Off to the belt again. Mr J and I were tasked with surveying a proposed pipeline. The thing was only 20m wide but went for 8km. We had five nights to get through it. We had a split shift on the first two days, helping another team by putting in pitfall lines in rock solid gilgai. Hard work in the midst of a heat wave with clay as hard as woodpecker lips refusing to yield… but we were equal to the task. With the corresponding nightwork being short we didn’t see much on the first couple of nights, but I picked up three lifers regardless – unbelievable really, but I haven’t spent that much time out at night in the belt so far. The camp that we were staying in had a strange ambiance about it. Initially built as a resort, it ran for a few years until a nearby mine poisoned the dam nearby, and people were no longer allowed to rip around on jet skis etc. Another mine then snapped it up for pennies on the dollar, using it as their camp until they had an underground fire and were put on the back burner. While we were there it was only occupied by a skeleton crew from the mine that was on standby… most days, we would only see three or four other people. In the daylight we had the place to ourselves and I thrashed the well-watered grounds for leps (ending up with a few chooky lifers) and lazed around in the pool of an afternoon.
The first two vertebrate lifers that came to hand were sneks – Spotted Python and Curl Snake were both rumbled along the access road to the property on the first night. Upon returning to camp after spotlighting we found it infested with Unadorned Rock-wallabies; a very pleasing sight. I’d wanted to see this animal since being gripped by ROCL and TIBAs sighting at Eungella Dam. Eventually they would relax and graze unperturbed on the lawns under the red light. We’d seen a few Ornamental Snakes out on site too, but it was pretty quiet…
Things changed on the third night. Lightning lit the sky to the south and the air was cool and humid. The next night, a massive storm ripped through and dumped at least 100m of rain. In response, the frogs went completely berserk. We were strolling along when I thought I heard the somnolent hoots of a Notaden amongst the shrieking of all the other frogs. Surely not… but in another hundred metres or so Andy called me over with an uncharacteristic display of great glee. Holy shit! A little grumpy tennis ball was sitting on the track in front of us. There are some species which hold a special place in my imagination and this was one of them. I’d wanted to see one for years – maybe decades. The poor little blighter looked like he’d been in a tussle with a nova or something – his left forepaw was banged up pretty badly and he was missing some skin on his back. We said a blessing for him, bowing our heads in front of the cross, and moved on into the gloom. The rest of the evening was fairly dull (apart from multiple sightings of crabs(!) in flooded gilgai), and we were entering death march territory by the end of the night. I managed to record a Notaden hooting later on, which I’ve been listening to from time to time.
The next night was quiet on the amphibian front, which was totally bizarre. The boom / bust cycle of the gilgai might move quicker than I had previously thought. The animals had just one night to find a mate, breed, and get back underground – and it seems like they did just that (or drowned). We only saw a few little albos kicking around on that second night after the rain. In contrast, the snakes were out in force. We ended up with 30 Ornamental’s in about five hours and were oftentimes kicking them out of the way. Dedicated herpers (herpees?) shivered in their sleep as I crossed the milestone of 100 scales with a beautiful rusty Carpentaria Snake. About an hour later an excited shout rang out across the melon holes as I came across a beautiful native mouse – Leggadina forresti. The little girl shivered in the spotlight as I got up close and personal, examining the guard hairs on her toes. The other team had caught one in a pit earlier in the week so I was stoked to get the gripback. She behaved well but eventually scarpered when I sniffed her fur! The native mice often smell quite pleasant 🙂
That was all the excitement we could handle for the trip. We packed up in the ruins of the abandoned camp and headed for the coast. We went for a stroll down memory lane at the Mackay Botanic Gardens, where I failed to instantaneously identify a WHTE in my fatigue, before getting to the aeroport.
I went home to J and the hounds and Mr J went home to the Wuhan Flu…
