Atherton #2: Crater Lakes NP

In my most recent post, I introduced the fascinating Atherton Tableland in northern tropical Queensland. It, or at least the rainforest remnants it supports, is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area. These rainforests are a snapshot of ancient Australia, when old Gondwana was wet and rainforests covered most of the continent before the great drying which produced Australia as we now know it. The tableland is volcanic in origin, which led to very fertile soils, hence both the presence of the rainforest and its subsequent widespread clearing for agriculture. I feel that it is frustratingly obvious that a coordinated reafforestation program, offering appropriate incentives to landholders, would make an enormous difference. I've seen how such projects have transformed places with similar climates, such as Singapore and Costa Rica, undoing decades of clearing (though in Singapore most of the subject land is state-owned). However this would of course require a government with both vision and commitment.

Perhaps the richest of the remaining rainforest is the too-thin fringe that surrounds the two Crater Lakes, Barrine, originally Barany, and Eacham, also known as Yidyam, in the north-east of the tableland. 

Looking across Lake Eacham/Yidyam to the narrow belt of rainforest which surrounds both it and 
nearby Lake Barrine/Barany.

Just to save you from having to go back to the previous post; the crater lakes are in
the north-east of the map.

 

Lake Barrine/Barany above, and Lake Eacham/Yidyam; the red arrow points to Chambers Wildlife Lodge,
where we've stayed on a couple of occasions. As I've said before, I will only name
commercial businesses where I believe they have a genuine conservation ethos and
that what they offer is worth sharing with you. The national park covers just less than
1000ha, about half of which comprises the lakes themselves. Even then, not all of the forest
is reserved (eg the lodge I've mentioned is on the edge of the park, though I'm sure 
the forest is safe in their hands) and the two forests are only marginally connected. 

Despite this, the remnants are remarkably rich, a richness which is obvious to even a casual observer. We like to think of ourselves as a little more than that, and we are entranced by it.

The craters formed between 10,000 and 17,000 years ago (depending on what you read) when massive explosions resulted from the conjunction of molten magma with underground water. Pollen analyses tell us that at that time the surrounding forests were drier (this was during the last glaciation, when aridity was the norm). Both lakes are 65 metres deep at the lowest point and both lakes have easy circuit walks around them, 3km for Lake Eacham/Yidyam and 5k for Lake Barrine/Barany. We've done both of these walks more than once, and have enjoyed it every time, and recently did the boat cruise for the first time, so let's start with the lakes. 

A glimpse of Lake Eacham/Yidyam from the walking track.

Lake Eacham/Yidyam has large and usually busy picnic areas and extensive carparks. Often these are really too busy to provide much wildlife, but on our most recent visit we had a real surprise!

This splendid Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius was ambling along,
seemingly oblivious to the gawking humans (which of course included us).
They are massive up close. Cassowaries have not done well from the human
invasion, with traffic, dogs and of course rainforest clearing reducing numbers 
alarmingly. However there are apparently some encouraging signs of at least a 
slowing in the rate of reduction, and we were told that it has been quite some
years since a cassowary was last seen at Lake Eacham. (The next morning it 
turned up at our nearby accommodation!)

Nearby Lake Barrine/Barany has the historic teahouse and boat cruises. The teahouse was built in 1928 and has been a recreation hall, a guesthouse and, during World War II, an army convalescent home. 

Lake Barrine/Barany. (I'm afraid it rarely occurs to me to photograph buildings, but you can find
photos of the teahouse readily on line; it is a handsome old wooden building.)

As far back as 1888 both lakes, with a narrow strip of shoreline, were declared scenic reserves, and in 1934 both lakes were elevated to National Park status. In 1913 George Curry, with his wife Margaret, settled by the lake and after the war they developed the now teahouse and he was appointed a ranger by the Lakes Trust. (The details differ slightly between the accounts of the Curry family told to us on the boat cruise and the parks service website; I'm not in a position to adjudicate and it doesn't matter in this context anyway.) The teahouse and the boat cruises are still in the family; George and Margaret's grandson runs the boat cruises (at least on the day we were there) and their great-granddaughter and her partner run the teahouse.

Lake Barrine/Barany rainforest from the boat.

It was with a modicum of trepidation that we booked the boat cruise on the spur of the moment (we'd had a disappointing experience on another boat trip earlier in the year, albeit far from here) but our trepidation was entirely misplaced. We were accompanied on the cruise by a small busload of young local Indigenous people and a bigger busload of girls from a Sydney private school - both groups seemed fascinated by what they saw and heard. Our skipper Steve Curry was accompanied by a local Indigenous elder, Laurie, who told the local creation story of the lakes. Steve quietly told the history of the place, pointed out trees and other landmarks (and shared perhaps quite enough polished dad jokes), and the two of them made it an excellent experience. A highlight for seemingly most of us was seeing a couple of impressive Amethystine Pythons in branches just above the water; it was a cool day and the water is a heat sink, so keeps the air above it warm too and they gather here because of it. 

Australian Scrub (or Amethystine) Python Simalia kinghorni; it kept moving and I
unfortunately was unable to catch the head! (There is some disagreement re the names,
but it seems that Amethystine Python, while closely related, occurs only in 
Indonesia and PNG, not Australia.) Magnificent anyway, it is the longest and most massive
Australian snake, and one of the world's Big Snakes..

Flowering Umbrella Trees were another delight.

Flowering Umbrella Trees Heptapleurum (formerly Schefflera) actinophyllum 
Family Araliaceae growing by the lake, above and below.

A downside was the presence of African Tilapias in the water, among several species not native to the lake, which were all released illegally. As a result the number of fish species native to the lake has now dropped from three to one.

Tilapia in Lake Barrine/Barany.

Needless to say the perspective of the forest from the walking track around Barrine/Barany is rather different; here are some highlights we've enjoyed along the path.

A famous pair of Bull Kauris Agathis microstachya, growing by the track near the start
of the Lake Barrine/Barany walking track (going clockwise from the teahouse). These
are in the ancient Gondwanan conifer family Araucariaceae, and the species is endemic
to the Atherton Tablelands and the immediate vicinity. These two are estimated to 
be 1000 years old.

Boyd's Forest Dragon Lophosaurus boydii on the side of a tree, a common
resting/hunting place for them. A few years ago we went up to the tropics
in January - definitely not tourist season! - and were rewarded with sights
we'd not seen in the drier times of the year. This was one of them.

This spectacular dragon is another Queensland Wet Tropics endemic.

Another treat on the same walk was this male Cairns Birdwing Butterfly 
Ornithoptera euphorion, a real stunner and another Wet Tropics 
special (apart from an outlying population near Mackay to the south).

Atherton Scrubwren Sericornis keri, yet another Wet Tropics endemic,
mostly in the highlands.

 

Spectacled Monarch Symposiachrus trivirgatus, a more widespread species,
extending along the east coast south to the NSW mid north coast.

But many aspects of both tracks are, understandably, very similar, so the following set of photos is a combination of both walks; any of these images could have been taken on either walk.

Typical rainforest along the walking track, much of which is a boardwalk (at Lake Eacham at least).

Lianas; the climbing form allows these plants' leaves to access the sunlight by 
ascending into the canopy without investing in a massive wooden trunk. 
They are a feature of tropical rainforests.

A conspicuous group of climbers is the rattan palms, Calamus spp. (I think this
one is C. australis.) They require care on the part of walkers on these tracks. Young 
stems are protected by a thicket of thin sharp spines, and from the crown of palm leaves
descends a very unpleasant flexible 'whip', covered in wicked hooks. We are just
collateral damage however, the real purpose is to hook onto host trees to enable
them to extend upwards to the light.

 

Some rattan palm thorns, small but very effective! Their common name refers
to their use in basket and wicker furniture making, but they are more commonly
referred to in Australia as lawyer, or wait-a-while vines, for their savage entanglements.

Epiphytes are plants which grow on other plants, not taking nutrients from them (as mistletoes do) but using them for support to again get up nearer to the light. Many of these in the tropical rainforests are fern and orchids, which have minute dust-like spores and seeds respectively, to be carried on air currents to a resting place. 

Basket Ferns Drynaria sp., high in the canopy.

However there is one group of epiphytes which eventually literally overwhelm other rainforest trees; these are the strangler figs. 

A bird or bat deposits a fig seed on a branch or trunk in their sticky droppings. The seed
germinates and sends down roots, fine tendrils at first, which get bigger later. When the roots 
reach the ground they penetrate it and start sending nutrients up to the fig seedling, which in 
turns starts to grow upwards. Eventually its massive canopy kills the host tree, not by 
'strangling' but by shading it and preventing it from photosynthesising. The host trunks 
slowly rots, leaving the fig as a free-standing tree, with numerous aerial roots which 
provide shelter to many animals.

A well-known strangler fig on the Lake Eacham track. There are many species of them, 
this one and the one above being Ficus virens (often known as White Fig or Albayi).

Despite the previous comment however, not all ferns are epiphytes of course, and the rainforest understorey supports many fern species. 

Bank of Maidenhair Fern Adiantum hispidulum.

 And fungi are of course profuse; here are a couple that I can't name - sorry!

These bracket fungi are busy returning the log to the forest soil.

 

To end this celebration of the Crater Lakes NP I'm going to offer some of the highlights we've seen from (and even on) the balcony of our accommodation there, facing into the rainforest. Technically the lodge is obviously not in the park, but the boundary is very close and is unmarked. 

 

This is along the short entrance road to the property, some of which is dominated
by huge Flooded Gums Eucalyptus grandis, forming wet sclerophyll forest;
this track  is always work a walk. The lodge however, a bit lower down, is 
totally within the rainforest.

 

This is the view from a cabin verandah, looking directly into the rainforest.

It is not surprising then that the following photos, taken from one or other such verandah on different trips, are a pretty good sample of some of the vertebrate fauna of the park. They include three more Wet Tropics bird endemics though I'm starting with a couple of much more widespread species.

 

Rufous (or Little) Shrikethrush Colluricincla rufogaster, like all shrikethrushes a glorious songster.
It's smaller than other species, and is found across northern Australia and down
the east coast to northern NSW, mostly in rainforests

Lewin's Honeyeater Meliphaga lewinii is found right down the east coast
of Australia in wetter forests. It readily learns to come to the lodge verandahs
if fruit is on offer.

Grey-headed Robins Heteromyias cinereifrons are endemic to the Wet Tropics rainforests.
I find them beguiling, quiet but not especially shy, intent on going about their business.
This one was just below our balcony.

Black Butcherbirds Melloria quoyi live across the wetter parts of northern Australia
and down the east coast to Mackay, as well as in New Guinea and some associated
islands. An authoritative study determined that it is something of a link
between the other butcherbirds and Australian Magpies. Like other
butcherbirds (and magpies) they have a lovely rich complex call,
sometimes almost bell-like.

Male Victoria's Riflebird Ptiloris victoriae on the balcony. (We may have
inadvertently left some fruit on the railing...) Unfortunately the light was
entirely wrong, but you get just a hint of his glorious iridescence. This
species is pretty well limited to the Atherton Tableland.
There are three species of riflebirds, which are birds of paradise, in three 
small discrete populations in the eastern tropical and subtropical rainforests. 

Spotted Catbird Ailuroedus maculosus, calling from just off our balcony. It has a
rather weird cat-like wailing-yowling call, very atmospheric. Catbirds are 
apparently primitive bowerbirds, which do not build display bowers.
This one is another Wet Tropics endemic; there are two closely related and
similar species in far north Queensland and in New Guinea, with which
 it has until recently been confused.

One of the highlights of Chambers Wildlife Lodge is the night wildlife viewing area, near to the cabins, facing into the rainforest.

The area is lit, which initially surprised me, but it doesn't seem to bother at least
some of the animals; I've seen the same setup at a waterhole in Etosha NP in 
Namibia, and in a similar forest situation to this in Brazil.

In principle I don't like the idea of feeding wildlife, but this seems fairly controlled. Some honey is spread on a couple of tree trunks in the early evening, especially to attract two species of possum. In our experiences there the animals don't stay long and don't come every night, so it seems to be providing a minor treat rather than a primary food source. Anyway, here are the stars. 

Sugar Gliders are widespread in eastern and northern Australia and New Guinea.
However we now know that there are three Australian species and the most widespread
one, west of the Great Dividing Range, is Krefft's Glider Petaurus notatus, including this one.
(The true Sugar Glider P. breviceps live along the coastal strip in NSW and Victoria,
and has been introduced to Tasmania.) The New Guinea situation is still being studied. 
The gliding membrane stretches from wrist to ankle - we can see some of it by the
arm and leg of this one - and can carry the glider for well over 100 metres
between trees, changing direction as necessary.

Even more exciting to us however, because it is limited to the tropics and we'd never seen one properly, was the wonderful Striped Possum Dactylopsila trivirgata, found across New Guinea in a couple of narrow strips of rainforest on Cape York and the Wet Tropics. 

This striking colouration is usually a warning sign in animals. It has been reported
that Striped Possums have a strongly unpleasant odour, which suggests that they
might also taste bad for protection and would explain the warning.

Here we can see the extended fourth toe, which they use to extract nutritious wood-boring
larvae from the tree trunk. They locate a hollow by tapping on the trunk, then chew a hole
to access it, and use the long toe to extract the unfortunate grub. In a remarkable 
example of parallel evolution this is exactly the strategy used by the entirely
unrelated Madagascan lemur, the Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis; see below.

This female is part of a population on an island in the Pangeles Lakes of eastern
Madagascar, partially habituated to come down for coconuts left out for them.
(The teeth which evolved primarily to rip into wood work well here too.) The photo
is not good (flashes are quite rightly banned here) but if you expand the photo
you can see the very slender fingers on her right hand and the extended
middle finger.

Another mammal came to the offerings too, but was only able to take whatever fell to the ground.

Long-nosed Bandicoot Perameles nasuta. This little marsupial is found along almost
the entire east coast of Australia, in a variety of habitats. The complete generalist, 
it is also omninvorous and while most of its diet is invertebrates it also eats fungi
and tubers (as well as some spilled honey where available!).

Perhaps the most interesting regular visitor to the lodge however is a tiny kangaroo - the smallest in fact, and the most ancient, perhaps resembling the ancestral kangaroo. Moreover the Musky Rat-Kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus is the only kangaroo that doesn't hop on its hind legs. It is diurnal and omnivorous and in my opinion one of the most fascinating of Australian mammals. It is not uncommon in the Wet Tropics (and only found there) but until this lodge my only experience of them was repeated glimpses as one dashed across a road or track. Not here though!  

I could scarcely believe my eyes the first time a 'Hypsie' pottered out of the forest
just below our balcony and proceeded to so potter unconcerned by us.
By now you may have some idea how exciting this was for us!

If you've read this far, my thanks. I hope you've been encouraged to visit this tiny park and adjacent forests, whether for the first time or as a return. This remnant of ancient Australia deserves our attention and awe.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 2 APRIL

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Queensland's Channel Country#2: some animals

Last time I offered an introduction to south-west Queensland's Channel Country, one of our (many) favourite destinations, a vast arid and semi-arid area of wide plains and braided stream channels that ultimately empty into Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre. Today, as promised, I'm going to complete this little series by introducing some of the animals we've come across in our various visits. It's not entirely representative as we tend to go there in the cooler months (except for one April stay in Bladensburg NP, south of Winton and close to the northern edge of the Channel Country), so reptiles for instance feature here far less than they should. The mammals are largely nocturnal so we tend to miss those too but I offer a few here. So it's mostly birds and invertebrates this time, hope you keep reading anyway! It's turned out to be longer than I'd anticipated, my regular readers will not be at all surprised to learn.

We'll start with three different plovers, all of them inland specialists though one extends to the coast as well.

Black-fronted Dotterel Charadrius melanops on one of the Diamantina Channels.
This little wader can be found on any inland water body but also sometimes comes to
the coast. For a long time it was placed in its own genus, but very recently it was
reinstated in the 'general' dotterel genus Charadrius. It seems that this species
and the next evolved on the inland waterways as Australia dried out.

Red-kneed Dotterel Erythrogonys cinctus, on the same channel as the previous one.
This very pretty dotterel is definitely a bird of the inland, and retains its
single-species-genus status.

 

Banded Lapwing Vanellus tricolor west of Windorah. This lapwing is essentially
a dry-country bird, though it sometimes irrupts into the south-east. It is closely
related to the other Australian lapwing, the familiar Masked Lapwing V. miles.
I reckon this one's more attractive though!

There are some impressive pigeons and doves too.

Diamond Dove Geopelia cuneata, Morney Creek, 150k west of Windorah.
A common little dove across most of the inland, and near the coast in the tropics.

Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps plumifera, also at our Morney Creek camp.
These delightful little desert pigeons are among our favourites. Their main
needs appear to be spinifex (of course), rocks and not to be too far from
water (like other pigeons and seed-eating birds).

 

Flock Bronzewing Phaps histrionica just west of Windorah. This was an
unexpected treat. Their core range is the vast Mitchell Grass plains of northern
Australia, though they used to extend far beyond that. However they are
highly nomadic and they can still turn up unexpectedly elsewhere in good seasons.
Indeed I've only seen them five times and three of those have been
in the Channel Country. They were superabundant before the sheep arrived
but even as recently as 1968 the great Australian ornithologist Harry Frith reported
from near Katherine in the Northern Territory a flock "a kilometre long and
10-20 metres thick, flying on a front of 100m". What a sight!

Of course the channels support water birds, sometimes in huge numbers. Last post contained an image of part of a big flock of Little Black Cormorants by the road bridge over Cooper Creek near Windorah; often this species accompanies Pelican feeding flocks. Here are a couple more, and arguably another..

White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica at Bladensburg NP.
We can see this handsome heron anywhere in Australia, but it is always a pleasure.

Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus in an ephemeral wetland west of Windorah. This
attractive little ibis (they were rather distant here) is found across Australia,
though it is much commoner in the tropics, and Africa. It also has populations
scattered across Asia and around the Caribbean.

Brolgas however are a bit harder to categorise; cranes are often thought of as waterbirds, and Brolgas nest and sometimes feed in wetlands, but they are equally at home foraging and display 'dancing' on the plains. It's not important how we classify them, they are truly magnificent birds either way. They are present throughout the Channel Country and you'd be unlucky to pass a day there without seeing or hearing them.

Brolga Antigone rubicunda by the road to the Noccundra Pub and Waterhole.
The latter, an excellent camp site, is on the Wilson River and the two are
within perfect walking distance of each other.

Brolgas displaying in grasslands near the Diamantina Channels.

And while we're on it, there's also another Big B Bird that you'll almost certainly encounter in a trip to the region.

Male Australian Bustard Ardeotis australis, Farrans Creek west of Windorah.
He stands about 120cm tall and weighs up to 8kg, which I think
makes him Australia's most massive flying terrestrial bird.
It's always a thrill to see them.

There are of course parrots and cockatoos; here are just a couple of them that you're unlikely to see in less arid areas.

Flock of Cockatiels Nymphicus hollandicus, Bladensburg NP.
Australia's smallest cockatoo, chattery flocks of them can turn up
anywhere in the Channel Country.

Bourke's Parrot Neopsephotus bourkii west of Windorah.
I'd not normally inflict quite such an ordinary photo on you, but I've
always found these very hard to approach and photograph, so it's a case
of something hopefully being better than nothing.
They're found across central Australia west from the Channel Country,
not really rare but shy and quite cryptic, though when seen well their
softly pink undersides and blue rump are truly lovely.

There are lots of birds of prey, especially the ubiquitous Black Kites and Whistling Kites along the waterways, but here's one that not nearly as common, though it can turn up across most of the country.

Black Falcon Falco subniger, Bladensburg NP. Other than the semi-mythical (😀)
Grey Falcon this is the least-known of Australian falcons.

And any small lizard or grasshopper would agree that a Red-backed Kingfisher is a predator!

A Red-backed Kingfisher Todiramphus pyrrhopygius at Welford NP, just showing off
its red rump. It is found across much of Australia but is an arid land specialist.
It belongs to a large genus of non-fishing 'tree kingfishers' found from the Philippines
to Australia and across much of the Pacific.

And finally for the birds, a small selection of passerines. The woodswallows are among my favourite bird groups. (Though aerial insect eaters, they are not at all related to swallows and in fact are closest to the magpies and butcherbirds.) In Australia most of the six species are nomads across the dry country, and beyond it during droughts. They often appear in large flocks near water in the evenings, and will arrive in big numbers when the eucalypts are flowering, when they feed on the nectar..

A very small part of a mixed flock of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows
in front of storm clouds west of Windorah.

White-browed Woodswallows Artamus superciliosus;
female above south of Jundah and
male below at our Morney Creek camp.
He in particular is a most striking bird.

Black-faced Woodswallow Artamus cinereus, Bladensburg NP.
This one is the most sedentary of Australian woodswallows, so rarely
forms large flocks but is commonly seen along the wires by inland roads.

Of the true swallows the most commonly seen is the pretty little Fairy Martin Petrochelidon ariel. Almost any road culvert, especially when water is present, is likely to host a nesting colony of them, such as this one west of Windorah. 

The mud nests are bottle-shaped when separate, but when the colony is crowded
the nests may merge into each other.

Here's another colony, at Farrans Creek, in a situation that I'd never seen before.

The flood monitoring equipment sits on a platform a few metres above the ground
(and the flood waters) by the creek. The Fairy Martins found the underside of
the platform to be an eminently suitable nesting site.

The Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata is one of three closely related
arid land bowerbirds, but the only one restricted to eastern Australia.
This one was inspecting our creek-side camp at Bladensburg NP.

One of the delights of arid Australia, including the Channel Country, are the tootling
little flocks of Zebra Finches Taeniopygia castanotis which come to drink at any water
at any time of day. I keep meaning to dedicate a whole blog post to them one day; I just
need one more photo... :-) The most suprising thing about this photo is that there
is just one Zebra Finch in it!

Finally, a fascinating little visitor that came hopping around our feet at the
Morney Creek camp. She is a normally shy female Black Honeyeater Sugomel nigrum,
though only he is actually black (and white). They are tiny, not much more than 10cm long.

Finally she revealed her purpose, by taking ash from our (now cold) fire. This has been
reported before but it's only the second time I've seen it. It is suggested that they are
seeking calcium to assist in egg shell formation (only females have been reported
doing so) but it's so far just speculation. A fascinating behaviour to watch anyway!

Reptiles are diverse and abundant in the Channel Country, but as I mentioned earlier we're usually there in the colder months. Accordingly most of the following reptiles were encountered on our April visit to Bladensburg NP near Winton.

Gilbert's Dragon or Ta Ta Lizard Amphibolurus gilberti, Bladensburg NP.
They 'wave' to other males to indicate territoriality. This young lizard, even if
it were a male, would not dare bring trouble on itself by such effrontery.

Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes, Bladensburg NP, visiting camp,
doubtless based on previous positive outcomes. This large goanna is found widely
across northern and western Australia, but has suffered badly from the arrival
of Cane Toads.

Eyrean Earless Dragon Tympanocryptis tetraporophora, Bladensburg NP.
This blunt-faced little dragon is found widely across the Lake Eyre Basin.
(I, with no expertise in this genus, had previously identified it as Gibber Earless
Dragon T. intima, but on further investigation I've changed my mind. Any
assistance gratefully received!)

Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps, west of Windorah, with head comfortably pillowed on
a dry cow pat! It had braved a day that was far too cold for it, and was unable to flee from us.

Here are some obvious large mammals, for the record.

Dingo Canis lupus or C. familiaris (it really still isn't clear which, ie wolf or ancient
domestic dog) west of Windorah. Despite constant persecution, they can still be
seen or heard across most of the arid inland.

Red Kangaroos Osphranter rufus, mother and semi-independent young,
Welford NP. The largest living marsupial and Australian land mammal,
superbly adapted to life on the open plains.

Euro Osphranter robustus (and bonus Spinifex Pigeons) Bladensburg NP.
This stocky kangaroo is found across most of the continent but is especially
associated with rocky hills.

And finally some invertebrates, a pretty random selection! I'll start with an event that I've only seen once, on a trip to the Channel Country 15 years ago when it had been wet but we were able to drive west from Winton into the Diamantina Channels on a bitumen road. The event was a remarkable mass movement of slaters (or 'flood bugs' as they're also known) along the edge of the road in cracking black soil Mitchell Grass country. The thing is it only seems to happen following rain, and you don't drive in that country then, unless you have the luxury of bitumen.

Slaters Australiodillo bifrons, on the move! They are not insects but crustaceans, and
specifically isopods (like many marine and shoreline animals), and are very ancient. You'll find
some by looking in your compost heap or under rocks or wood in your garden.

More of the massed slaters on the road verge. I did a post on them many years
ago, which has a lot more information if you're interested.

And of course there are spiders, especially orb weavers near water where there are lots of flying insects.

Orbweb spider Family Araneidae, Morney Creek 115k west of Windorah.
She has a row of neatly packaged lunches above her.

The rest are insects.

Grasshopper (sorry I can't do better) and tracks on a dune west of Windorah.

Under certain conditions (which I wrote about here quite briefly long ago, at the very start of my blogging career) four Australian grasshopper species suddenly increase dramatically in number and start to move, causing great alarm in agricultural communities but a providing a massive food source to many other animals too.

Spur-throated Locusts Austracris guttulosa south-west of Quilpie,
above and below.

Moths and butterflies are of course everywhere; here are just a couple of Channel Country species. The same rain event that spurred the flood bugs into action also produced a major breeding flurry west of Windorah among very beautiful White-lined Hawk Moths Hyles livornicoides.

White-lined Hawk Moths mating, and caterpillar (below) travelling
presumably to find a suitable patch of sand for pupating. This was
an impressive event to witness.

Chequered Swallowtail Papilio demoleus, Morney Creek. I have seen this
butterfly referred to as 'perhaps the most widely distributed swallowtail in the world',
so not at all limited to the Channel Country, but I'm happy to see them anywhere.

And to end, another encounter that was due to the rains, a great gathering of water striders in an ephemeral pond between the dunes west of Windorah.

Water striders are bugs (ie members of the insect order Hemiptera, not just
'creepy crawlies'!), with very long middle and hind legs to distribute their
weight enough to walk on the water surface, where they hunt smaller animals.
We can see the long legs in this somewhat muddy closeup.

And that's probably a bit more than enough from me this time! I hope you can experience the wonders of the Channel Country and enjoy them as we have. And you only have to walk on the dunes in the morning to realise how much else goes on at night! Thanks for reading.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 6 MARCH

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