Week 2
Day 8 – Sunday 11 April 2010
Today was a fantastic day for some well needed rest and relaxation. I had a lovely sleep in then went into the city of Cairns. I managed to find a few shops open, although my main priority was swimming in the large beachside pool and enjoying the lovely weather – I think the weather hit about 35 degrees.
After lazing around in town we made our way back to the caravan park for a swim and BBQ.
Day 9 – Monday 12 April 2010
This morning we woke and had to pack up again. This time we are heading towards our next fieldwork site about 100km North-West of Cairns. The drive up the Captain Cook Highway was amazing; there were beautiful views of the coast line all the way up to Cape Tribulation. After about an hour and a half we made it to our destination - we are staying at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten which is at an altitude of 440m in the foothills of Mount Lewis.
We set up our tents and helped to organise the equipment. We have now taken over the entire camp kitchen – this is a structure about 10m2 that has a BBQ, hot plates, sinks, microwave and a fridge (we are definitely spoilt this week!). The only thing really annoying about this site is the mosquitoes! Last week we had leech problems and this week it’s the mozzies - what is it about the Rainforest and invertebrates that want to suck your blood!?
After all the work was done we had time for some rest and relaxation; the boys went off to play ultimate Frisbee whilst the girls gave each other facials and hand massages – I know who was more relaxed in the end!
Day 10 – Tuesday 13 April 2010
This morning I woke up to a flat mattress – not happy! When I finally emerged from my tent I had some breakfast and got ready to go searching for reptiles. Collin, Thea and I spent an hour searching the forest for any reptile we could find – we spotted a couple of skinks and cane toads but nothing very exciting...
It was such a lovely night tonight so there were plenty of volunteers for spotlighting. I headed up to the 1000 metre site with Jeff, Jodie and Tamara (who was carrying along her Anabat recorder and documenting the species and location of the bats she recorded). As we walked along the 1 km transect we recorded the animals we saw on the data sheet. Even though it was a lovely night for humans, the Rainforest animals did not agree and there were very few animals to document – that is until I spotted a Leaf Tailed Gecko hiding around the back of a tree. The only thing you can see when you are spotlighting animals is a gold/red eye-shine which is a reflection of the light off the back of the retina – it is pretty tricky because the raindrops also reflect light, also large invertebrates have eye-shine although theirs is usually a white/blue colour.
As we were making our way back to the vehicle Jodie saw a glint of eye-shine; this ended up being a baby Daintree Ringtail possum about 2 metres high – apparently this is where the mother possum leaves her young when she goes foraging at night. As we neared the car Jeff spotted a tiny Boobook owl about 5 metres high – it might be small be gee it makes a big sound!
We got back to camp quite late and after finding a new mattress I curled up into bed and had a fantastic sleep!
Day 11 – Wednesday 14 April 2010
Last night Arnaud released five Gecko’s with the aim to track their movement using Method # 4. Last week, Arnaud tried 3 other methods with the aim to track the Gecko’s back to their refuge sites.
Gecko tracking – different methods and many different attempts...
Method 1 – Fluorescent powder – the Gecko was captured and dusted with powder that shone when the area was lit with a black light. This didn’t really work because it rained and the powder got washed away – Arnaud also managed to get half of the powder up his arms and he glowed really well...
Method 2 – Reflectors – the Gecko that was captured had tiny reflectors glued to their backs – a beam of light from a head lamp made it very easy to find where the Gecko had moved to. The Gecko’s moved about 1 metre in about 10 hours – they were possibly a little freaked out by their new jewellery (then again maybe they just don’t move much!?).
Method 3 – Glow tubes– the Gecko that was captured had tiny glow sticks glued to their backs – in the dark night the glow stick shines and it was easy to find where the Gecko is. The Gecko’s moved about 1 metre in about 10 hours – they were possibly a little freaked out by their new jewellery (then again maybe they just don’t move much!?).
Method 4 – Cotton spools – the Gecko had a tiny harness of gauze rigged up and glued to its back, the end of the tiny spool of cotton was tied to a low branch and flagged with pink tape. The theory behind this method is that as the Gecko’s move, the cotton is left behind and leaves a trail.
Today we all headed up the mountain to have a look at the Gecko’s that were released hoping that Method # 4 worked...
At the first release site there was a lovely trail about 4 metres up the tree and then we could see the spool dangling from the tree – the Gecko was nowhere to be found.
The second, third and fourth site had similar results, although the spools were discovered much closer to the release site – within about 30cm-1m...
By the time we got to the fifth release site we were all sceptical about the effectiveness of Arnaud’s method – unfortunately we found yet another spool dangling in the branches close to the release site. In all we ended up with 5 wayward Gecko’s, 5 discarded tracking spools and one very frustrated Frenchman...
Tomorrow Arnaud will attempt to improve his cotton spool tracking device and release the Gecko once again...
After lunch I got to measure the Leaf Tailed Gecko I found spotlighting last night. It was so tricky taking accurate measurements on a squirming animal that is trying to get away. That hardest part was taking the tissue sample for DNA: this is where you have to cut a small piece (about the same as your fingernail cutting when you snip them off) of the tail off and put it in ethanol so the DNA can be analysed.