Another day donated to conservation....

Well, I spent today power walking the Yamba Golf Course hunting for metamorphs with two lovely researchers from the University of Sydney. We only found 3 metamorphs there! No need to go to the gym this afternoon. Then we headed down to good ol' Green Pools at Angourie and sure enough, found a heap of metamorphs for their study.

Hunting for metamorphs with Weibke and Mitchell today.

Another example of how CVCIA Landcare's knowledge of the area can really help in the bigger scheme of things. This adds weight to my letter to all toadbusters yesterday "Ten reasons to keep going". Cheers, Sharon. P.S. to add to my complete loss of dignity this week, I did a spectacular slip over onto my stomach in front of Mitchell on the golf course. Had to pick my kids up from school covered in mud. Nice.

Yay we made the paper today!

Well done Mel! Your toad in downtown Maclean made the papers print our call for more volunteers. Thanks Daily Examiner (though please ignore the part about a toad hunt this Saturday at Lake Arragan - they made a mistake). http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2011/03/29/fight-cane-toads-at-a-community-near-you/ Cheers, Sharon.

Cane toad found in downtown Maclean

Two weeks ago I sent out a media release saying if we did not get any more help, there would be cane toads hopping down the main streets of Maclean and Iluka within a few years. Unfortunately, my media release did not get a run (something about some election or other) and we are still struggling to get more volunteers.

Well, the toads got the hop on me. On the way home from toading Friday night at Mororo, Mel found a sub-adult cane toad in downtown Maclean, Rannoch Avenue. A little sooner than I thought, but hopefully people in Maclean may now be inspired to get out and give us a hand.

CIA volunteers are struggling to reduce the spread
of cane toads in the Clarence Valley.

More information on how to join the CIA and/or control cane toads humanely can be found on the CVCIA Landcare website.

Mororo Toadbust - 25/03/11

Ten volunteers turned up for Friday night toading at Mororo, including 3 newbies, which was fabulous. We were suitably entertained all night by the amazing Campbell - 6 years old and a fantastic toadbuster!

Campbell was amazing for his first night out toading!

We headed down McCondell Island Rd again to the half moon wetland with waders. We picked up two new toadbusters in their waders on the way:- Billy Bob and Jethro....

Billy Bob has the sack wrapped around him to stop the Hi-Vis glare.
We actually look like the rat sisters...

Billy Bob makes Jethro crack up.

As I said to Mel (who tried to take these photos while we clowned around), it is just lucky that Jo and I have no dignity left! Jo's waders were nice and loose. Mine were not. Mel had to assist me to slip into my waders and I wished I had bought some olive oil. However, they did the trick (and made us laugh for hours) and we were able to get into the deeper water and retrieve those pesky males floating around looking for love.

At the end of the night we had bagged 193 toads, including 2 between the wetland and the gate to Chatsworth SCA. Thank you to all the Sharon's (3 of us) and Mel's (2 of them), Bevan, Bernie, the gorgeous Annie, Jo and of course Campbell. We had a ball and helped the environment. Sweet.

21/03/11 - Townsend Tiger Snakes and a bucket of toads

This fabulous report (and disturbing photo!) from Jo of the Townsend Tigersnakes...

Since the wet weather has been hampering our toading activities we decided on a new game plan - RAINCOATS !! We are now armed for all toading situations.

Wednesday night Mel and I headed out to Yamba to see what was out and about. The sewer works road was fruitful with many morphs popping up out of the grass into the light. The best toad of the night was on Middle Rd Palmers with a 330gm female bagged late in the night. In all we collected 49 toads that night.

Saturday night saw plenty of rain cancel the training session so we donned our raincoats and went out anyway. Mel, Julie and I did a lap of the Red Cliff area and came up with a whopping 315 toads which is a new record for us in one night.

Cane toads collected from Yuraygir National Park by CIA Vol Jo, Mel and Julie.

There were dozens of males in the water staking their patch to call in the ladies. We just put a dampener on their plans as they now have a one way ticket to Freezer Island. It was also lovely to see so much native frog spawn in many of the water holes and no toad spawn : ) also a beautiful juvenile carpet python popped out of the bushes.

Cheers, Jo

P.S. We have caught 997 toads in 5 weeks guys – YAY!!

Thanks Jo. You guys are amazing!! And yes, I will be packing my waders for this Friday at Mororo. :)

16/03/11 - Myna Network meeting in Coffs

Laura, Kevin, Pam and Pop headed down to Bongil to visit the Coffs myna trappers today. Pam sent through this report and lovely photos:

"Had a great day at the Indian Myna meeting/barbeque at Bongil National Park today. Good to share stories on Mynas and see that we 'newcomers' were able to show the other groups a good idea with the water bottle setup".

Kevin and Laura at Bongil

Laura demonstrating the water clip.

Pop swapping myna trapping stories at Bongil.

Sharing ideas and tips is very important for any invasive animal control program. Thanks for representing us in style guys and I look forward to hearing about it at the next meeting. Cheers, Sharon.

What Bevan and Donna caught in their myna trap this week...

A massive Blue Tongue Lizard! Lucky these traps are non-lethal. He followed Donna while she took some photos. Cute!