I
said it was night (a flash enhanced version of this shot comes later)! The reason for this expedition was for members of
Birds Australia, at a campout arranged by
COG at Bredbo, to try to spot Powerful Owls in the Tallaganda area.
We actually started off before dark which is where most of the images will come from. I have included some habitat shots of some of the areas. The meeting point was Lowdon Forest park, where it was hoped that members would get a look at a few of the wet forest birds. This happened, with Red-browed Treecreeper and Bassian Thrush turning up. The latter was very obliging singing fromhigh in a tree and giving several observers great views.
While waiting for the campers to turn up I had a snuffle around and found some interesting fungi and some ex-orchids.
The most interesting fungi were a large colony of
Cortinarius archeri (purple) and my first
Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) for the season. I have included an image of a very small
Amanita with a very dense collection of speckles.
I was intrigued to see that 'something' had taken bites out of many of the fungi. I would not have thought eating
Amanita was a recipe for a long and happy life!
The dampness of this area is indicated by the amount of moss and lichen on the fallen trees.
Amongst the leaf litter I found some spent (or 'gone over') orchids. As they had leaves I photographed them and an expert friend has advised that the first is
Acianthus sp and the second
Diplodium coccinum.
There were also leeches.Here is one in what I call 'sniffing pose'. Unlike the Wednesday trip, none got their sucker into me.
After a first burst of playback (giving nice views of a Greater Glider, but no owls) we split into two groups and I took off with my lot to the Palarang (
sic) Rd end of the forest. To avoid boredom I will say that we saw no owls at all! The first stop was at the Mulloon Creek crossing. Here is a daylight view of the habitat around the creek.
During the playback here we heard a distant Southern Boobook and had several small bats fly through the beams of the spotlights. We turned and headed off to the second location. Here is a slightly more illuminated image of the turn.
The second stop was the highest point (in an altitudinal sense) of the three. The forest was tall but a bit drier and more open. I don't have an image of this area by day or night! It was almost eerie as occasional wisps of fog blew across us. A possum of some unidentifiable species (it was about 100m away well up a large tree), but most likely a greater glider, was seen.
Our third and final top was at the wet creek near the start of Palarang Rd. This was where we had found the
Spiranthes on the previous day.
After meeting up with the other group I headed off back home and they went for the Jerangle Rd and their tents. I only saw one kangaroo in the 50km drive back, and that was in the last 2km. This was a Good Thing!
Comments
Nice Fungi.
Do you not know the stories (fables?) about the Reindeer that supposedly love the Amanita muscari for its hallucinogenic effect, so much so that they even eat the "yellow snow" after other animals have eaten these Fungi (because the hallucinogens are said to pass through the liver)? Sorry for such a long "question".
I have often noted that slugs and snails rasp off the top coating of these fungi, and I assume that where all the "good gear" is.
Shame about the lack of Owls.
I can confirm the Orchids as named.
I have finally finished my long and detailed (boring) post on the Daintrey Greenhood (the reason for my trip to Granite Falls); and I have stirred the possum along the way.
Cheers
Denis