How the echidna crossed the road

The Botanic Gardens in Canberra are a great place to see wildlife; birds, wallabies, snakes, water dragons, butterflies, and the other day - I heard an echidna rolling through the undergrowth, so I stopped to watch him (it was a male).


He was obviously used to people as he kept walking straight towards me and gave me excellent views of his face and claws.

Then he climbed up onto the top of the road-side wall, about a third of a metre high.

He looked down the wall and didn't seem too sure what to do. So he went for a wander about, then came back and tried a different part of the wall. He was determined to go that way, so he had to go down.

Slowly stretching...

Then a controlled flop onto the back of his head. I am sure all those spines would have cushioned the bump nicely.

A quick uncurl.

And off he went across the road. No traffic coming, all safe.

As he walked past me a few metres away, he was close enough for me to see several ticks had attached themselves to his ear. Two were well engorged with blood and would soon drop off, but I know only too well how uncomfortable they feel. He would be glad to be rid of them.

All else was well. He slipped into the bush where he was not so easily seen. I suspect that he was a male following the scent of a female as it is the mating season. Hence his determined attitude to follow that course.

Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Zipped up the back

Here is my humble entry and semi-finalist photograph in this year's Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. I never thought it would win, but it is good fun to take part and when we view the winners, there is lots of inspiration on what to shoot, or a good simple, 'I like that'.

Another shot I entered was a close up of a Tawny Frogmouth perched on a branch, showing how the plumage merges so well with the bark.Only the claw gives the game away, which I deliberately captured. I also kept a bit of bird shape to show the similar form of a branch, part of the bird's camouflage.

Bird and bark

I was tempted to crop in even closer, but even if I had I would not have caught such a powerful image as that by Jess Findlay, 'Pauraque study'.  His subject and lighting give a much more striking image - well done Jess. I won't submit any more 'brown' images in future.

Once again, the overall winning shot was of a top favourite animal species, in this case lions. The competition is linked and promoted by the BBC Wildlife Magazine and as any editor knows, competitions are partly run to promote the magazine and increase sales. So they would like popular animal subjects wouldn't they. The winning shot is a nice shot, but would it have won if the subjects were slugs? However, the important points are, the Museum gets publicity, which I agree with, the magazine gets a wider readership which is all good for the wildlife and conservation issues it promotes, and the photographers get media coverage. So we are all winners and what can I say but thank you to the promoters for inspiring we photographers and making us keep improving.

My pick of the shots are the arty ones by Andrew Lee, 'Edge of creation'. and Herfried Marek, 'Golden birch'.

Echidna

Echidna spines - quills - there is a layer of soft fur between the quills for insulation

The warming weather has brought out all sorts of animals and this echidna was busy grubbing for food yesterday. She was a big one, about 4-5 kilos and probably hungry after the lean months in the cold Canberra winter when she would likely have spent much of the time in torpor hidden in a burrow. I found her by following up the alarm calls from an Eastern Rosella and a mob of Noisy Miners, not that she was a threat to them.

She was slowly working her through the undergrowth

I could see that she was busy with her head down and a she was walking in my direction I knelt down to lean the camera on a fallen branch, then watched as she came closer and closer, to a few metres away, still quite undisturbed by my presence.

Echidnas spend spend much of their time tearing open old fallen branches in search of termites

It was such a treat to be able to watch this echidna from front on, so often they see or hear us first and either scuttle away offering a rear-view, or they quickly dig themselves down into the ground, curl up and hide. I could see just how powerful those limbs are as she dug around. The limbs are shortened for more strength and the bones in the feet are fused into tight pads. Only the extreme digital bones protrude and they are sheathed in thick claws - pretty tough finger nails.

The thick strong claws and highly adapted snout

Their eyesight is not poor, but not much more than adequate for detecting potential predators or recognising their way around their home range. They do have a wonderful nose though, with finely tuned touch, smell and electrical receptors. The whole modified mouth parts including the nose are covered in a leathery skin and I watched as she poked this snout into the soil, surprisingly firmly for such a delicate organ. Every now and then i caught a glimpse of her long sticky tongue which whipped in and out to catch termites or any other insect which I could not see as they were all out of view down in the holes.

The hind claws point backwards with long curling outer claws.
These are used for grooming between those long quills

With so many quills and as they use the evasive action of curling into a ball for protection, any large external ears structure would be a disadvantage. So echidnas have simple ear-holes hidden within the fur and quills. I had good views of these as this one stretched and bent at my feet. They hear most people approach, as people are generally noisy, and they go quiet and still til the threat passes. Yet, I can recognise the distinctive shuffling sounds which echidnas make, and I turn the tables to stop still and watch them. That is usually from a distance, though, not as close as with this one.

The echidna's ear is hidden below  the quills

After about twenty minutes of undisturbed behaviour watching, I shuffled off myself. The echidna stopped still as I stood up, but I was gone before she felt any need to dig for safety. She then walked off unconcerned.

 An undisturbed echidna carries on with its own business

Secure, secured and a snake

An echidna resting between logs

Today began with a bit of frost and the animals were a bit slow to get going. I took part in a local university woodland bird survey soon after dawn and was finished by about nine. After that I went and checked on a couple of Tawny Frogmouth sites.

I always keep my ears as well as my eyes tuned, to the sounds of the bush, and while walking quietly through the woods I heard the distinctive scuffling of an echidna. It was about fifty metres away and I watched as it walked over to a log and promptly burrowed into the litter. And that was that, off for a nap. If I hadn't heard it I doubt if I would have seen it, so well hidden between the logs and leaf litter.

They really tuck tight into corners or hollows

I wonder if any predators would find it in such a secure hiding place, or if any would bother to try and open those spines for a meal?

Who would want to tackle these spines

Then just a hundred metres on, I heard a commotion at an old fence which runs through the wood. Eastern Grey Kangaroos are common - abundant - in many of the Canberra woodlands, and a joey had managed to twist a leg through the wires of the fence. Its mother was standing right over it as it tried again and again to free itself. But it was firmly secured. So, over I went to try and free it, at the likely cost of a few hefty kicks for my trouble. Then no, I was safe. As I approached from its front, the direction the joey had been travelling in and persisted in trying to get away from the fence, it quickly turned to flee from me. And as it did so it twisted itself free, bouncing through the trees non the worse.   

A mother Eastern Grey Kangaroo stands over her joey - stuck in a fence

It was quite a large joey and I really didn't fancy a kick from those hind legs, with claws on the end.

The joey's hind leg was trapped through wires of the old fence

My walk wasn't over though and I carried on looking for frogmouths. That involves lots of time spent looking up trees, trying to pick out the birds from the branches they resemble so well. Fortunately, I always keep an eye on the ground too, as that can save one's neck. By watching the ground I find droppings or feathers which indicate that any otherwise non-noticed frogmouth is up above. Then oops, after spying up a tree I turned and took a few steps, and just noticed an Eastern Brown Snake exactly where I was about to drop my left foot. The snake must have been slow to warm up after the cold night, for I don't usually first see them so close, but luckily I didn't hurt it. Although it didn't like me about to tread on it, so it shot away down its burrow about a body and a half's length away - not quite two metres.

An Eastern Brown Snake - not the one I found today, that one was too quick off the mark to photograph

Echidnas

While out looking for frogmouths today, I came across three echidnas, two males and one female. She was having a siesta with her head tucked under a log, the males were sniffing around, following her scent trail - its the mating season.

Echidnas are quite furry animals really, with a layer of fine hairs beneath those sharp spines.