Myna update from Cairns

This was forwarded to me by someone from the Birding-Aus e-list:

3,000 mynahs trapped in Cairns.

There has been a Rotary Club "Remove Indian Mynahs" project in Cairns for some weeks and thus far there has been 3,000 plus removed. Cairns Men's Shed has made up 225 traps to date and there is a good public acceptance of the fact that this introduced species is a real problem, hence the good results. Three members of the "Men's Shed" have captured 1500 birds between them. Broad estimate of numbers in the Cairns area has been put at 250,000.

Wow! Cheers, Sharon.

24/02/12 - Warregah Island drain of doom

Well 8 toadbusters braved the storm just before 7:30pm to check out what was happening at Warregah Island. Unfortunately we collected a whopping 263 toads but there were 6 times that many mosquitoes on each of us at any one time.

Bevan, Sharon L and Sharon R tackled the drain of doom near Graeme's place with little action (mind the eels!) and poor Sharon R had a hole in her gumboot. Max and Glenis, David and Kaleb were back after last week so wonderufl to see some keen new toadbusters. Kaleb had about 10 toads in one hand at one point during the night.

No photos (the mosquitoes stole my camera) but thank you Rob and Bevan as usual and the rest of the crowd. I have 4 vols for next Sunday night (Rob, Bevan, max and Glenis) so please let me know if you can make it as well. Cheers, Sharon.

New Common Myna Control Officer in Clarence Valley

I would like to congratulate Kevin Noble on his successful appointment as the new Myna Control Officer in Clarence Valley (pop… woo hoo…. fizz – that’s me popping the champagne and cheering!). And we all know he will be ably assisted by the divine Ms Laura Noble. Well done guys, you deserve it after all your hard work.

Congratulations to Pam again for securing this funding and Pam will be the Project Manager for this contract. Stay tuned for much excitement in myna world. I cannot express enough what a delight and joy it is to have so much support and friendship from so many of you. I am happily backing down from many of my start up jobs and please note the blank, dumb look that will come over my face when you ask me a myna question next – I will say “ask Kevin and Laura!!”.

Cheers, Sharon.

17/02/12 - Brooms Head Wildlife Night

With a rip-snorting 13 volunteers turning up for Brooms Head last Friday night, we only bagged 112 cane toads, but saw a heap of wildlife. All up we saw 1 Barn Owl, 1 Dingo, 1 Bandy bandy, 1 Water Rat, 1 Samll-eyed Snake and 2 White crowned Snakes. How cool is getting out in nature at night??

White crowned snake at Brooms Head

Not many toads, but the boys picked up a pile of 2-3 week old juvenilles that had obviously just hatched behind the shop and RFS station. Good catch guys! Next weekend Warregah and then the Yamba Roundup. Thank you to everyone that turned up - great effort! Cheers, Sharon.

Caleb has a maths lesson in counting cane toads.

3/02/12 - Mororo toad central

Six intrepid explorers set out for a night of big toad at Mororo. Bevan, Rob, Kath, Julio, Sharon and Bethany picked up 265 toads and met new CIA volunteer and owner Annie on Mororo Road. Sharon R sent a long a note from her mum excusing her from toading as the Lawrence ferry was out and she was not up for the swim. And you call yourself committed, Sharon?!

Processing our toads at Mororo

Bethany fell asleep all the way home (poor poppet) but the worst part of the trip was waking the next morning to find a horrible leech bite on the back of my legs. My husband and I stripped the bed but were unable to find the leech! He's out there somewhere....

Saturday 7th January 2012 - Woombah Wildcats launch their toad season

Bob and I had our first Toad outing on Saturday 7th Jan 2012. There were four volunteers and we were out for two and half hours. Our catch was a total of 75 Toads. There has been an increase at Woombah Woods since last season.        

It was a good result for our first outing. We have also found 5 one year old females in our own backyard which we haven't had before.

Cheers for now, Bob and Marie.

Woombah toad doing pushups.

Two toads caught recently at Woombah.

Can you spot the threatened species?

Look what Bevan caught in his myna trap overnight!!

NSW Threatened Species, Spotted-tailed Quoll. Gorgeous to know they are still around hanging out on the edge of Grafton (not the first one I have seen in Grafton). Interesting that Bevan successfully trapped two foxes prowling around his yard not too long ago. Also interesting that these are one of the species that we are most concerned about with cane toad invasion. Thanks for sharing Bevan - a gorgeous creature! Sharon.