Spotted-tailed Quoll

I found this guy yesterday on Rogans Bridge Road near Copmanhurst. Roadkill Spotted-tailed Quoll - mainland Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial and threatened in NSW (vulnerable). These guys are most at risk from cane toad invasion. Poor critter - he ended up in the freezer at NPWS so the museum can use him for research if needed.

Toadbust 8 - 5/02/11 - Townsend

Well, the planets finally aligned and Jo V and I were able to go out on the same night at Townsend, such a critical area of cane toad expansion. We bagged 51 cane toads, including some large 3 yo males and females, but more importantly, it was an excellent reconnaisance mission for us both to set Jo up to run her own toadbusts and also to meet new landholders and discover new areas where the cane toads might be breeding in that bush area between the cemetery and Gardiners Rd.

Jo V inspects a large male cane toad found in the Townsend area.

The biggest win of the night was the motorcross bike crew having a race day planned for Sunday, thus there were many willing cane toad busters that night who were camped Saturday night. The thousands of tyres surrounding the (awesomely fun-looking!) bike track are providing excellent daytime hides for the cane toads but on a good note, we did not find any evidence of toads using the water hole at the bike track (lots of noisy Peron's Tree Frogs though).

We then headed to George's place and bagged the other half of our toads. Grossest moment of the night was Jo finding a heap of cane toads gathered on top of an old roo carcass, feasting on the bugs. Eeewww.

Both being snake people, we were most disappointed to not see any snakes because boy, was it humid! We both said we reckon we lost 5 kgs that night! Thanks Jo. Go forth in Townsend and kick some toad butt.

Cheers, Sharon.

Toadbust 7 - Woombah - 29/1/11

Well done Woombah guys! Bob led a mighty crew of 6 volunteers out at Woombah last Saturday night and caught an impressive 48 toads. Some new volunteers as well. And the last word is from Bob... ribbit!

Toadbust 6 - 25/1/11 - Mororo

It was a hot and steamy night - argh! The insects!! Actually, while we moaned about the insects in our eyes, noses and mouths, it was perfect for toading and the reptiles and native frogs were out in force.

We had a great roll up of 11 volunteers and picked up a massive 528 cane toads. 118 of these were from Nicola's place on Mororo Road, but the most exciting find of the night was a Stephen's Banded Snake!! These guys are a threatend species in NSW and a record here in toad central is very good to have on file.

Stephen's Banded Snake

 Kath and Ant's team tried very hard and the lovely Janet Cavanaugh had a great time out. But the prize went to Bevan, Rob, Bernie and Sharon Robbins (and me) for picking up 394 toads. 268 of these were from one property at the end of Lewis Lane. The sound of the males calling was deafening when we arrived.

Janet shows off her catch.

Thanks everyone for a great night toading. Cheers, Sharon.

Coucal pheasant feeds cane toad juveniles to young

This wonderful story and accompanying photos were passed on to me from Lyle McNamara. Photos taken by Alan Rayward.

Alan Rayward had been photographing a Coucal feeding young at his Byron property and spotted this one carrying what appears to be a Cane Toad. It fed it to a single chick. Young left the nest a week later -- alive.




Toadbust 5 - 15/2/10 - Brooms Head

A keen crew of 8 met up at the Brooms Head Bowling Club for a night of intense competition. As I drove into Lake Arragan I was telling Bevan and Rob that "we never see cane toads down this road" - think again! We picked up a heap from the paperbarks camping area near Lake Arragan. Very concerning. The toads are going gang busters down there this season.

Our team headed back to the bowling club, very smug with our 128 toads, to meet up with Kath and Jo's team. They also had 128 toads from the village (go figure!) but as we were gloating, Beth picked up another 1 to add to the village team so they creamed us! 257 for the night.

Frogs legs for dinner anyone?

Toadbust 4 - Lower Mororo - 26/11/10

Eight people picked up 90 toads in the lower Mororo area. A large male and female toad were found very close to the gate at the lower end of Chatsworth State Recreation Area, so that is very concerning. Funniest moment of the night was Bevan and his crew nearly getting eaten by Andrew's big pig dogs (woops! I knew I forgot to ring someone!!). Cheers, Sharon.

The amazing Bethany.