Toadbust 9 - 11/02/11 - Warregah Island

Tonight was the night to hand over Warregah Island to Bevan, Rob and Ant. We had 10 recruits, which was a great roll up. Laura and Kevin came along to check out what a toadbust involves, after spending hours that day fixing dodgy myna traps, mind you! What wonderful CIA Landcare volunteers you guys are, thank you. I'm not sure if they will come back after facing Kath's Drain of Terror, which claimed another victim, Simone (karma baby).

Graham, one of the local landowners, reported how the toads had exploded on the island since the rains. Graham does a great deal of his own control and welcomed the assistance of our crew. He took Ant, Sharon D, Colby and Bethany on a tour of the western side of the island and Ant came back shaking his head saying "there are a lot of toads out there".

Colby and Bethany, Junior CIA Landcare members are concerned that we do not have enough volunteers to tackle the toads. (I actually told them to look like their teacher had just told them they had 3 assignments due tomorrow!)

When I pulled up to meet Graham, he was waiting for us on his verandah and watched as I pulled up and ran over his favourite big green tree frog (which screamed). Luckily, the fellow deserved an Oscar and was found safe and sound under the grid. I had just frightened the green out of him. Phew!

We bagged 132 toads all up, which pushes our CIA toads picked up number to 1,735 toads! Not bad considering we had a slow start to the season with all the rains, floods and general fantastic toad breeding conditions going on. But the toads we got were big - only 10 juveniles bagged and we saw a few patches of tadpoles. We bagged 17 females that were at least 3 years old and over 30 male toads that were 2 years and older.

Funniest moment of the night was Simone working out how the toads kept getting out of her net - she had a hole in it! Best moment of the night was Bevan and Ant saying they want to go back next friday night to hit it again. My eyes welled up with tears - she's all yours boys - go for it!!

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?