ANPS checks out the bypass

Possibly for the last time, we walked along the route of the Queanbeyan bypass.  In view of the temperature at the start I was thinking of using a metaphor involving a penguin's patootie for the title but decided that would not be in good taste.

However I will start in an ornithological note with a riddle:  What is big, black and white and flies around making a lot of noise?  Answer is at the end.

Here is the horde heading off.

Some of the eucalypts near the start of this walk have the heaviest concentration of Amyema mistletoes I have ever seen.

Here is the fruit of one of the Amyema:  All those checked by the party were A. miqueli so these fruit are the product of flowering in warmer times.

 Quite a few Acacia sp will feature in this blog.  This one is A. ulicifolia.

 The bird list was pretty good including this Yellow-rumped thornbill.

 The most interesting bird I saw was a stunning male Mistletoebird in a clump of that plant.  I normally think of this as a migrant, which view is confirmed by this graph from the COG Birdlist report for the species although it does show a very few records in all months.

I promise not to put too many graphs in my posts!

Back to plants.  Leucopogon attenuatus

Cryptandra amara

Daviesia genistifolia: these plants were not exactly lush: perhaps they have heard about the imminent bulldozers and given up the struggle?

Dillwynnia sieberi was in a more sheltered position and possibly as a result far more flamboyant.

Acacia dawsonii was still in bud and most of the plants of this species which I saw were well endowed with spider webs.

Cryptandra propinqua, plus bonus ant!

Brachyloma daphnoides

Acacia gunnii

The fruit of Styphelia trilabra.  Interestingly, in the Coffs Harbour area last week they were in flower.

Acacia rubida.

The seeds (or fuit- I'm not sure which) of Dodonaea viscosa, showing why the genus are referred to as hop bushes.

The trek back was made amusing by a member becoming separated from her phone.  I went back to the lunch spot (a possible separation site) with her so that I could ring the number and see if we could hear it ringing.  To my complete astonishment after about 8 rings it was answered!   By Frances!!  In one of the unbelievable coincidences, the rest of the group were right beside where it had been dropped, about 500m from where I was standing when it rang.  (The fact that someone else's phone case was next to it merely adds to the basic bizarreness!)

Answer to riddle: A pelican (or a goose, your choice).