I joined the Tempe Birdos in the morning on Saturday for their monthly bird surveys at the Tempe Wetlands and the nearby park. We spotted and recorded a lot of birds despite some wet weather.
After the bird surveying ended, I headed back to the wetlands to see if I could photograph some of the birds that we had seen earlier. More light rain made this difficult, but I did manage to grab a few shots.
I was also very pleasantly surprised to spot a large and healthy looking echidna at the Wetlands. It was walking along in plain view when I first saw it – but by the time I had got my camera out it had scurried into the bushes and had its head down.
There were a few interesting fungi out at the Wetlands.
The echidna is an extraordinary find. There are a handful of records between Georges river and Sydney Harbour. They may have been absent from this area even at European arrival because of the hunting pressure from a dense aboriginal populations around the harbour & Botany Bay. There is actually quite a bit of possible suitable, if fragmented & depauperate, habitat around the airport.