Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Great Platypus Hunt (3rd September '06)

Treemonkey and the Wingecarribee river at Berrima

I finally headed off on the great platypus hunt at the weekend with Malcolm, Simon and Aleisha. The two Kiwis have just returned from a trip to southern Africa and so their new-found tracking skills would surely prove to be very useful. Simon also has the photography skills to get decent pictures and most of the shots here were taken by him.

Red-browed finches

A tip-off from a reliable source saw us head just over 100 km south-west from Sydney to the Southern Highlands area and more specifically, the Wingecarribee river at Berrima. Absolutely running with platypus down there we were told. Stopping off in Bowral for breakfast the wind and rain began to get up and we were informed by a knowledgable local that the platypus only really came out in the winter months. Figuring that maybe the sudden cold wind and rain may have fooled the platypus into thinking winter had come around again pretty soon, we headed off more in hope than expectation. By the time we reached Berrima the rain had stopped and the sun was out. It wasn't really very much like winter at all.

Eastern rosella (top) and Crimson rosella

We enthusiastically headed off down the river though and were fooled by several floating sticks and the odd fish before, right there in front of us, a platypus came swimming past on the surface. Result! We had fantastic views for ages as it pottered around on the surface between short dives to rummage on the river bed. What a ridiculous creature! Magic!

Platypus!!

The birds were not out in enormous abundance but a few nice ones posed for Simon and the varied sittellas were back for only my third sighting which was nice.

Grey butcherbird