Dispatches 24.2
It’s been quite a long time for me between (paid) field trips – I think potentially the longest ever since I started my PhD back in the Stygian depths of 2015! This was also my first field trip with my ‘new’ employer, so there was a tiny bit of trepidation on the Moanday morning of my departure… After a bit of a faff around picking up the car and some gear from the new orifice (read office), we headed out on the ultra-familiar drive to Toowoomba and over the Great Dividing Range. I sailed past the memories of Inland Rail with misty eyes, reminiscing on the time spent assessing multiple TEC’s, finding multiple rares (and tearing out multiple proverbials in frustration)… godspeed and good luck to AM! The Baker’s Duck provided the last high quality food item of the trip and we then settled in for the approx 3 hour drive out to our field site. As always, I was struck by the devastation of the Darling Downs; the country just west of Toowoomba would have been amazing pre-Euro’s. My companion was the butterfly boffin of iNat – BH – and so we stopped in briefly at Doctor’s Creek so he could connect with barnardi. After that, a seemingly interminable drive through flat agricultural land (with no real highlights to speak of) led us to our destination. We checked in, had a little break, and then headed out for some spotlighting. Rolling up some Gurglers almost straight away was a good start to the trip – and then to bed!
We were on a split shift on this trip: the mornings were typically spent birding and scratching around in little remnant patches of woodland for snakes, reptiles and snails(!), for something a bit different. There were three species of threatened snail within coo-ee according to ALA, and BH had just come back from surveying a nearby site for one of them. Molluscs were on the menu again, apparently, and I remembered the snores of the snail whisperer echoing out on the deck in Eungella at Quandong Lodge (where I ticked my first Greater Sooty Owl, for those keeping score at home). It wasn’t until that evening that we nailed our first Adclarkia of the trip – exciting stuff, and seriously unexpected.
The birding was generally pretty standard, apart from one morning when we ran into a nice little MFF – Speckled Warbler, Red-capped Robin, Western Gerygone, three thornbill species and a bunch of hangers on. ‘Twas quite cool hanging out with them for half an hour or so, but a bit melancholy – the little ridge we were on had never been cleared by the looks of things but the valley below was a sea of Buffel. Oh well, these little fellows were happy anyway. The reptiles on the trip were a smidge more interesting, with a few Dwyer’s Snake (a reptick for me) and a pristine looking Red-naped being the highlights. A Lerista that got the blood pumping briefly ended up being one that I had seen before – Lerista timida. A nice little animal regardless.
Night time on site was pretty quiet really, but a healthy population of Gurglers occupied a major creekline – most of these animals looked like ‘proper’ southern beasts, including some super fluffy blond stunners. It was getting pretty late for herps and we didn’t see (or hear) many amphibian lifeforms beyond the standard issue Limno tas, Platy ornatum, etc. A few more records of the snail (in shell form) and one more live animal on the last night brought the trip to a close.
Rescuing a (fully-furred) Black-striped Wallaby joey from the pouch of his dead mum had provided the only other excitement on the trip really – if you can call it that. He’s now in care with a volunteer somewhere near Chinchilla which was the best possible outcome of that saga, and made the louse transfer worthwhile! I might write up a little guide to rescue for the team at werk and cross-post it here.
I’m back out to the same site this week chasing birds, bats and snails, so we’ll see how it goes… until next time stay safe and drive carefully!
