Bushwalk Australia

This was a new sight to me (from a couple of weeks ago)

Washpool NP, NSW.....forgive the blurriness.

Lots of these eels in the cool inviting pools....


..and if you linger long enough by the waters edge, you'll notice these little fellows too. Blue Spiny Crays.

Saw some of these while wandering around the Falls Creek area.
Unlike the low lands, frantic, jump all over the place Grashoppers, they are docile little critters or maybe it is just a bit early in the season for them.

Champion_Munch wrote:This was a new sight to me (from a couple of weeks ago)

Great shot!! Guessing he was raiding it for food as several birds use termite tree mounds for nests so maybe there were eggs in there.

Now I need some clues as to what this spectacle was that we witnessed on the weekend , or at least an idea of what this bug was. I am not exaggerating when I say there were tens of thousands of these things gathered in clumps on the low trees and reed grasses. They formed large black clusters and when disturbed, even just by distant movement, they would fall out of their trees like rain. They were only found in certain areas, warm and exposed and on top of the two peaks we climbed in mt royal national park in nsw, hunter valley.

I think they are Soldier beetles (Chauliognathus lugubris)

[quote="MickyB"]I think they are Soldier beetles (Chauliognathus lugubris)[/

Makes sense...there is a big army base just down the road in Singleton!!!

We found this dead animal in a canyon in the Blue Mountains a few days ago. We thought it may be a koala. It has lost all its fur. What do people think it is?

Alien

It is a dead Koala (confirmed by a veterinary academic)

Poor fellow.

DaveNoble wrote:It is a dead Koala (confirmed by a veterinary academic)

Did the veterinary academic say why it had no fur?

Came across this one the other day at Mt Cannibal Vic. Shot up the nearest tree when we first saw it then later on nothing was getting it off the warm rock. A real beauty and over 6 feet long, wonder how old that would make it.

MickyB wrote:

DaveNoble wrote:It is a dead Koala (confirmed by a veterinary academic)

Did the veterinary academic say why it had no fur?

No. I assume it is part of the decay process. The koala had fallen into a deep canyon. Normally no water flows - but after recent storms - some water would have flowed and perhaps washed the fur away?

Dave

Everywhere I go lately.....deafening at times.
Newly hatched Cicadas.

Was lucky enough to see a kangaroo on the side of the mountain heading towards the transmission towers on top of Mt Dandenong. I also almost stood on an echidna up in the arboretum in Olinda.

JohnStrider wrote:Was lucky enough to see a kangaroo on the side of the mountain heading towards the transmission towers on top of Mt Dandenong. I also almost stood on an echidna up in the arboretum in Olinda.

There's quite a a lot of echidnas around up there John. Tends to be more wallabys than roos.
Keep an ear out for Lyrebirds as well. You can very quietly move up to view them but you have to take it slow and easy.
There's fallow and samba deer as well.

I saw this the other day in Mutawintji, on top of a rocky hill. Does anyone know what it is? I guess it's a cricket of some sort. That rear spike-thing is distinctive.

I have seen one of these but unfortunately don't know what the name is.
I believe it will be a female and that the spike is the ovipositor.

Just for laughs I tried google and all I got for "Australian cricket with spike on abdomen" was a whole bunch of info and pictures of cricket spikes and cricket related stuff.
Good ol' google and isn't it great the way you change the query but you can't change googles mind about what your looking for.

neilmny wrote:

JohnStrider wrote:Was lucky enough to see a kangaroo on the side of the mountain heading towards the transmission towers on top of Mt Dandenong. I also almost stood on an echidna up in the arboretum in Olinda.

There's quite a a lot of echidnas around up there John. Tends to be more wallabys than roos.
Keep an ear out for Lyrebirds as well. You can very quietly move up to view them but you have to take it slow and easy.
There's fallow and samba deer as well.

Cheers for the tip Neil

Werrikimbe NP-





Cottan-Bimbang

phsculpture wrote:I saw this the other day in Mutawintji, on top of a rocky hill. Does anyone know what it is? I guess it's a cricket of some sort. That rear spike-thing is distinctive.

Perhaps a Thick-legged raspy cricket (Ametrus tibialis)????

Not much info available on the net but here is a picture from Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/whawha88/15308263300/

I loved it at mutawinji, rock art, lots of wildlife and miles from anywhere. Have to go and look at the photos now )

Thanks Micky, that would be it. Fowler's Gap is not too far away from Mutawintji.

walkon wrote:I loved it at mutawinji, rock art, lots of wildlife and miles from anywhere. Have to go and look at the photos now )

Yep, I agree. I'll try to put a trip report together, which includes Mungo and Kinchega.

Just back from a nice walk down the Wolgan River in Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains. We saw lots of wildlife - goannas, snakes (tiger snake, red belly black, a huge diamond python), lots of bull ants and jack jumpers, lots of cicadas (deafening at times) - and the bull ants and jack jumpers seem to be falling from the trees - we thought they may climb the trees to get some of the sap that the cicadas eat and then fall out?

And we saw lots of Cicada Killer Wasps -



The wasps are huge! about 5 cm long.



They make holes in the ground, and drag cicadas into them after stinging the cicada, then lay an egg or two in the cicada.....

And we saw these small bugs on a leaf. When first seen they were all together in a ball - and moved apart we we stopped to watch them. Anyone know what they are? They look a bit like Milkweed Bugs.



Dave

Snakes.

Stood on a large Tiger before Xmas- right on, heel first and a full pack, felt the muscle roll over the spine, I momentarily had the snake pinned 'mid-back'. Had many close calls but not like this. Adrenalin is amazing, while in the air (mid stride) even had time for thoughts of concern for the snake.. amongst considerations for our group (who'd all just left), immediate first aid, who else was around to help etc.. how much this was surely gonna hurt..

Anyhow.. at Cynthia Bay:





Cynthia Bay, the resort and beach has always been of good value to snake admirers, two or three snakes per image they even bask right under the wharf.

Recent trip there was only one tiger, but it was one of the biggest I've ever seen. But there were heaps of white-lipped whips about - mostly moving onto the same spot I was about to put my foot. Plus coming nose to nose with a very startled echidna as I reached the edge of the plateau on my way up the Mountains of Jupiter.

But the most nerve-wracking was the brushtail possum.
You have to understand, I'm an old-school Tasmanian. There's something very deep and basic in me that absolutely despises brushtails. And there I was, carefully making my way down a sheer rock face en route from Oana to Layatinna, about to use a rather ricketty small eucalypt for support when *crash:bang* a *&%$#! great big brushtail bounds up it from the undergrowth and clings there staring at me and sneering. I could gladly have snotted the thing, but it swaggered off once I'd recovered my breath enough to make a move for a weapon.

Carlon Head, Blue Mountains NP.

Teranodes montanus - A trapdoor spider hunting the moss on the banks of Lake Vera

Great pictures clusterpod.

A little tiger snake on Freycinet Peninsula



A little dragon in the same spot