Nightwalk Sightings August Sept 07

The Weather has continued very cool the last couple of months with temperatures as low as 10 Celsius still being recorded. I am sure some Cape Trib residents had to buy new wardrobes!Snake sightings have stayed low, with very few snake sightings recoded at all. The good news is when it warmed up they were all hungry and now we are seeing plenty. The other day when I dropped an account at a local B+B, Rainforest Hideaway, a fair sized python was curled up next to the pond there. No doubt the resident frogs were nervous…
During August and into September the Boyd’s Dragons and Water Dragons were very hard to find, but now that the weather has warmed up, we are seeing plenty. One of our guides, Jennie, started nightwalks in June, and so has had her first three months with few Dragon Lizard Sightings. She commented last week on the sudden change in situation, having seen 4 dragons in one night!
Despite the cooler weather, possum sightings have been poor. The forest is now very thick, having recovered from the 99 cyclone fully, and I suspect this makes possums harder to find.
Croc sightings have been better, since last report. We are now back to about 50% sighting rate, which is where it should be. I am at a loss to explain why the sightings dropped this year, perhaps it was the cold weather…
Many native rats have been seen in these months, representing all the common species. In particular there are lots of Melomys about, and we usually find these by listening for the chewing sound as they use their sharp teeth to open seeds. Quandong seeds are still abundant, and the rats love these.
We have also been seeing Bandicoots regularly, and there seems to still be a healthy population of Northern Brown Bandcoots in the valley. Sometimes we also see the Long Nosed Bandicoot too.
Sleeping Birds are still being seen often, and this will continue until the weather warms up more. Even then, on rainy nights, amny birds sleep low down in the forest.Glowing Fungi has also been present most of the time when wet but hard to find when it is drier.Now that all the reptiles are getting hungry and thinking about reproducing, it’s a great time to do a nightwalk! See you on one soon!