Wildlife Seen on Your Last Walk?

[phan_TOM]

Apart from lots of birds which seem to be having a bumper year thanks to the favourable weather, a couple of very healthy snakes. The Red Belly Black was spotted in the Nightcap National Park, it was very active and alert & easily longer than I am tall, I reckon it was 2m+, looking pretty healthy too...

Then, much closer to home, this chunky Python who refused to budge and made it pretty clear that I was the one who was going to do the detour... Hard to argue really, its head was bigger than my hand and around the 3m mark in length.

Its always interesting meeting an apex predator, most animals disappear pretty quickly at the sight of humans or the mere thought of confrontation, then theres individuals like this one who show little or no fear whatsoever. Its only move was when I went in to take the photo and that was only a pretty casual effort at forming a srtriking pose otherwise it seemed unthreatened by my presence.

[ofuros]

Nothing to be scared of....just respect them & give them a wide birth.
Great pics, phan_tom.

[Nuts]

Wow that black snake has vivid colouring.
Here's an angry tiger from a recent walk:

[phan_TOM]

Nothing to be scared of....just respect them & give them a wide birth.

and be mindful where you're putting your feet, I came across a smaller carpet snake up in Springbrook National Park last year, right across the track and it blended in perfectly with the dappled light coming through the canopy. It was just luck that I spotted him with two steps to spare or it would have been a shock to both of us

I'm pretty comfortable handling pythons (or tree snakes, just nothing dangerous) if theres one in the car or the bathroom but I leave them well alone these days if I don't have to touch them. We had a decent sized one at our last place that I'd see nearly every morning climbing a verandah post to its lair in the eaves close to the tin roofing, and every night heading out again on the hunt. I tried to pull some ticks off it one day and only managed to upset it, we didn't see it for months afterwards and it left me feeling pretty guilty. Turns out snakes have a natural immunity to ticks anyway and they just drop off once their full. It was a relief to see it finally return and I definitely left it alone after that, lesson learnt.

Wow that black snake has vivid colouring.

They're beautiful snakes, one of my favourites and shy compared to those cranky tigers. Tigers even look extra mean to go with their bad attitudes!

[Bluegum Mic]

Agree. I always love seeing a red belly black snake in the wild. Usually so shy and their colouring gorgeous. The only time I've ever seen one cranky was moments after a trail runner and their excited jack Russell had been past. Not a happy snake

[Nuts]

Tigers can be a bit aggressive in the heat of summer here but otherwise as docile as red belly blacks are shy. I did notice they were more generally aggressive in NSW but they are just happy to be left trying to get warm down here, almost have to push them out of the way sometimes. Was very close to this one.

[jackhinde]

i think a better description would be defensive rather than aggressive when describing our snakes.
that black tiger is stunning Nuts, i've seen a few in south west tas like that, so much nicer than the mainland form.
i'd love to put up a photo of the death adder i saw last weekend, but the laptop carked it mid week

[Nuts]

yer, true. Defensive would be better, they try to get away asap
I was once chased by a brown snake though, i believe it was argressive? perhaps even evil

[Pteropus]

Today I went for a walk up in the D'Aguilar Range, west of Brisbane and saw many red triangle slugs! It had been raining and there seemed to be several on every smooth-barked eucalypt in the bush! They are Australia's largest land slug.

Triboniophorus graeffei

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[gayet]

Most unusual markings! It appears to come in a variety of colours - the bright red ones would be hard to miss.

[Bluegum Mic]

They love to head for our pool (Sydney home) when it rains and try and take a dip. Very strange.
They're amazing looking beasties

[ofuros]

Today I went for a walk up in the D'Aguilar Range, west of Brisbane and saw many red triangle slugs! It had been raining and there seemed to be several on every smooth-barked eucalypt in the bush! They are Australia's largest land slug.

270 Red triangle slug.JPG

That looks like red lipstick on its back, you didn't kiss it & send it on its way did you.......
Joking aside....thats a very vivid looking slug !
Top shot Pteropus, you made the most of it, on a overcast & very rainy weekend.

[pazzar]

I ran into a bare-chested Magnus administratio of the Adam variety. I'm not sure if a mug of soup is normal feeding for this large land dwelling mammal, but it seemed to be enjoying it after a long hot day.

[Son of a Beach]

Nice find! I saw some photos of its mate up there the other day. Looks like you all had great weather for that walk.

[whynotwalk]

I'm over in NZ at present, and was lucky enough to see a kiwi in the wild while tramping on Stewart Island. Amazing birds! Apologies for no pic - a limitation of iPads on this forum - [edit] ... As Nik suggested, I've now uploaded a pic using Tapatalk.

You can read more, and see a pic here. http://auntyscuttle.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/not-missing-boat.html

Cheers

Peter

[Son of a Beach]

Posted from my iPhone. (But you're right, I had to use Tapatalk to do it. I've no idea why Apple have crippled mobile Safari like that.)

This tiger snake is just outside the old Hydro Hut on the Gordon River, across from Warners Landing a couple of weeks ago. There were at least three that were always around this hut. I also saw one swim right across the Franklin River from one side to the other on the first day of this trip - just in front of my raft. No photo of that one, unfortunately.

We saw very few other animals on that trip though, apart from one quoll, and a few birds and trout. Lots of cormorants, following the rivers up and down the valleys (presumably searching for fish), a couple of wedge tailed eagles.

[puredingo]

LOVE the shot of the carpet python! Unfortunately we don't get them this far South although we do have it's close relative the diamond python. Even more unfortunately you don't see as many as them as you used to because as soon as one makes the gigantic mistake of showing itself to the human race it either gets sentenced to death by decapitation or life in a glass tank.

The Red belly is a nice pic too although they are a dime a dozen around here...nearly guaranteed 5 sightings per walk..which is good because they keep the brown numbers down.

[ILUVSWTAS]

I ran into a bare-chested Magnus administratio of the Adam variety. I'm not sure if a mug of soup is normal feeding for this large land dwelling mammal, but it seemed to be enjoying it after a long hot day.

Just recieved a phone call from said creature, seems it's still lurking in the ducane mts, trying to find a way off Massif....

[doogs]

I ran into a bare-chested Magnus administratio of the Adam variety. I'm not sure if a mug of soup is normal feeding for this large land dwelling mammal, but it seemed to be enjoying it after a long hot day.

Just recieved a phone call from said creature, seems it's still lurking in the ducane mts, trying to find a way off Massif....

Oh dear..

[ILUVSWTAS]

I ran into a bare-chested Magnus administratio of the Adam variety. I'm not sure if a mug of soup is normal feeding for this large land dwelling mammal, but it seemed to be enjoying it after a long hot day.

Just recieved a phone call from said creature, seems it's still lurking in the ducane mts, trying to find a way off Massif....

Oh dear..

Seems they found it easy enough judging by the photo I just recieved on my phone... lucky bugger!!!

[Explorer_Sam]

My best friend is a keen birdwatcher and recently we went on a rather short walk but managed something like 21 kinds of birds. To name a few we saw White-Winged Choughs, Galahs, a Little Eagle, a Peaceful Dove, White-backed Magpies (what a surprise!), and more. I will never be able to name the amount of birds he can. He just points them out and names them straight away, but I don't know as many types of birds as him. My favourite animals on the walk though, however, were a couple of flocks of Eastern Grey Kangaroos and a Red Fox.

Later that afternoon, walking with my father, we climbed up to an overhang, which we call "the caves", to find out it had been inhabited by wild bees, so as soon as I was in the cave, I was straight out again.

[tasadam]

I ran into a bare-chested Magnus administratio of the Adam variety. I'm not sure if a mug of soup is normal feeding for this large land dwelling mammal, but it seemed to be enjoying it after a long hot day.

A very rare find to find me bare chested, very white skin!

Just recieved a phone call from said creature, seems it's still lurking in the ducane mts, trying to find a way off Massif....

Oh dear..

Seems they found it easy enough judging by the photo I just recieved on my phone... lucky bugger!!!

A night in the Massif bowl and another night on the eastern end before the (attempted) descent to the ridge to the east. After it rained all night we were in the fog on the eastern end of Massif for half a day, couldn't find a safe way down so we decided to return the way we came, back thru Big Gun pass and down via Labyrinth to Pine Valley. A good decision, the Labyrinth and the Massif bowl was amazing after a full night of rain.
Enjoy THIS LINK

Back on topic, saw a baby white lipped snake and a small tiger snake. No leeches which was nice.
There's a forest of bottlebrush to the north of Narcissus which absolutely comes to life with a plethora of birds, it's a really special place. Make sure you spend some time there.

[jackhinde]

LOVE the shot of the carpet python! Unfortunately we don't get them this far South although we do have it's close relative the diamond python. Even more unfortunately you don't see as many as them as you used to because as soon as one makes the gigantic mistake of showing itself to the human race it either gets sentenced to death by decapitation or life in a glass tank.

heres a diamond i picked up 25/2/12 in Myall creek, just above junction with ettrema

[eggs]

Concerning dangerous creatures, we were lucky to catch this drop bear while it was just snoozing.
Talk about a close call..look at the claws on that thing..

[puredingo]

LOVE the shot of the carpet python! Unfortunately we don't get them this far South although we do have it's close relative the diamond python. Even more unfortunately you don't see as many as them as you used to because as soon as one makes the gigantic mistake of showing itself to the human race it either gets sentenced to death by decapitation or life in a glass tank.

heres a diamond i picked up 25/2/12 in Myall creek, just above junction with ettrema

Excellent looking diamond, Jack...let's hope he gets to live out his life in peace and father some yougens while he's at it.

How's the walking through there?

[jackhinde]

there isnt a lot of walking as such in that part of the world... scrambling, climbing, swimming, falling (both controlled on a rope and otherwise).

[Pteropus]

Concerning dangerous creatures, we were lucky to catch this drop bear while it was just snoozing.
Talk about a close call..look at the claws on that thing..

Wow eggs, you were very lucky to get away with your life after that encounter!!

In all seriousness though, is that in South Australia? Koalas are much bigger and darker in the south compared to the bears up north (yes people, I know they are not really “bears” but let’s not get too pedantic (Phascolarctos cinereus actually means "Pouched bear - ash coloured")).

A couple of close ups of koala paws and claws for interested people. They really can do some damage so best to leave sleeping bears lie

Koala forepaw - note the two thumbs and claw size.

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Koala hindpaw - note the joined second and third tows.

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Male koala showing off his claws.

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Koala scratches - lucky trees are generally tough...unlike your skin!

Fresh scratches.

[johnw]

Nice diamond python jackhinde. Walking off track on second day of a 2 nighter in the Grose Valley weekend before last, I almost stepped on a similar sized one curled up asleep (sort of). It tolerated us standing around discussing it for a while but finally got sick of that and moved off. Other wildlife sighted:

One leech (the one and only for the whole trip and it chose me to attach to )

Numerous ducks in the Grose River

One bandicoot (there was plenty of evidence of more and a lot of scurrying around camp)

One largish black spider of uncertain identification spent both nights in the tent with me because I couldn't find/catch it. It was finally gone when I packed up so who knows when it actually left.

[eggs]

pteropus

It was in Morialta, SA.
When first spotted, my compatriat said there were 2 of them. Closer inspection revealed it was just an extra big monster.


Walk before that was in Lane Cove
Saw Kookaburra, spiders, skinks and lots of water dragons.

Monster Skink

Dragon

[Marwood]

Didn't have to walk very far to take this pic yesterday - the tree is about 3 meters from my front door. I did have to climb on the roof of the house to get close enough, there were three of them (a male and a young'un as well as this female) about 4-5 meters up.

Glossy Black Cockatoo

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Earlier in the day I snapped this Kookie at the base of the same tree. The joys of living by a national park!

Kookaburra

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