I was walking through Blue Gum Swamp, Winmalee (62km west of Sydney) this
afternoon lamenting the lack of birds when I stopped at 3.20pm at a lagoon
to look for and listen for any birds. I became aware of bubbles coming to
the surface on the lagoon and to my complete surprise a Platypus came to the
surface only 3m from me. It floated for about 1 meter and then dived and
came up a few minutes later about 20m away. I followed it for about 50m
downstream for the next 10 minutes. It would only come to the surface for a
few seconds and then dive again and surface again after a few minutes 10-20m
away.
I had previously assumed that Platypus were extinct in this valley even
though they were once common prior to the 1950's. The lagoons have
completely dried out in the past during severe droughts but the area over
the last two years has had above average spring and summer rainfall and all
the lagoons have been flushed out perhaps making them once again attractive
to Platypus.
Neil Kirby
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www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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