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Wildlife
seen with Araucaria Ecotours
Most
wildlife on
our tours are wild, and thus none
can be absolutely
guaranteed on any particular day.
There
are
however some that we almost always encounter.
We also visit well-run wildlife parks such as the
David
Fleay
Wildlife Park on
some of our tours
to see animals we cannot see in the wild (either
because they are very
rare or do not live in southern Queensland)
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Some of the species seen
in the wild on our
tours:
Mammals
Birds
Reptiles
Amphibians
Fish
Invertebrates
Plants
(Click here for the animals we see at the
David
Fleay
Wildlife Park )
See
also: Australian wildlife
Wildlife
of the Scenic
Rim Wildlife conservation and
wildlife tourism
Mammals seen
in the wild on our tours
Most
Australian mammals are nocturnal, but some become
active in the late
afternoon and are still foraging for a short time
after dawn.
Some
are very easy for us to find on tour, others make less
predictable
appearances now and then.
Click
here
for
further information on Australian
mammals and local (Scenic
Rim) wildlife, including mammals
Monotremes
- platypus
(more predictable in breeding season July -
December), often seen on
3-day Australian wildlife overview
tour, sometimes on
birdwatching tour - also seen in
captivity on on 3-day wildlife
tour and with prior request on bush walking
and wildlife day-tours)
- echidna
(occasionally)
Marsupials
- brush-tailed
phascogale
(very
rarely)
- yellow-footed
antechinus
(occasionally)
- long-nosed
bandicoot (occasionally)
- northern
brown bandicoot (fairly often)
- koala
-
usually seen in the in wild on 3-day
wildlife overview tour and
wildlife day-tour, occasionally on bush walking or
birding tour (always
seen in captivity on 3-day and 1-day
wildlife tours, and on
bush walking tours on request)
- greater
glider (occasionally - and usually seen in
captivity at wildlife park)
- ring tail
possum - occasionally on wildlife day-tour
- yellow-bellied
glider
(very
rarely
in wild -
usually seen in captivity on 3-day wildlife tour)
sugar
glider
(occasionally), very rarely
on 3-day wildlife
tour or
wildlife day-tour
- squirrel
glider (occasionally – it’s not a squirrel, but a
gliding possum with a
bushy tail),
very rarely also
seen on wildlife day-tour
- feather-tail
glider
(only
seen
once
so
far on tour)
- common
brushtail
possum (almost always on 3-day tour, often on
wildlife day-tour)
- bobuck
or
mountain brushtail (occasionally - pictured to
right)
- rufous
bettong (occasionally)
- red-necked
pademelon (fairly often on 3-day tour, often on
birding tours)
- red-legged
pademelon (occasionally)
- red-necked
wallaby (always on 3-day and 1-day wildlife tours)
- whip-tail
wallaby (almost always on
3-day wildlife,
sometimes on birding day-tour)
- eastern
grey kangaroo (always)
- swamp
wallaby (occasionally)
Placentals
- swamp
rat
(very
rarely - usually only active under vegetation at
night, and small)
- Melomys
(very rarely- usually only active under vegetation
at night, and small)
- microbats
(fairly often but briefly)
- black
flying fox - almost always (on wildlife
day-tour as well as 3-day)
- little
red
flying-fox - almost always (on
wildlife day-tour
as well as 3-day)
- grey-headed
flying-fox - almost always (on
wildlife day-tour
as well as 3-day)
- bottle-nosed
dolphin
–
(usually,
viewed
from
cliffs on
3-day wildlife tour)
- humpbacked
whale – (occasional,distant, viewed
from cliffs on 3-day wildlife
tour May
– Oct)
Click
here
for
further information on Australian
mammals and local (Scenic
Rim) wildlife, including mammals
top of page
Birds
seen in the wild on our tours
We
always
see a
good variety, and some are very predictable, others
cannot be
guaranteed and some just turn up occasionally.
Click here for further information on Australian birds
and local
(Scenic Rim) wildlife, including
birds
Non-passerines

- emu
(outback tour or custom tours only - always seen
on outback tour)
- Australasian
gannet
(occasionally on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- brush
turkey (often on 3-day tour, always on birding
tours that include
Lamington NP)
- brown
quail (fairly often)
- black-breasted
button-quail
(very
rarely)
- pelican (fairly
often
on
3-day tour, almost always on birding tour and
island tour, often on
wildlife day-tour)
- little
pied cormorant (often,
on 3-day tour,
island tour, wildlife day-tour and birding tour
)
- pied
cormorant (often, on 3-day tour, island tour and
birding tour)
- black
cormorant (fairly often,
on 3-day tour,
island tour and birding tour)
- little black
cormorant
(often, on 3-day tour,
island tour, wildlife day-tour and birding tour)
- darter
(fairly often, on 3-day tour,
island tour, wildlife day-tour and birding tour)
- little
grebe (usually
on
3-day
tour,
almost
always
on birding tour)
- black-necked
stork
(occasionally
-
also
seen
captive in the wildlife park)
- black
duck
(always, most tours)
- black
swan
(fairly
often on 3-day and 1-day wildlife tour, almost
always on birding tour)
- grey
teal (fairly
often on
3-day tour, almost always on birding tour)
- plumed
whistling duck ( always at the wildlife park -
not captive but coming
in of their own accord, sometimes see in other
places also on 3-day
wildlife or birding day-tour)
- wandering
whistling duck (occasionally)
- wood
duck
(always, most tours)
- magpie
goose (occasionally on birdwatching tours and
almost always at the wildlife
park
- not captive but coming in of their own accord,
and )
- dusky
moor-hen (always)
- Eurasian
coot (always)
- purple
swamphen (almost always)
bush
stone-curlew (almost
always on island tour)
- brolga (outback
tour
only -
also in captivity on 3-day wildlife tour)
- buff-banded
rail
(very
rarely)
- Lewin’s
rail (very rarely)
- spotless
crake (outback tour only)
- nankeen
night-heron (usually at the
wildlife park - not captive but coming in of
their own accord, other
places very
occasionally)
- white-faced
heron
(almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- white-necked
heron
(fairly
often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- cattle
egret (always)
- intermediate
egret
(fairly
often)
- little
egret (fairly often)
- great
egret (fairy often)
- yellow-billed
spoonbill
(fairly
often
on
birding
day-tour as well as 3-day wildlife)
- royal
spoonbill (often on 3-day wildlife and birding
day-tour)
- white
ibis
(almost always, on Coochiemudlo day-tour as well
as 3-day wildlife,
always also
at the wildlife park - not captive but coming in
of their own accord)
- strawnecked
ibis
(almost
always)
- glossy
ibis (occasionally on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- black-winged
stilt
(often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
comb-crested jacana
(fairly often)
- masked
lapwing (always)
- red-kneed
dotterell (occasionally)
- black-fronted
dotterell
(occasionally)
- Lathan’s
snipe (occasionally)
- red-necked
avocet (very rarely on birding tour)
- pied
oyster-catcher (occasionally on island tour)
- caspian
tern (fairly often)
- silver
gull (always, 3-day tour and island tour)
- brown
falcon (fairly often)
- peregrine
falcon (very rarely)
- Australian
hobby (very rarely)
- nankeen
kestrel (almost always)
- Pacific
baza (fairly often)
- wedge-tailed
eagle
(fairly
often)
- little
eagles (occasionally on outback tour)
- whistling
kite (occasionally on
3-day wildlife,
fairly often on island day-tour and outback
tour)
- black-shouldered
kite
(often)
- white-breasted
sea-eagle
(occasionally on
3-day wildlife,
fairly often on island day-tour)
- brahminy
kite (fairly often on island day-tour)
- black
kite
(outback tour only - always)
- square-tailed
kite
(occasionally)
- grey
goshwak (very rarely)
- brown
goshawk (rarely)
- osprey
(fairly often
on
3-day
wildlife
and
island
day-tour, usually seen nesting on
3-day wildlife
tour in winter)
- brown
goshawk (occasionally)
- brown
cuckoo dove (usually, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
wompoo
fruitdove (fairly
often - but more often heard than seen,
especially in warmer months)
- rose-crowned
fruitdove
(occasionally
-
more
often
heard than seen)
- crested
pigeon (always)
- bar-shouldered
dove(almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- diamond
dove (outback
tour
only)
- emerald
dove (rarely)
- wonga
pigeon (often on birding day-tour)
- white-headed
pigeon
(fairly
often)
- crimson
rosella (almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- eastern
rosella (almost always on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- pale-headed
rosella
(always on
3-day wildlife tour )
- galah
(always on
3-day wildlife tour )
- king
parrot (fairly often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Bourke's
parrot (very occasionally - outback
tour only)
- rainbow
lorikeet (always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour, also Coochiemudlo
and bush walking day-tours)
- scaly-breasted
lorikeet
(almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Australian
(Eastern) ringneck parrot (outback tour only)
- blue
bonnet parrot (outback tour only)
- red-rumped
parrot (outback
tour
only)
- red-winged
parrot (outback
tour
only)
- mulga
parrot (outback
tour
only)
- red-tailed
black cockatoo (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- glossy
black cockatoo (rarely)
- yellow-tailed
black
cockatoo
(fairly
often on
3-day wildlife tour and birding tours)
- little
corella cockatoo, (sometimes
on 3-day
wildlife tour or day-tours, always on outback
tour)
- sulphur-crested
cockatoo
(almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Major
Mitchell cockatoo (outback
tour only-
almost always)
- channel-billed
cuckoo
(often
in
warm
months on
3-day wildlife tour and day-tours)
koel
(often in warm
months, more often heard than seen, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- fantailed
cuckoo (occasionally, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- brush
cuckoo (more often heard than seen, spring
and summer, on
3-day wildlife and birding day-tour)
- pallid
cuckoo, more often heard than seen, spring and
summer, on 3-day wildlife
and
birding day-tour)
- shining
bronze-cuckoo (rarely, on 3-day
wildlife and birding day-tour)
- Horsefield's
bronze-cuckoo
(rarely, outback
tour)
- pheasant
coucal (almost always on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- shining
Bronze-cuckoo (rarely)
- barn
owl
(almost always on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- boobook
owl (fairly often on
3-day wildlife
tour and wildlife day tour,
heard far more
often than seen)
- tawny
frog-mouth (fairly often on 3-day, occasionally
on wildlife day-tour)
- marbled
frog-mouth (very occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- owlet
nightjar (very occasionally
on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- white-throated
nightjar
(very
occasionally
heard
at
night on
3-day wildlife tour )
- dollarbird
(almost always in warm months, on most tours)
- rainbow
bee-eater (occasionally on 3-day wildlife tour,
birding tour and
outback tour)
- forest
kingfisher (fairly often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
sacred
kingfisher
(fairly often, on 3-day wildlife
and
birding day-tour)
- azure
kingfisher (fairly often on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- mangrove
kingfisher (occasionally, on
3-day wildlife and
island day-tour)
- laughing
kookaburra (almost always, on all tours)
Passerines
- Albert's
lyrebird (occasionally on 3-day wildlife tour or
birding tour - more
often heard than seen)
- noisy
pitta (occasionally, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- log-runner
(occasionally on 3-day wildlife tour, often on
birding day-tour)
- apostlebird (outback
tour
only
-
always)
- white-winged
chough (outback
tour
only
-
occasionally)
- varied
sitella (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- white-throated
tree-creeper
(fairly
often, on
3-day wildlife,
bush walking and birding day-tour)
- red-backed
fairy-wren (often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- variegated
fairy-wren (often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- superb
fairy-wren (fairly often on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- brown
gerygone (almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and birding day-tour)
- white-throated
gerygone (often, on
3-day
wildlife and birding day-tour)
- buff-rumped
thornbill
(occasionally on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- striated
thornbill (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- brown
thornbill (almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- white-browed
scrub-wren
(almost
always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- yellow-throated
scrubwren (often, on
3-day
wildlife and birding day-tour, nest often seen
also)
- large-billed
scrubwren (occasionally, on
3-day
wildlife and birding day-tour)
- striated
pardalote (often - more often heard than seen, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- spotted
pardalote (often - more often heard than seen, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Richard's
pipit (occasionally, 3-day wildlife tour and
outback tour)
- brown
songlark (occasionally, outback tour)
- silvereye
(often on most tours)
- bell
miner
(always on
3-day
wildlife,
almost
always
on
birding day-tour)
- blue-faced
honeyeater (very often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Lewin’s
Honeyeater (almost always on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- noisy
miner (always on all tours)
- noisy
friarbird (almost always on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- little
friarbird (often on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- singing
honeyeater (outback tour
only)
- yellow-faced
honeyeater
(often on birding tours and on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- blue-faced
honeyeater (often on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- white-throated
honeyeater
(often on
3-day wildlife tour and birding tours)
- white-plumed
honeyeater (outback
tour only)
- spiny-cheeked
honeyeater
(occasionally,
outback
tour
only)
- scarlet
honeyeater (fairly often in cooler months on
3-day wildlife
tour ad birding tours)
- brown
honeyeater (fairly often on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- eastern
spinebill (often on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- orange
chat ((outback
tour
only
-
very
occasionally)
eastern
whipbird (almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour - more often heard than seen)
- grey-crowned
babbler
(occasionally on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- jacky
winter (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- red-capped
robin
(occasionally, outback tour)
- pale
yellow robin (occasionally,
birding day- tour)
- eastern
yellow robin (almost always on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour) – NOTE: none of
our
'robins' are related to Northern Hemisphere
robins
- grey
shrike-thrush (often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- little
shrike-thrush (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- golden
whistler (fairly often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- rufous
whistler (fairly often on
3-day wildlife tour)
- crested
shrike-tit (very occasionally on
birding day-tour)
- black-faced
monarch
(occasionally, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- spectacled
monarch (occasionally, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- magpie-lark
(always),
all
tours
- grey
fantail (almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- rufous
fantail (often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- willy
wagtail (always, all tours)
- restless
flycatcher (occasionally
on 3-day wildlife
tour and
birding tours)
- leaden
flycatcher (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- spangled
drongo (fairly often)
- figbird
(almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- olive-backed
oriole
(often, on
3-day wildlife,
bush walking, island and birding day-tour)
- catbird
(fairly often, on 3-day wildlife
and
birding day-tour - more often heard than seen,
heard mostly in spring
and summer)
- regent
bowerbird (occasionally on
3-day wildlife,
often on birding day-tour)
satin bowerbird
(often on
3-day
wildlife
and
birding
day-tour)
- black-faced
cuckooshrike
(almost
always on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- spotted
bowerbird
(rarely, outback tour)
- varied
triller (occasionally on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Australian
magpie (always, all tours)
- pied
butcherbird (almost always, all tours)
- grey
butcherbird (almost always, on
3-day and
1-day wildlife and birding day-tour)
- pied
currawong (almost always, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- Paradise
riflebird (fairly often on birding day-tour,
occasionally ion 3-day
wildlife tour)
- spangled
drongo - often
- white-breasted
woodswallow (outback
tour
only)
white-browed
woodswallow (outback tour only)
- masked
woodswallow (outback tour only)
- Torresian
crow (always, all tours)
- welcome
swallow (always, most tours)
- tawny
grassbird (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- golden-headed
cisticola
(occasionally,
3-day
wildlife
and
birding day-tour)
- double-bar
finch (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- chestnut-breasted
mannikin
(occasionally)
- red-browed
finch (often on 3-day wildlife
tour and birding tours)
- Bassian
thrush (occasionally, birding day-tour)
Click
here
for
further information on Australian
birds and local (Scenic
Rim) wildlife, including birds
top of page
Reptiles seen
in the wild on
our tours
Turtles
- short-necked
turtle
(almost
always, in
warm months, on
3-day wildlife and wildlife day-tour)
- long-necked
turtle
(rarely)
- marine
turtle (unidentified - seen occasionally from
cliffs during 3-day tour)
Lizards
robust
velvet gecko (very
occasionally on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- bearded
dragon (often, on 3-day wildlife,
island and
birding day-tour)
- central
Australian bearded dragon (fairly often, outback
tour only)
- southern
angle-headed dragon (occasionally
on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- Gilbert's
dragon (occasionally,
outback
tour
only)
- eastern
water dragon (often, on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- other
dragon lizards (occasionally)
- lace
monitor (often on 3-day wildlife in
warmer months, sometimes on birding and other
day-tours)
- sand
monitor (fairly often, outback tour only)
- major
skink (fairly often on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- land
mullet (fairly often on
3-day wildlife and
birding day-tour)
- pink-tongued
skink
(occasionally on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- shingleback
lizard (outback
tour
only
-
occasionally)
- wall
skink
(almost always, many tours)
- delicate
skink (often on 3-day wildlife
tour )
- secretive
skink (occasionally on
3-day wildlife
tour )
- other
skinks (often)
Snakes
small-eyed
snake
(occasionally) – shy snake, usually seen from bus
window at night on 3-day wildlife
tour
- yellow-faced
whip-snake
(occasionally)
–
shy
snake,
sometimes suns itself on grass, seen on
3-day wildlife
tour and wildlife day-tour
- red-naped
snake (very rarely)
- Stephen’s
banded snake (rarely)
- eastern
brown snake (very rarely)
- red-bellied
black
snake
(occasionally)
- bandy-bandy
(rarely)
- golden-crowned
snake
(occasionally)
- green
tree
snake (occasionally) – non-venomous
- brown
tree
snake (occasionally) – has venom but being
rear-fanged cannot easily
bite humans
- carpet
python (fairly often on
3-day wildlife and
sometimes on wildlife day-tour or birding day-tour
or outback tour) –
non-venomous
- spotted
python (very rarely) – non-venomous
Click
here
for
further information on Australian
reptiles and local (Scenic
Rim) wildlife, including reptiles
top of page
Amphibians seen
in the wild on
our tours
Frogs are mostly seen on warm wet nights, and are more
often heard than
seen
- broad-palmed
rocket
frog Litoria
latopalmata
(fairly often)
- eastern
sedgefrog Litoria
fallax
(fairly often)
- green
tree
frog Litoria
caerula (often)
- stony
creek frog
Litoria leseuri
(fairly often)
- striped
rocket frog
Litoria nasuta
(fairly often)
- naked
or
purple tree frog Litoria rubella (often)
- emerald-spotted
tree-frog Litoria
peronii
(occasionally)
- striped
marsh-frog Lymnodynatses
peronii
(fairly often)
- spotted
marsh-frog Lymnodynatses
tasmaniensis
(fairly often)
- ornate
burrowing frog Lymnodynatses ornatus
(fairly often)
- scarlet-sided
pobblebonk Lymnodynatses
terraeginae
(occasionally)
- great
barred frog Mixophyes
fasiculatus
(heard fairly often, seen occasionally)
- holy
cross
'toad' (not really a toad) - seen once on
outback tour
- (plus
others we hear at night, varying with season and
weather but always
something calling)
- (also
the
introduced cane toad Bufo marinus,
almost
always
Click
here
for
further information on Australian
frogs and local
(Scenic
Rim) wildlife, including frogs
top of page
Fish
seen in the wild
on our tours
- long-finned
eel
(often)
- eel-tailed
catfish (also called dewfish) (often – sometimes
in summer we see their
nests)
- Australian
smelt (often)
- freshwater
mullet (often)
- striped
gudgeon (occasionally)
- stingrays,
manta rays
(occasionally from cliffs at Fingal on 3-day tour)
- various
other marine fish - in mangroves, tidal pools or
shallow sandy shore
top of page
Invertebrates seen in
the wild on
our tours
Insects
Butterflies
- wanderer
(not
native, the “monarch” of North America) (almost
always - very
conspicuous and common)
- lesser
wanderer
(often)
- blue
tiger
(fairly often – sometimes in large numbers)
- common
crow (often)
- common
brown (fairly often)
- common
eggfly (fairly often)
- blue
triangle (occasionally)
- orchard
swallowtail ( often, one of Australia's largest
butterflies)
- Richmond
birdwing butterfly (very occasionally)
- evening
brown
(often)
- jezebel
(occasionally)
- caper
white (fairly
often – sometimes in large numbers) -
pictured to right
- common
yellow (often)
- lemon
migrant (sometimes)
- various
blues (almost always
- regent
skipper (occasionally)
- various
others, including caterpillars and pupae as well
as adults
Other
insects
- Glow
worms
(not really worms but the larvae of small gnats)
- Native
stingless bees - see on almost all our visits to
Daisy Hill and
Redlands Indigiscapes, also often visiting native
flowers in many areas
- Meat
ants
- large mounds covered in tiny sticks and pebbles
to protect it from
eroding in the heavy rain
- Phasmids
-
we fairly often see large stick insects
- Praying
mantids - various sizes, green ones and brown
ones, often
- Many
others
Spiders (mostly harmless,
some
only active at night)
- huntsman
spiders (big but not dangerous)
- wolf
spiders (bright eye-shine at night, big but not
dangerous)
- golden
orb-weaver (sometimes very big, but not dangerous)
- other
orb-weavers
- leaf-curl
spider
- water
spider
- giant
water spider
- spiny
spider
- crab
spiders
- jumping
spiders
- St
Andrew’s cross spider
- trapdoor
spiders (burrows seen on some tours)
- funnel-web
(funnels sometimes seen on day-tours to Lamington
NP, and spider seen
once on tour)
- various
others
Are
our
spiders
dangerous?
Not
as much as some
would think.
The
spider
that
has caused the most fatalities in Australia (13
since
white settlement) is the Sydney funnel-web.
Our local funnel-webs
have as yet not been known to cause any deaths. They
are not generally
active during the day, and even
at night you’d have to try pretty hard to get
bitten. There have been
deaths from redback spiders, but all were before
1955, when the
antivenin was developed.
Other
invertebrates
- Lamington
spiny cray - a beautiful blue creature -
is sometimes seen in
the rainforest creeks of the Lamington National
Park, or even
wandering on the tracks
- A
similar
and closely-related but red and white
freshwater cray is sometimes seen in the
rainforest creeks of the
Border Ranges National Park,
sometimes wandering
on the tracks
- Small
crabs of various species are seen in the mangroves
near the David Fleay
Wildlife Park and on the island day-tour
- soldier
crabs (island day-tour, often in thousands - see
photo)
- Land
snails, or more commonly their shells (some much
larger than garden
snails), are sometimes found in the
rainforest, including some of Gondwanan ancestry.
Patterns made by
triangle slugs are seen on eucalypts, and
occasionally the slug itself
- Various
molluscs, jellyfish, sponges and other creatures
are sometimes
washed onto the beach at Fingal or Coochiemudlo,
jellyfish are
sometimes seen in the
sea, and at low tide we can see chitons,
galeolaria worms and other
rocky shore animals
- Flatworms,
large earthworms and other creatures turn up from
time to time in the
forests
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Plants seen
on our tours
Flowering
plants
Eucalypts
and their relatives
the
typical Australian gumtree - the Eucalyptus.. There
are hundreds of different species, but can
conveniently be grouped into smooth-barked gums,
stringy-barks and
iron-barks - all three groups are seen on most
of our tours
- very
closely related, and seen on most tours, are the
Corymbia species
(spotted gums and
blood-woods), apple gums (Angophora),
brush boxes (Lophostemon)
and
water gums (Tristaniopsis)
- in
the
same family, with dry fruits and mostly in open
forests and woodlands,
are bottle-brushes and tea-trees, seen on most
tours
- in
the
same family,
with fleshy fruits and mostly in rainforests,
are the lillypillies
(wide variety of size, shape and colour of
fruits) - seen on all
rainforest tours and some others
Figs
Several
species
of
strangler fig plus other species - seen on all
rainforest tours and
some others
Wattles
Acacia
in
Australia is generally known as 'wattle', and there
are hundreds of
species. Seen on all tours. Mulga and
brigalow seen on
outback tours.
Palms
Bangalow
(picabeen)
and walking stick palms are seen on all rainforest
tours
Many
others
Many
trees,
shrubs,
vines, forbs, grasses and mistletoes

Conifers
- Araucaria
-
the
bunya (Bunya and some other tours - see photo) and
hoop pine (most
tours)
- Callitris
(similar
to cyprus) - outback and some other tours
- Cycads
(some tours, especially glow worm tour if full
walk done at Witches
Falls)
Ferns
- Tree
ferns
-
several species on rainforest and some other tours
- Epiphytic
ferns
-
elkhorns, staghorns, crows nests, haresfoot fern,
others, mostly on
rainforest tours
- Many
other
ferns, especially on rainforest tours
Fungi
seen
on our tours
- Bracket
fungi
-
common on logs and treetrunks, various species,
especially in the
rainforest
- mushrooms
and
toadstool
- many species, especially in autumn
- puffballs
- lichens
(symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae)
- various kinds on
trees and rocks, some looking like paint
splashes, some hanging down
from branches
Captive
animals
seen at the David Fleay Wildlife Park on our 3-day
wildlife overview
tour:
platypus
- Julia
Creek dunnart (an outback species)
- bilby (an
outback
species)
- mahogany
glider
(found only in northern Queensland)
- yellow-bellied
glider
- greater
glider
- koala
- Proserpine
rock wallaby
(found only in
northern Queensland)
- bridled
nail-tail wallaby
- Lumholtz
tree-kangaroo (found only in
northern Queensland)
- brolga
(Australia's crane - see photo)
- black-necked
stork
- wedge-tailed
eagle
- barking
owl
- tawny
frog-mouth
cassowary
(found only in
northern Australia - see photo)
- carpet
python
- southern
angle-headed dragon
- freshwater
crocodile (found only in northern Australia)
- saltwater
crocodile
(found only in northern Australia and tropical
Asia)
There
are
also
species that bring themselves in from the
surrounding forests and
wetlands - e.g. red-legged pademelons, brush
turkeys, nankeen
night-herons, magpie geese, greater egrets, eastern
water dragons and
others
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