Forest Walk : old-growth forest & fungi

Parlours Creek fauna on film

Crimson Rosellas at Site 1

As part of our activities to learn more about the Strathbogie forests, we’ve begun using motion-sensing cameras (aka trail cameras) to survey the animals of the forest floor. Two weeks prior to our Parlours Ck walk in March this year, we set-up six trail cameras along Parlours Creek and then collected them on the walk.

 

In all, the cameras recorded 21 species of fauna, 13 birds and eight mammals, along with quite a few unidentified critters:

Birds: Pied Currawong, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Gang Gang Cockatoo, Crimson Rosella, White-browed Scrub-wren, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, White-eared Honeyeater, Bassian Thrush, Grey Shrike-thrush, Brown Thornbill, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated tree-creeper, Red Wattlebird.

Mammals: Swamp/Black Wallaby, Mountain Brushtail Possum, Common Ringtail Possum, Bush Rat, Agile Antechinus, Micro-bat species, Red Fox, Sambar Deer.

The original videos are quite sharp, but converting them to youtube has caused them to blur a little – each is about 8 seconds long.

Site 1

This Mountain Brushtail Possum was filmed at Site 1. Most of the six cameras recorded this species and it is widespread in these forests. Mountain Brushtails, or Bobucks, spend quite a lot of time on the ground, here coming down for a drink, but they’re also very keen on fungi. In fact fungi make up a substantial part of the diet in the winter months.