Hello Possums!

I imagine that most of my Australian readers will recognise the allusion in the title, but for anyone else you could search for 'Dame Edna' on your favourite search engine or, perhaps more sensibly, just ignore it! This was to be quite a short post relative to some of my recent ones, partly because I don't have all the photos I'd like for it, and also because the three-part Alphabet of National Parks which began in my last post is something of an odyssey, and we'd probably both appreciate something a bit less substantial. However, a couple of my friends have come to the rescue regarding photos - it's curious that I, who have no artistic bents, have artists among my friends and Kathy Walter and Julian Robinson are among those friends who are much better photographers than I. Kathy in particular is also a mammal aficionado. Their photos are acknowledged as we go; those without acknowledgement are mine. I am very grateful to them for making this a much better post than it would have been.

Before we get to the Australian possums which are the subject of today's post, a quick revision of the origins of marsupials. Perhaps counter-intuitively they seem to have arisen in North America, with the oldest fossil which is definitely that of a marsupial being from Utah and dated at 80 million years ago. From here they spread throughout Eurasia presumably via a land bridge where the Bering Strait now is. It seems that they reached South America about 65 to 55 million years ago, perhaps by the hypothetical Aves Ridge (it exists, but its above-sea history is debated). Here they flourished while elsewhere the rise of the eutherians eventually spelled the fall of the marsupials. From South America marsupials, perhaps just one species, reached Australia via Antarctica about 50 million years ago. 

Big-eared Opossum Didelphis aurita, Trilha dos Tucanos, a lodge in the Atlantic
rainforest inland from Sao Paulo, Brazil. It seems appropriate to offer you a Brazilian 
species here, as it was from here that the American opossums first became known in 
Europe, when Vicente Pinzón presented one to the king and queen of Spain in 1500.

All this is really to say that the numerous American opossums, for which our possums were named, are only very tenuously related. (You will read elsewhere that the Virginia Opossum is the only opossum in North America, but this is untrue - there are eight species in Costa Rica for instance; the previous statement should include 'north of Mexico'.) These species, or their ancestors, moved north from South America when the Isthmus of  Panama rose to join the continents together just three million years ago.

White-eared Opossum Didelphis albiventris, Iguacu Falls, far southern Brazil.
The word 'opossum' is apparently from the Powhatan language of what is now Virginia.

When this officially became 'possum' in Australia is surprisingly unclear. I generally find Edward Morris's 1898 Dictionary of Australian English helpful in such matters but from it I can only deduce that 'opossum' was still the formal term here at that stage, but that 'possum' was being used less formally. Oh well, I don't suppose it matters here!

I suspect that to most eastern Australians at least 'possum' means the Common Brushtail Trichosurus vulpeculus. In fact I was prompted to post on possums by the appearance one morning recently of an adult Brushtail sleeping the day away just outside my study window on the balcony in an uncomfortable-looking site formed by the gap between the heat pump for the house heating and cooling, and the brick dividing wall between us and the neighbours. 

Brushtail Possum sheltering by day on our balcony, presumably because s/he couldn't find
an appropriate hollow (or had been ousted from one). It has now moved on and I hope is
sleeping more comfortably!

Given the short time they've had to adapt to our cities compared to other large urbanites such as raccoons and foxes, I suspect that this may be the best-adapted (or rather fastest-adapted) larger urban mammal in the world. In my experience they are much commoner, or at least easier to see, in cities than in the bush. 

 

But where do possums fit into the world of Australian marsupials? (You can skip this bit without losing the thread if you want, but I'll be brief.) There are some 230 species of marsupial in Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, and roughly 110 in the Americas. In Australia there are four Orders - the carnivores, the bandicoots, the herbivores (wombats, koala, possums and kangaroos) and the two extraordinary species of 'marsupial mole'. Possums and kangaroos together form a Suborder, also with four groups; the pygmy-possums, the gliders and ringtails, the brushtails and cuscuses - and all the kangaroos! Yep, kangaroos are just the ones who stayed on the ground. It seems that their distant ancestors, the oldest Australian marsupials that we know about, were small carnivores, some of whom took to the trees to access the fruits and flowers up there. In time (at least 35 million years ago), some of them came down again to live on the ground as herbivores and became the ancestors of the wide range of kangaroos, wallabies, potoroos etc.  

Musky Rat-kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus, Lake Eacham, Atherton Tablelands,
tropical Queensland. This is the smallest and most ancient living kangaroo, and 
perhaps gives us an idea of the ancestral kangaroo.

Those ancient marsupials which stayed in the trees became the ancestors of the modern possums, which form three subgroups (Superfamilies, but let's not go there) of some 70 species. While it's worth remembering that the kangaroos etc are as closely related to the possums as each of the possum sub-groups are to each other, we're otherwise ignoring them today. (But for a lot more about them, see here.)

The largest group, with about 35 species in four families, comprises the gliders and ringtails plus the tiny Western Australian Honey Possum and Feathertail Glider - about half of these are Australian, the rest are from New Guinea and associated islands. Remarkably it seems that gliding, a means of moving between trees without being exposed to the hazards of having to come to ground, has evolved on three separate occasions within this group. Two of the families have both gliding and non-gliding members, while the Feathertail Glider is alone in its family (though it may actually represent two species). There are about 17 species of ringtail, of which six live in Australia. The most familiar of these overall is probably the Common Ringtail Pseudocheirus peregrinus, found all along the eastern seaboard though there is probably more than one species involved here too. It is a much quieter and less pugnacious species than the Brushtail with which it often cohabits in urban situations.

Common Ringtail Possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus, Deua NP, southern NSW.
I unfortunately seem to have missed the characteristic white-tipped short-furred 
prehensile tail here. It has a long bare gripping pad below and acts as
a fifth limb both in climbing and carrying nesting material. They build
characteristic spherical grassy nests, in hollows or foliage, which are
called dreys after similar structures built by squirrels in Britain. In southern Australia
a Common Ringtail is likely to have several dreys in its home range; in the tropics 
it's more likely to use a tree hollow.

 

The Western Ringtail P. occidentalis of south-western Australia is sometimes lumped in with the Common. 

The other ringtail species (in different genera) are all tropical, including three with very small ranges in north-east Queensland rainforests.

Green Ringtail Possum Pseudochirops archeri by the famed and much-visited Curtain Fig
near Yungaburra on the Atherton Tablelands inland from Cairns. It typically hunches like
this to sleep on a branch in the open. Its greenish fur is due to an unusual blend
of white, black and yellow hairs. 

There is also a fascinating rock outcrop specialist ringtail, the Rock (or Rock-haunting) Ringtail Petropseudes dahli from the sandstone country of the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley. They spend the day sheltering among the rocks but forage at night in trees.

Right among the various ringtail genera is Petauroides, a group of three species of Greater Glider (until recently lumped as one species P. volans). Their gliding membrane stretches from the elbow to the 'shin' (or tibia) and with it they can cover distances of 100 metres, making turns of up to 90 degrees and flattening at the last moment to hit the trunk of the target tree vertically. Because of this attachment it doesn't spread its arms out while gliding but sticks out its elbows and tucks its paws under the chin.

Southern Greater Glider P. volans, Boonoo Boonoo NP, north-eastern NSW. A truly
beautiful mammal, one of only two (along with the Koala) to live almost solely on
eucalypt leaves - an awful diet but a guaranteed one. Unlike most other possums they are
almost entirely silent. The colour is very varied and near-white individuals are common.
Photo courtesy Kathy Walter.

A second family within this grouping comprises most of the rest of the gliders - the 'wrist-winged' gliders - and the enigmatic and striking tropical Striped Possum.

Striped Possum Dactylopsila trivirgata, Lake Eacham, Atherton Tableland,
tropical Queensland. This is probably the most visually spectacular of possums;
this one, plus three other species, are also found in New Guinea. This lodge on
the edge of Crater Lakes NP attracts these and Sugar Gliders in the evenings by
applying honey to the trunks in front of a small 'grandstand'. This would normally
make me very uncomfortable but the animals are clearly not dependent on the
offerings; some nights they don't come at all and they don't come at predictable times.
Moreover, the Striped Possum is largely carnivorous.

This fuzzy blow-up features the greatly elongated fourth toe which is critical to its
foraging for wood-boring beetle larvae, an important food source. Its two adze-like
lower incisors chew away the wood and bark, and the toe (or its long tongue)
hooks out the wriggling snack. This is probably the least-known of Australian possums,
though it is not uncommon in its tropical forests and woodlands.

Until recently there were four species of the 'wrist-wings' in the genus Petaurus, but now the (relatively) familiar and very widespread Sugar Glider (P. breviceps) has been split into three - and it seems that further work in the tropics may reveal even more species. The true Sugar Glider seems now to occur only to the east of Great Dividing Range; the animals west of the range (including around Canberra) are Krefft's Gliders P. notatus and the tropical savanna populations are of Savanna Glider P. ariel. My previous neighbours in inner northern Canberra had a family of Krefft's Gliders living in their roof cavity! I haven't tried to illustrate all three, as they are physically very similar.  As the group name implies they have a full gliding membrane attached at wrists and ankle and are very adept aerialists. They are small, with a body less than 20cm long and the tail about the same length again.

Krefft's Glider (almost certainly) at the feeding station at Lake Eacham. Unlike the Striped
Possums with which they sometimes feed here, nectar and other plant exudates feature in
their natural diets. They roost in hollows in family groups of half a dozen adults plus
young, and emerge together to forage. The edge of the non-extended gliding membrane
can be seen in the photo.

Other members of the genus are larger. The Squirrel Glider P. norfolcensis is a woodland species of about twice the bulk. In the south-east it is only found west of the Great Divide, but further north it comes to the coast. 

Squirrel Glider, Chiltern forest, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, northern Victoria.
The very bushy tail, especially at the base, is a good identification distinction 
from the sugar gliders. 
Photo courtesy Julian Robinson.

The highly endangered Mahogany Glider P. gracilis is noticeably larger again; it is limited to a very small section of coast in the Wet Tropics of Queensland between Ingham and Tully. It was only recognised as a separate species in 1993, having been 'lost' for a century since its initial description as a separate species, which was soon after rescinded. By this time much of its habitat had disappeared, especially to the sugar cane industry.

The largest by far though of these gliders is the spectacularly active and noisy Yellow-bellied Glider P. australis. They are found along much of the east coast and hinterland and, while threatened by logging, they are still reasonably common in the south, but the tropical populations (represented by the one below) are in danger. 

Yellow-bellied Glider, Atherton Tablelands; the alert posture in typical. Its attention-
grabbing shrieks are said to be audible half a kilometre away. 
I once heard one glide past my tent in the Brindabella Ranges, with a truly
alarming gurgling wail; I have since heard that this call is only uttered 
while gliding (and is uttered during most glides) so probably has 
a function in the coordination of group movements. 
Like other wrist-wing gliders it chews holes in tree trunks to lap the sap flow.
Photo courtesy Kathy Walter.

The highly endangered Leadbeater's Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri of the montane ash forests of Victoria near Melbourne is in the same family and is like a sugar glider without the gliding facility.

 

Two other very small families (in species numbers and individual size) complete this group. The tiny Honey Possum or Noolbenger Tarsipes rostratus of south-western Australia is less than 20cm long including the tail and weighs less than 15g. It is entirely reliant on nectar and pollen and is an important pollinator of plant groups such as banksias. It is the only member of its family. The three remarkable photos that follow were all provided by Julian Robinson and were taken at Cheynes Beach near Albany.

 

Honey Possum with its nose deeply embedded in the banksia flower spike.

Honey Possum licking nectar from the banksia flower, its tongue clearly visible.

Honey Possum with banksia pollen on its whiskers (you may have to click
on the photo to see it properly).

The final family in this grouping comprises just two species of equally tiny possums, though only one is found in Australia. The Feathertail Glider Acrobates pygmaeus is found from the south-east coast to the tip of Cape York Peninsula though its size (think a small mouse) means that it isn't often seen. (There is actually a good argument for two Australian species being involved, though that's not yet been generally adopted.) The relatively thick gliding membrane is attached to elbows and knees, and the eponymous feathery fringed tail doubtless assists in the glide too. It has insect-eating teeth and a brush-tipped pollinator's tongue. 

Feathertail Glider Acrobates pygmaeus Beowa NP, far south coast NSW. 
This is the world's smallest gliding mammal. I have spent time in the same campground 
without seeing this little beauty - note to self, be more assiduous! 
Another remarkable photo. Photo courtesy Kathy Walter.

The second group of Australian possums comprises larger animals, the brushtail possums, cuscuses and the Scaly-tailed Possum.

 

The brushtails, as I mentioned earlier, are doubtless the possum that most Australians will think of, because one species, the Common Brushtail Trichosurus vulpeculus, is found across most of the continent, though it's now very rare in the arid lands and declining in the north and south-west. However it is still an abundant urban animal in the east, and is likely to be found scrounging in most park campgrounds. Atypically among possums, the brushtails inexplicably lack the powerful gripping structure of the front feet, where the first two toes oppose the other three.

 

Common Brushtail investigating the bird feeder at night in my former Canberra 
back yard. I had three or four living in my garage most of the time and except in 
drought time they foraged away from home and mostly left my vegie garden alone.
When the Millennial Drought was at its peak though they even ate the bark off
my chilli plants; I gave up at that point. They are mostly vegetarian and eat a lot
of leaves - including some that are toxic to most animals - and fruit and flowers.
They are big animals, up to three kilograms, so need a lot of food.

While they 'normally' spend the day in tree hollows, there are simply not enough
such hollows to support the large urban populations, and like the one on our
balcony that I mentioned earlier, will make do where they can. This mother and
baby had settled into the one of the bird hides at Canberra's Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

There has long been also recognised a closely related species of the ranges, the Mountain Brushtail or Bobuck T. caninus. However in 2002 it was realised that this comprised two species, roughly north and south of Newcastle in hinterland forests; the new species, T. cunninghamii, referred to the southern animals and retained the Mountain Brushtail (or Bobuck) name (though the subsequent discovery of Victorian populations in eastern lowlands was unfortunate in this regard!). T. caninus in the north became Short-eared Brushtail (or Bobuck). Confused? Never mind, here's one to take your mind off the names! 

Short-eared Brushtail, Chichester State Forest, south of the Barrington Tops in NSW.
This one was very much at home in the campground.

In addition the isolated and distinctive coppery race of the Atherton Tablelands, and the not-very-brushy-tailed brushtails of the Top End are also considered by some to be separate species, which may well be accepted in time.

The most numerous possums within this group are the 22 species of cuscus, most of which are in New Guinea and nearby islands, though two of them are also found in tropical far north Queensland. They have distinctive short faces and long prehensile tails, and are mostly vegetarian though at least some also take eggs and small animals opportunistically. They are hard to see in the rainforest canopy and roost well-hidden during the day. 

Waigeou Cuscus Spilocuscus papuensis, West Papua, Indonesia.
This species is closely related to and very similar to the Common Spotted Cuscus
S. maculatus, found on Cape York.
 Photo courtesy Kathy Walter.

Lastly in this group is something of an outlier, the rock-specialising Scaly-tailed possum Wyulda squamicaudata of the remote and rugged Kimberley region of far north-western Australia. 

Scaly-tailed Possum at Bachsten Camp, Kimberley.
During the day they rest in rock piles and crevices such as this, and 
forage for plant material at night, mostly in trees.
Photo courtesy Kathy Walter.

Finally the third group of possums comprises just five species of tiny pygmy possums (though some would include them in the previous group). They are mouse-sized, with long prehensile tails and occupy habitats from heathlands to wet forests and tropical rainforests, and to alpine boulder fields in the case of the Mountain Pygmy-possum, Burramys parvus. This one has a total, non-continuous range of only some 600 hectares in the Australian Alps, so is at extreme risk from climate change - once you've been driven by rising temperatures to the top of the mountain there's nowhere else to go. The other four are not regarded as nearly so precarious. They are mostly insectivores though some take nectar and the Mountain Pygmy-possum eats hard seeds. 

The story of the discovery of the Mountain Pygmy-possum deserves retelling. In 1966 a strange mouse-like animal with a prehensile tail was captured in the University ski lodge at Mt Higinbotham in the Victorian Alps. Back in Melbourne it was held at the Fisheries and Wildlife Department and examined by Norman Wakefield, a scientist and pioneer biology communicator who’d actually been working on Burramys fossils that he’d recently found in East Gippsland. He looked at the teeth and immediately recognised the living animal from the fossil. The following telegram was sent to mammal doyen David Ride in Perth. "BURRAMYS EXTANT STOP NOT REPEAT NOT EXTINCT STOP LIVE MALE CAPTURED MOUNT HOTHAM STOP AM TRYING FOR FEMALE."

Later in his book Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia, Ride wrote with passion and allusion of his reaction to that telegram. “Burramys had come to life. The dream dreamed by every professional palaeontologist had come true. The dry bones of the fossil had come together and were covered with sinews, flesh and skin. Burramys lived”. This seems to me a wonderful and wholly appropriate expression of joy from a senior, and sometimes dour, scientist.

Eastern Pygmy-Possum Cercatetus nanus, Beowa NP, above and below. This one is
somewhat atypical in mostly eating nectar and pollen, and is known to be a significant
pollinator of banksias and waratahs. 
Photos courtesy Kathy Walter.

This post has turned into a longer journey than I'd planned (as is often the case I find!) but I hope you've enjoyed the ride and found something of interest and pleasure along the way. And I hope you love our possums as much as I do!

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER

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An Alphabet of National Parks; #1 A to G

Hello and welcome back to Ian Fraser Talking Naturally after a bit of a hiatus while we've been in warmer climes. I haven't had time yet to edit all the photos from our trip, but this post is something I've been thinking about for a while. I've previously done an alphabet of (hopefully) interesting birds, which at least some of you found of interest, and I'm toying with the idea of an alphabet of mammals, but this alphabet is something a bit different. Apart from the obvious difference in topic, I'm not going to set myself any guidelines this time, so there will usually be several parks per letter, both Australian and overseas. (I'm consciously using the term 'national park' imprecisely here to refer to any formally declared reserve of natural habitats on public land.) Moreover there won't necessarily be only one photo per park if I see a good reason for two and occasionally even more than that. At this stage it looks like spreading over three posts, though they won't be consecutive so if this doesn't interest you come back next time for something different!

There's some nostalgia here for me - in many cases they are parks I almost certainly won't be seeing again (no, nothing sinister there, just too much more to see in a diminishing number of years) - and I hope there are both some memories for you, and suggestions of somewhere else to explore. It's basically all in the  form of a photo essay, with not much linking text. Within each letter the parks are alphabetical; no identifiable favouritism here! I've included basic maps with most of them, keeping them small so they don't interfere too much with the main narrative; just click on them to enlarge, or skip them altogether. And finally, where appropriate I've included a link to an earlier post that focussed on the park.

So here we go, 34 national parks and nature reserves across six continents, from A to G.

A

Embarrassingly I can't offer a single Australian park that I can illustrate for the very first letter, but I've got a couple of pretty good overseas ones, and things improve from an Australian viewpoint after that!

Amboseli NP in southern Kenya in the late afternoon, with a couple of young
Cheetahs playing in the foreground and mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, just over
the border in Tanzania, in the background. Though only 39,000ha, it was declared a 
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1991. (For a lot more on Amboseli see here.)

Female Indri Indri indri (yep!) and baby, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, eastern
Madagascar. This park covers only 15,500 hectares, and the magnificent Indri, 
almost the largest living lemur and the only one to be almost tailless, is
tragically Critically Endangered. My memories of this day are of exhilaration
at experiencing this wonderful animal, and grief for its terrible situation.

Gemsbok Oryx gazella, Augrabies Falls NP, north-western South Africa.
A superb 50,000ha arid land park surrounding the spectacular gorge
of the Orange River. More about it here.
The Gemsbok is a magnificent animal; a big male like this one
can weigh up to a quarter of a tonne.

B

Raffles' Pitcher Plant Nepenthes rafflesiana, Bako NP, Sarawak,
Malaysian Borneo. At only 2700ha it is one of Sarawak's smallest parks,
as well as the oldest, and is only accessible by boat. It is however very
rich and I'd highly recommend a stay there. More on it here.

Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius, Benoué NP, central Cameroon. This elegant
little bird is one of those select species that are the only living members of their 
entire family, and hence of great interest to birders! Benoué is a large (180,000 ha)
woodland national park which I found fascinating; Cameroon is not an 
easy country to visit however. More on Benoué here.

Common Bottlenose Dolphins Tursiops truncatus, part of a pod feeding actively just off a 
headland in Beowa National Park, far south coast of NSW. Beowa, formerly known as
Ben Boyd, is a favourite of ours; we've taken to spending a few days camping there
as soon as the school holidays end in February. The park is in two sections, north and
south of the port of Eden. We camp in the southern section, which comprises substantial
areas of coastal heathland and extensive eucalypt forests. You can read more about it here. 
And because it's a favourite, it gets two photos! (So much for lack of favouritism - oh well.)

Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae, on the edge of the campground; this is a regular event there.

Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata, Bladensburg NP, central Queensland near
the town of Winton. This fascinating dryland bird shared our campsite by the creek.
Bladensburg contains 85,000ha of grassy plains, braided creek lines and low
rocky ranges and 'jump-ups', or mesas. More on the park here.

Australian Logrunner Orthonyx temminckii, absorbed in a lengthy struggle to subdue
a big centipede on the walking track in Boorganna NR. This is a delightful small reserve
(400ha) inland from Port Macquarie on the mid north coast of NSW. This ground-dwelling
logrunner is one of only three members of its family, restricted to wet near-coastal 
forests of the northern half of NSW and southern Queensland. This is the only
photographable one I've even been fortunate enough to meet.

African Bush Elephants Loxodonta africana, coming to drink and wallow in the
shallow Ewaso Ng'iro River in Buffalo Springs Nature Reserve, central Kenya.
We spent a long time just watching and being absorbed in their behaviour. 
This is a small reserve but augmented by its proximity to two others and full of wildlife;
more on it here.

Female Sunda Colugo Galeopterus variegatus with baby, Bukit Batok Nature Park Singapore.
Bukit Batok is a small rainforest reserve (36ha) but with much to see; the small city-state
of Singapore has an admirable and perhaps unexpected system of reserves.
Colugos (there is one other species in the Philippines) are fascinating gliding 
mammals with no close relations at all, though they have been 
erroneously referred to as 'flying lemurs'. This sighting was a real thrill.

Blue Tiger Tirumala hamata Bundjalung NP, north coast NSW.
A striking butterfly, though not especially uncommon and found well beyond Australia.
However it was one highlight among many during our stay in this lovely coastal park.
It covers only 21,000ha but is part of a not quite continuous 100km long stretch
of conserved coastline. More on it here. 

Mother and 18 month baby Eastern Mountain Gorilla Gorilla beringei,
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is in south-western Uganda on the border with the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This was one of the natural history 
highlights of my life, of which I've been lucky enough to have had a few. 
There are probably only about 1000 of this highland subspecies left in the world.
More on this wonderful park here.

C

New Holland honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae in Cape Le Grand National Park,
in south-western Western Australia. This is one of the commonest birds across 
south-eastern and south-western Australia, especially in heathlands. This one is taking 
nectar from - and pollinating, see the dusting of pollen on its forehead - Calothamnus quadrifidus, 
or One-sided Bottlebrush, a genus endemic to Western Australia.
Cape Le Grand is a relatively remote park some 60km east of Esperance (WA's 
eastern-most coastal town), protecting 32,000ha of glorious coastal heathland.

Spiny-tailed Iguana Ctenosaura similis in the carpark of Carara NP close to the mid-western
(Pacific) coast of Costa Rica, only 50k west of the inland capital, San José. 
This is a big Central American iguana, and a group of these were dominating the carpark when we visited. Carara covers only 5200ha of rainforest and the River Tárcoles catchment but, astonishingly, well
over 400 bird species have been recorded there. 

Representatives of three ancient plant groups growing together along the main walking
track into the gorge in the Carnarvon Gorge section of Carnarvon NP in central Queensland.
Front left is a big old cycad, Macrozamia moorei, which is endemic to this area of inland
Queensland. It is the tallest of the Australian cycads, but above it here are Carnarvon Gorge
Cabbage Palms Livistona nitida, restricted to an even smaller area around Carnarvon. 
Below them at the back are the bright green fronds of the tree-ferns, either Cyathea australis
or C.cooperi (and yes I know that they've both been assigned to different genera now, but
I'm going to stick with the familiar for now).
The park is huge - some 300,000 ha - and while it is formally divided into seven sections,
only four of these are readily accessible. These are (roughly) in the east (the gorge), 
north-west (Salvator Rosa), north (Ka Ka Mundi) and south-east (Mount Moffat) of the range.
Below is an example of the very different landscape of Salvator Rosa.

 

Yellow Jacket Corymbia leichhardtii grassy woodland among sandstone outcrops,
Salvator Rosa section of Carnarvon NP.

Some of the spectacular sandstone landscape, including some pretty impressive
waterfalls, of the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park in south-western Brazil.
This is a little north of the more famous (but not formally conserved) Pantanal area.

Giant Yellow Robber Fly Blepharotes coriarius, Cocoparra NP, southern central NSW.
This park, based on a semi-arid range near the Riverina town of Griffith, is one of our favourites
within a day's drive of home; in fact when we finally took possession of our camper trailer a
few years ago, we headed off for Cocoparra the very next day!
This is an impressively big fly, nearly 5cm long, and a fierce aerial predator. From this
typical hunting position it will dart out after passing insects, especially wasps, bees and beetles.
(The yellow is not visible here.)

Australian Pelicans Pelecanus conspicillatus roosting at dawn, Coorong National Park,
South Australia. The Coorong is a remarkable 130km long coastal lagoon, beginning at the
mouth of the River Murray in Lake Alexandrina, and separated from the sea only by the
sand dunes in the background (which form the Younghusband Peninsula). I spent quite a
bit of time there in my younger days. Reduced freshwater inflow, especially from the 
increasingly strangled Murray itself,  has caused dangerously rising salinity levels and 
seriously threatens the important values of the complex, which includes the only 
permanent pelican breeding colony in Australia.

Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake with flowering teatree Leptospermum sp. flowering
in the foreground, in Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair NP, in central north-western Tasmania. 
It might look a little hazy but in fact it's quite unusual for the mountain to be visible at all, 
and it's more often than not shrouded in rain. We were lucky this day and it's one of our 
favourite Australian day walks. The park is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

Two big male Lace Monitors Varanus varius struggling for territorial - ie mating -
supremacy in Croajingalong NP in far eastern Victoria. We were visiting on a day
trip from Beowa NP across the border in NSW (see under B above) and stumbled
on this epic battle, in which skin was torn, which was continuing when we eventually
had to move on. Croajingalong is a big park - 87,000ha - protecting some 80km
of coastline and hinterland.

D

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus, silhouetted at dawn 
in Dairy Farm NR, Singapore. This reserve epitomises to me what Singapore
has achieved in the restoration of its rainforests. The area was cleared for
crops (especially pepper) in the 19th century and by the 1930s the land was turned to
what was claimed to be the world's first tropical dairy farm. In the 1980s the
National Parks Board began the process of regeneration and today it is a
rich pocket of rainforest, with lots of wildlife and many residents using
the walking tracks for recreation and exercise.

Early morning on Shell Beach, Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park at the foot of Yorke Peninusula,
South Australia. This park has some of the best coastal scenery we know of, as well as
extensive mallee and woodland vegetation and saline lakes; it's a gem. 
I first went there 50 years ago in another life and it was a joy to go back and to share it.
Here's an entire post on it. And below is someone I shared the beach with that early morning.

Hooded Dotterel (or Plovers) Thinornis cucullatus, a listed threatened species
nationally and in South Australia, though it seems a bit more secure there than
it does on the east coast.

E

View from the information centre at El Cajas National Park, above the town of Cuenca
high in the Andes of southern Ecuador. The park protects some 30,000ha of alpine and
subalpine habitats including many lakes, from 3000 to 4500masl. Breathing can 
become a serious challenge when walking up there! More on the park here. 

Blue-mantled Thornbill Chalcostigma stanleyi, at 4200 metres in El Cajas. I love the
iridescence on its throat! The plant looks like a daisy, but if I ever knew it I'm afraid
I've forgotten it. I haven't forgotten the pleasure I got from looking at both of them though.

Turquoise-fronted Amazon Amazona aestiva on a termite mound in Emas NP,
south-western Brazil, east of the Pantanal. This is a huge park of 130,000ha in the Cerrado, 
a vast but heavily threatened region of moist savanna woodland and grassland in central Brazil.
Few visitors go to Emas and our stay sticks firmly in my mind. We even saw in the distance
the almost mythical Maned Wolf but I was so enthralled I forgot to take even a 'record' photo!

Palm-studded montane tropical rainforest in Eungella NP, west of Mackay
in central east Queensland. (It's pronounced 'yung-gela' by the way.) It is most famous as the 
home of the endemic Eungella Honeyeater which is found only here. I'd seen it but
had hoped to rectify my lack of photos recently on the way home from northern Queensland,
when we'd booked a couple of nights there, but the universe intervened 
and I had to drive past the turnoff. Next time...

F

On this occasion I couldn't find any overseas 'F' parks to illustrate, but can offer three very different and very nice Australian ones

Red Cabbage Palms Livistona mariae in Palm Valley, part of the Finke Gorge NP
in central Australia, south-west of Alice Springs. These palms were until recently assumed
to be relics from a wetter time, but genetic analysis shows that they are the same
species as Mataranka Palms, 1000km to the north, and separated from them
only 15,000 years ago. The current conclusion is that people brought the seeds here. 
They grow here along only two kilometres of the river bed. Finke Gorge NP is
much larger than this, covering 46,000ha including the ancient Finke River bed.

Royal Hakea H. victoria is a large colourful leafy hakea found primarily in the 
sandy heaths of Fitzgerald River NP, as here, in the south-west of Western Australia.
The white flowers are quite inconspicuous but grow in the leaf axils; presumably the
coloured leaves draw attention to them.This is but one of some 250 plant species which
are almost restricted to the park, but another 75 are only found within its boundaries.
The huge 330,000ha park protects swathes of heathland and the low outcrops
of the Barren Range, halfway between Albany and Esperance. It is absolutely remarkable.

Drooping Sheoak Allocasuarina verticillata, struggling but surviving on a
granite platform between two huge boulders in Freycinet NP on the 
east coast of Tasmania. This is a very rugged and beautiful 17,000ha
peninsular park with high visitation. The main attraction for most of us is the
steep but rewarding walk over 'The Hazards' to the very aesthetic Wineglass Bay.

G

We start G with the incomparable Galápagos NP, 1000km off the west coast of Ecuador. A vast literature has been written about this extraordinary archipelago, which is being on the whole pretty well-protected by the Ecuadorian government, but it's probably still not enough. However I'm not going to add much, except for including an unprecedented five photos if it! I couldn't help it.

Lava Cactus Brachycereus nesioticus growing on a lava field in Fernandina, a remarkably 
tough environment. The archipelago is moving to the south-east on the edge of the Nazca
Plate. As it moves over a 'hot spot' in the earth's crust molten material bubbles
up and forms islands - the oldest ones are thus to the south-east of the archipelago
and are the most vegetated. As you'll see on the map Fernandina is in the far west, so is one |
of the newest and starkest of the islands. Like very many other Galápagos species,
Lava Cactus grows nowhere else.

Male Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens displaying spectacularly on 
North Seymour. The extraordinary inflatable throat pouch is a modified air sac,
an integral part of their respiratory system and a key to birds' success, but
that's a different story. Frigatebirds often accompany boats between the islands,
soaring along without ever apparently flapping.

Marine Iguanas Amblyrhynchus cristatus on Española, where the males typically
display these pink patterns. This is the only living marine lizard, and lives
almost exclusively on seaweed which it dives for. After a while in the archipelago
the ridiculously unlikely starts to seem normal.

American flamingos Phoenicopterus ruber at sunset on Floreana.
This is an outlying population of a species which otherwise is found in the 
far north of South America and the Caribbean.

Sunset from the spectacular lookout on Bartolomé, looking towards the larger island of San Salvador.

Back in Australia... Looking north from the Boroka Lookout in Gariwerd
(or Grampians) NP in western Victoria, a huge park of 170,000ha,
much of it accessible only on foot. Another favourite of ours, though some
85% of it has burnt in recent years, including just last summer.

Blue Tinsel Lily Calectasia intermedia at Heatherlie Quarry, a noted wildflower
hotspot. All other Calectasia live only in Western Australia; this one is not quite
restricted to the Gariwerd range, but nearly 50 species are (various numbers are cited,
but 49 is the one most commonly used).

Grampians Thryptomene T. calycina, Mount Zero, in the far north of the range.
This one is endemic to the park, and cloaks swathes of it in spring.

Old Grasstrees Xanthorrhoea glauca Gibraltar Range NP, north-eastern NSW.
This mountainous park protects some 25,000ha of forest. Along with the adjacent
Washpool NP, famed for and saved by strenuous protest action in the 1980s,
it is part of the Gondwana Rainforest of Australia World Heritage Site.

Lough Beagh, Glenveagh NP, County Donegal, Ireland. With 17,000ha
it is the second-largest national park in Ireland.

White-Tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum, Glenveagh NP. I was intrigued
by the Irish bumblebees, as we have none (native) in Australia. I was pleasantly
surprised when I got home to discover that I'd photographed four of them.

Young wild Bornean Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus, Gomantong Forest Reserve, Sabah,
Malaysian Borneo. The reserve covers just 3300ha, and the focus is on the impressive 
cave system, but this was the highlight of our visit there. The mother was much 
more circumspect and stayed high in the trees, but this youngster was very curious.

Homoranthus darwinioides Goulburn River NP, at the north-western end of
the Blue Mountains system in the central Great Dividing Range in NSW.
I'm a big fan of sandstone country, and this wild park is one I always stop
at when passing that way. This plant is regarded as being at risk, though
is not yet formally listed as threatened.

Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscatus, Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef Marine NP, 
northern Queensland. The vast marine park covers some 34,000,000ha along 2300km of 
the Queensland coast. This tiny narrow sandy cay (less than two hectares in area and 
350 metres long, just above sea level) supports important numbers of nesting seabirds.
It is visited daily by tourist boats from Cairns, 40k away, but under admirably
strict conditions - only for a few hours each day and visitors are restricted to a
small area of roped-off beach. We loved our time there, including snorkelling.

The last park in today's park odyssey is Gundabooka NP in far northern central NSW. This is the
view from Little Mountain Lookout across to Mount Gunderbooka (not a typo, this is what 
happens when unfamiliar names get written down in different contexts). The mulga woodland
that covers this plain is typical of much of this 94,000ha dryland park.
There's a whole post on Gundabooka here.

White-browed Treecreeper Climacteris affinis, the only solely arid-land Australian
treecreeper, and probably the least known, here right alongside our camp in the
Dry Tank campground.

And that's our national park alphabet odyssey for today! If you're still reading, thank you. And I hope you've been rewarded for your diligence with a mix of good memories and some curiosity which may produce more good memories in the future, as I suggested at the start.

As I also suggested I'll give you a break from this next time and post on something else. Hope we meet again then. 

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER

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