The fifth ANN get-together was held in the Mary River Region of the Top End,
Northern Territory in May, 2008. The gathering included over 90 field naturalists
from most States. The program included bus trips to natural history sites in the region.
Organisation of the get-together was superb. Congratulations to the organisers who arranged for a
great program.
Some of the many highlights for me include:
- Meeting with some of the indigenous people, and learning something of their
knowledge, their culture, and their care for country.
- Seeing the NT eucalypts. Unlike eucalypts in southern Australia, on which there
are usually both buds and fruit, the NT eucalypts drop these seasonally.
A good deal of time was spent scratching on the ground for buds or fruit.
Frequent burning helped to make fallen material scarce.
- The abundance of large paperbarks, some of which were taller than the eucalypts.
In the south, most melaleucas are in the shrub layer.
- The vast extent of the superfically similar savannah woodlands.
On each visit more and more variation become apparent.
- The amount of burning taken place. The fires, lit in afternoon, extinguish themselves
during the night. Burning in the south needs much closer monitoring.
- The birds. Some of the NT birds are very familiar in southern States.
These include Magpie Larks, the
Galahs and Corellas, most of the raptors, and many of the water birds.Others were completely new.
- The plants, unlike the birds, were almost totally new. The familiar River Red Gums,
and Kangaroo Grass made up a tiny minority of southern species. Even the weeds were unfamiliar.
- The evidence of immense volumes of water during the wet season.
A week was far too short to assimilate more than a tiny fraction of the natural
history of the NT.
Mary River Camp
Bird Lagoon and welcome to country
Kakadu Cultural Camp
East Alligator River Area
Marrakai Road
Territory Wildlife Park
Fog Dam
Point Stuart Rd
Photo album1
Photo album2
Photo album3
Termites
Bamboo
ABC website: interview at Fogg Dam
EP.