Having three pairs of eyes is a great advantage when hiking in the Australian bush. 3 years ago I showed my dad his first Red-bellied Black snake and since then he has been surprisingly good at spotting snakes - not being overly(!) interested in the birds he can solidly focus his eyes on the ground in front of us and secure the path, while the rest of us are more random in where we look.
I have been in Capertee Valley many times and did not expect to see much new, indeed the main purpose for going to the valley was simply that it is a great place ... and since we had already seen most of the wildlife there we could have a relaxed time with dad without running around with binoculars or the camera glued to our faces.
However as always when you change habitat - like this time when we walked into the valley following the river instead of going high and dry - you see new stuff. Birdwise it was particular rewarding for Gemma, managing to see Olive-backed Oriole, Noisy Friarbird and Pilotbird. The latter was also new to yours truly - not bad at all :-)
The little marsupial below was a very rare sight. Despite have walked around in the Australian nature for a few years by now it is not very often that I have managed to spot or get pictures of this nocturnal creatures. At the moment I am without my wildlife books, but I will try to update this blog post when I can tell a little more about the little guy.
Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters and Welcome Swallows were in a frantic race to feed their youngsters. While we were eating our lunch we had great views of parents flying to and fro and the battle every protein rich piece of insect caused.
As a final treat, we stumbled upon a Wombat feeding during the still bright afternoon hours. This fellow looks a bit shabby and not in great shape, we managed to get within 5 meters of it and it did not notice us at all, being busy feeding.
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