Sue,
The most obvious choice would be a Brush-tailed Possum; I don’t think Newline is all that good for Ring-tailed Possums and Sugar Gliders. The other possibility could be a snake of some sort. Many years ago working in a swamp in the Booligal region I had the job of climbing trees growing in water checking holes for nesting duck species, mostly Pacific Black Ducks and Grey Teal. I had a torch that was just about to die and had been feeling around inside a hole to check for eggs. I didn’t feel anything and had one last look with what was left in the torch. All I could see was a curious flicking movement. A somewhat closer inspection revealed an Eastern Brown Snake curled up in the hole!!!! Why it didn’t bite me I will never know but I was certainly a lot more cautious putting my hand into dark places after that. The hole was about 30 feet (in the old language) up in a River Red Gum and how it got that high up I have no idea.
Cheers,
Mark
From: Sue Lashko [
Sent: Saturday, 16 March 2013 11:53 PM
To: canberrabirds chatline
Subject: [canberrabirds] Newline
I had a rather interesting time doing my woodland survey at Newline today. A large Angus bull which was rather protective of his ladies made for a bit of excitement when I was surveying one of my sites but most of the fun was in the front paddock when I was doing a final sweep looking for Brown Treecreepers (without success). I heard a great ruckus as Noisy Miners all headed in one direction, so I followed thinking perhaps it was a Collared Sparrowhawk that had been active earlier. However, it was not. The miners (about 10) were mobbing at the entrance to a tree hollow and they were joined in the tree by 2 Peewees, 3 Crimson and 2 Eastern Rosellas, 2 SC Cockatoos, 2 Magpies, a BFCS and an Indian Myna. There was no sign of anything in the hollow, although I presume an owl was deep within. The miners and myna returned again and again to the entrance to the hollow without perching and then after about 10 minutes of this a Grey Butcherbird arrived and went and sat on the rim of the hole and peered in for about 2 minutes before moving about a metre away where he remained. I watched the hole from a distance for another 10 minutes or so but nothing appeared and the GBB stayed put, but the others got bored and moved on. Any other suggestions apart from an owl?
