go about his business when all a sudden it took to flight and dove (dived?) straight between my legs...missing my beanbag by sheer millimeters!!

[Vozzie]

I don't have any photos to prove it ... was too busy jumping out of my skin ... but, on the Tabletop Mountain Track in KNP yesterday, I came across a funnel web spider running across the track. At first I thought it was a mouse ... till I got a bit closer. I guess the recent rain has flushed a lot of wildlife out of their homes.

On a more pleasant note, I also came across a platypus ... in a very small pool beside the track.

[Bluegum Mic]

Yes. Im not afraid of spiders but a big funnel web takes your breath away. With all the Syd rain we had a lot over summer at home (mostly in the pool). The scariest was the hand sized one that had been under our garage door. I opened the door, my barefoot toddler ran to the garage entrance , I walked forward to grab him to put him in the car, there it was approx 10cm from his foot. I usually don't kill wildlife but that one was removed with force from our garage swiftly

[recurveron]

Love the over the shoulder glance pic , he does look like he means buisness

[phan_TOM]

Nice goanna mate, but beware of standing under them on a tree...ever seen a goanna defecate

Actually no, but next time I'm looking up at one I'm sure I'll be more wary!

Yes. Im not afraid of spiders but a big funnel web takes your breath away

I'll say, I ws doing a wildlife survey up in the Border Ranges NP (or maybe the Richmond Range NP...?) off track searching under logs, in leaf litter etc and found this one. I lifted up a stick that it was crawling along and it was suprisingly hefty. I've been told that when they bite you merely shaking your foot or hand won't get them off, they latch on tight and need to be pulled off, tell me that doesn't give you the shivers... Sorry about the low res photo, its the only one I have of it on my computer, I think the original is stored away somewhere on a CD or DVD

Funnel web

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[Vozzie]

Can the Moderators please have the above photo removed immediately !

[tasadam]

Why?

Also, please use the report feature of posts that require moderation attention - we don't read everything.

[Son of a Beach]

I'm pretty sure it's an arachnaphobic who's just joshing.

[tasadam]

If so, Haha... Man up!

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

I had the worst nightmare about Tiger snakes last night.

I had to walk through my parent's backyard and there were Tigers every few metres, at least 3m long, all with their head flattened out in a "I'm pissed off" kind of way.

Just one in your photo doesn't seem nearly so bad now.

A friendly local at Windermere in early February.

[Vozzie]

Sorry ... couldn't find an icon for "tongue in cheek"

[whynotwalk]

Spot the weka

We saw this weka - and lots of other birds - on a recent visit to Ulva Island, off NZ's Stewart Is. We had a magical visit, which I've written about in more detail here http://auntyscuttle.blogspot.com.au/201 ... sties.html

cheers

Peter

[north-north-west]

Apart from the usual, last weekend was snakey. One Copperhead, three tigers and a something I don't know with a white throat. They're up and about in mountains and at least one was in a seriously bad mood on Sunday.

I was just ambling down the Speculation Road, one of the few straight stretches clear of fallen timber for a good 300 metres, and there's this skinny metre-long Tiger Snake barrelling up the road at me, in full threat posture, half its body vertical, head about knee level. I wouldn't swear its eyes weren't glowing red. I stopped, yelled at it, turned my trekking pole around to use as a club if necessary, and started backing off quickly when it didn't slow down. It wasn't until it had reached the point where I'd stopped going forward that it finally calmed down and dropped down to ground level - although it still took a long time to move off into the scrub.

Never seen a snake act like that, and with absolutely no provocation.

[Explorer_Sam]

On Tuesday Dad and I walked up Mount William from the carpark 2 km from the summit. We saw nothing whilst on the actual walk, but driving down the mountain we spotted a Shingleback Lizard and then a juvenile Tiger Snake. Despite being only around 20 cm long, it was a really aggressive little snake and when I got down to photograph it, it moved towards me and flattened out it's neck to warn me. I got a few good photos but the files are too large to upload on here.

Our car also had a close encounter with a Kangaroo on the way over

[tasadam]

Had a good weekend, Saturday up to Mother Cummings. Sunday to Chasm Falls on Smoko Creek then back up Mother Cummings Rivulet for another look.

Saw a White Lipped snake nearing the top of the climb up the mountain. Saw 2 Wedge Tailed eagles from the summit.
Saw a platypus swimming and exploring at the base of Smoko Falls at the turnoff to the final climb up the mountain.
Saw 2 tiger snakes, a blue tongue lizard & a stack of smaller lizards on Sunday.

[Hallu]

I went to the Otways this week-end, I saw lots of koalas, including two on the ground (3 with the joey on the mother's back), some Gang-Gang cockatoos and a trio of cormorants I couldn't identify :

[stepbystep]

Great pic of the Gang-gang. Love those birds, always laughing!

[sambar358]

Spent a bit of time with this young fella last week deep in the high country of the ANP in Vic. He probably hadn't seen a human before and he let me get to about 10m and stood nicely for a few snaps before he walked into the scrub. Cheers

sambar358

[ofuros]

It was my day off yesterday & since I'm working at a mine surrounded by Kakadu N.P....I just had to get out of camp & search out some short walks locally.
Spotted my first croc, lots of dingo's, red tailed cockatoo's, a beautiful irredescent bird I don't know the name of, fluttering down track in front of me.
Evening lightening/thunder shows,
torrential downpours, deafening cicadas,... awesome place...wish you were here, fellow bushwalkers.

Ooroo,
Ofuros


.....via tapatalk.

[Lindsay]

Echinda on the Six Foot Track 30 Nov 12. I was too slow to get a picture of the red bellied black snake my son almost trod on near Alum Creek

[north-north-west]

By the Twelfth Day of the last trip, I'd had the luck to see:

Twelve hundred horseflies,
Eleven thousand leeches,
Ten million Mozzies,
Nine angry Inchmen
Eight Wasps (from Europe)
Seven Spurwinged Plovers
Six Rednecks hunting
Fi--ive Tiger Sna-a-akes
Four Funnelwebs
Three feral Dogs
Two hungry Ticks
And a Dropbear in a gum tree . . .

[stepbystep]

I saw some of these freaky looking guys, no dropbears though.