Woombah Wildcats - 04/03/11

Bob and Marie trekked out last Friday and in one small section of Woombah, picked up 86 cane toads in under 3 hours. They found some big animals too, as can be seen by these photos. Thanks Bob and Marie.

A large female at Woombah - and she's packin' venom!

It is concerning to see so many toads in Woombah.

Myna Bottle Clip - Kevin's bright idea

I saw a very snazzy clip that Kevin had made for a myna cage the other day and he has sent me some photos and details.

"attached is the water bottle drawing (courtesy of CIMAG) and photos of my water bottle. I fiiled it with pink water and marked around the opening so it is visible. I cut 50mm length of 90mm plastic storm water pipe, then cut out 25mm and trimmed the corners. Two sets of two holes and a bit of wire tie it to the corner of the cage 75-100mm up. This a good holder and the bottle is easy to insert or remove. I'm also experimenting with something similar for food, will keep you posted".

Remember to send any good ideas you get (and there are heaps!) so we can put it on the blog for everyone. Thanks for sharing Kevin.

Cheers, Sharon.

26/02/11 - Woombah Wildcats hit new high

Bob reports the Woombah Wildcats went out last Saturday night along Garretts Lane and picked up a massive 234 cane toads. That is both impressive and very disturbing to find that many there. Bob and Woombah Wildcats, you are doing an amazing, very important area. Well done.

Mororo Toadbust - Friday 25/02/11

My goodness me - it has taken me 2 hours to load all of the toad busting data from Woombah, Townsend and now this one. How great it is to have coordinators in three other areas - thank you!

Well, I went out last Friday night and was met by the Warregah Warriors (Bevan's rent-a-crowd), the Townsend Tigersnakes (Jo and Mel) and many others! We welcomed two new members from Woombah, Darrin and Kaitlin, though Kaitlin was not up for touching a toad just yet.

Kaitlin's spirit is willing, but the hands just won't do it! Lucky Dad is keen.

After sending a sick Kath home, we went down McCondle Island Rd in two teams. My team raced to the end of the road and through the gate to assess whether cane toads had spread up through into Chatsworth SCA or further. The good news was there were no toads at all past the half moon wetland. This is very exciting as hopefully we are keeping them out of Mangrove Creek.

The bad news was that there were 20 males at least sitting in the half moon wetland calling that we could not reach. I need to return with my waders (Mel offered her husband's jetski!) and pluck them off. We found another similar wetland on the way back (now called Kaitlin's wetland) that requires the waders and/or jetski.

Some large toads from the Mororo area.

Bevan, Rob, Simone and Sharon D swept along the road from the grid and collected a massive 119 toads. Our crew only bagged 36 but I was beaming from the results at the end of the road. I picked up toads further along last year so I'm hoping we are seeing a small win there. Time will tell. We need these little rays of sunshine! All up 155 toads and a good night. Cheers, Sharon.

Report from the Townsend Tigersnakes - 26/02/11

Townsend Tigersnakes 25th and 26th Feb


The Townsend Tigersnakes have had a BIG weekend!

We popped out to Brooms Head on Friday night and scooped up 109 toads in 35mins at the Bowling Club!! Awesome.

Saturday night we needed to get our quota for the DNA study so we hit Townsend. What a great night, Mel and Jared started at Townsend and scored 47 toads in less than an hour! That seemed like a teaser so Torsten and I joined them and we went out to Red Cliff for a drive thru. We stayed on the roads the whole time and they were just everywhere, we ended up getting 201 toads on a full circuit of Red Cliff.

It was a bumper weekend for us with 357 toads caught all up! Yay!

Now its time to have a rest so we can do it all again next week.

Cheers

Jo, Mel, Jared and Torsten.

Mel and Jared compare toads. Photo: Jo Vestergaard.

These large cane toads were found in the Townsend area Feb 2011. Photo: Jo Vestergaard.

Townsend Tiger Snakes launch assault

Jo and Mel are proving to be a force to be reckoned with and I think there would be many toads quaking in their little amphibian flippers in the Townsend area. These girls attended and helped out at the Yamba Roundup Sunday 20th Feb (oh the humidity!) and then dropped into Carrs Drive on the way home for a little more toadin'!! 13 toads picked up there. They then went out wednesday 23/02 and picked up 8 toads in the Townsend area,  Toads - you have been warned. The Townsend Tigersnakes are out of the bag.

New CIA member Mel's son ready for action at the Yamba Roundup.

Woombah toads get hammered by Woombah Wildcats!

Bob and his team of secret CIA operatives have been hitting Woombah hard. They have been out twice last week and bagged a huge 110 cane toads in 2 nights - well done Wildcats!! Here are a few toad photos that Bob has sent thru.

Cane toads harvested at Woombah, Feb 2011. Photo: Bob Ahern

Cane toad from the Woombah area. Photo: Bob Ahern