Seen only once.

There are oodles of Australian animals that I’ve never seen in the wild, platypus and bandicoot immediately come to mind. But which animals have you seen in the wild in Australia only once (including ferals)?

For me, that would include:
Koala, rakali, scarlet honeyeater, common keelback, red-bellied black snake, legless lizard (blue), barn owl, wandering whistling duck, white italian snail, yabby, white-tailed spider, great carpenter bee, eucalypt longicorn, carpet beetle, jacky dragon, blotched blue tongue, stubble quail, peregrine falcon, eastern curlew, ruddy turnstone (seen in Jamaica!), red-necked stint, common sandpiper, cockatiel (escaped pet), eurasian collared dove (escaped pet), canada goose (escaped pet), little tern, gang gang cockatoo, horsfield’s bronze cuckoo, swift, treecreeper, striated pardalote, jacky winter, bellbird, whipbird, white-eared honeyeater, varied sittella, skylark, song thrush, feral deer, eastern water skink, channel-billed cuckoo, pheasant coucal.

So put your thinking caps on. What animals have you seen in the wild only once?

There’s no way you are going to see a white Italian snail only the once. If you can see one, you’ll easily see fifty or fifty thousand.

An Onychophoran.

Michael V said:

An Onychophoran.

I’ne never even heard of it.

roughbarked said:

There’s no way you are going to see a white Italian snail only the once. If you can see one, you’ll easily see fifty or fifty thousand.

Saw about 20, but only on one occasion. Add to my list: thrips, white-fronted chat, zitting cisticola.

> Onchophoran

Good one. aka Peripatus, velvet worm, Australian native from top end rainforest that’s very rarely seen.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

There’s no way you are going to see a white Italian snail only the once. If you can see one, you’ll easily see fifty or fifty thousand.

Saw about 20, but only on one occasion. Add to my list: thrips, white-fronted chat, zitting cisticola.

> Onchophoran

Good one. aka Peripatus, velvet worm, Australian native from top end rainforest that’s very rarely seen.

I’ve seen quite a lot of different, unknown to me, birds. Maybe some were for the only time but I’ll never know.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

There’s no way you are going to see a white Italian snail only the once. If you can see one, you’ll easily see fifty or fifty thousand.

Saw about 20, but only on one occasion. Add to my list: thrips, white-fronted chat, zitting cisticola.

> Onchophoran

Good one. aka Peripatus, velvet worm, Australian native from top end rainforest that’s very rarely seen.

This one was in my backyard in Armidale, NSW. We had severe frosts right through winter, and no rainforest. It was brightly coloured. My son noticed it first.

Nyctophilopython oenpelliensis. Oxyuranus microlepidotus. Hydromys chrysogaster. Tachyglossus aculeatus. Acanthophis antarcticus. plus numerous other things probably.

mollwollfumble said:

Seen only once.

There are oodles of Australian animals that I’ve never seen in the wild, platypus and bandicoot immediately come to mind. But which animals have you seen in the wild in Australia only once (including ferals)?

For me, that would include:
Koala, rakali, scarlet honeyeater, common keelback, red-bellied black snake, legless lizard (blue), barn owl, wandering whistling duck, white italian snail, yabby, white-tailed spider, great carpenter bee, eucalypt longicorn, carpet beetle, jacky dragon, blotched blue tongue, stubble quail, peregrine falcon, eastern curlew, ruddy turnstone (seen in Jamaica!), red-necked stint, common sandpiper, cockatiel (escaped pet), eurasian collared dove (escaped pet), canada goose (escaped pet), little tern, gang gang cockatoo, horsfield’s bronze cuckoo, swift, treecreeper, striated pardalote, jacky winter, bellbird, whipbird, white-eared honeyeater, varied sittella, skylark, song thrush, feral deer, eastern water skink, channel-billed cuckoo, pheasant coucal.

So put your thinking caps on. What animals have you seen in the wild only once?

I think it’s just

Eastern quoll
Echidna

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

Seen only once.

There are oodles of Australian animals that I’ve never seen in the wild, platypus and bandicoot immediately come to mind. But which animals have you seen in the wild in Australia only once (including ferals)?

For me, that would include:
Koala, rakali, scarlet honeyeater, common keelback, red-bellied black snake, legless lizard (blue), barn owl, wandering whistling duck, white italian snail, yabby, white-tailed spider, great carpenter bee, eucalypt longicorn, carpet beetle, jacky dragon, blotched blue tongue, stubble quail, peregrine falcon, eastern curlew, ruddy turnstone (seen in Jamaica!), red-necked stint, common sandpiper, cockatiel (escaped pet), eurasian collared dove (escaped pet), canada goose (escaped pet), little tern, gang gang cockatoo, horsfield’s bronze cuckoo, swift, treecreeper, striated pardalote, jacky winter, bellbird, whipbird, white-eared honeyeater, varied sittella, skylark, song thrush, feral deer, eastern water skink, channel-billed cuckoo, pheasant coucal.

So put your thinking caps on. What animals have you seen in the wild only once?

I think it’s just

Eastern quoll
Echidna

Ain’t never seen an eastern quoll. Haven’t seen a lot of Echidnas but I have seen them on more than one ocasion.

Here’s something I not only saw the once but that once was barely for a few seconds. I happened to be out watering and planting natives on the crown land that surrounds me. It was almost dusk and out of the corner of my eye I saw something that was entirely new to me. It flew down to where the hose was running for a drink.
It barely put it’s feet on the ground when a white rumped miner divebombed it and it was gone. Just like that.
Poor thing had to find a drink somewhere else. Black Throated Finch.

They used to be widespread apparently but they were extinct across most of their range by 1900.

I’ve only once seen a bunyip, briefly rising out of the water at Murray Bridge.

Platypus, echidnas, bandicoots and wobblies were common sights in South Mole Creek. A number of bandicoot families nested on our property and echidna sometimes wandered through.

When I lived in Mole Creek township itself for a while, I often used to see platypus in the creek itself, which ran through my back garden with a little bridge over it.

Some locals claimed Mole Creek was named after the platypus (“moles”) who live in it, others said the name reflected the fact that the creek itself goes underground before reappearing above ground at various points.

I’ve never seen a platypus or a dunnart or a bilby. I’ve only ever seen a live wombat the once and fortunately I did see the road move and slowed. Because the bit of moving road turned out to be a large road coloured wombat. It was just gone dark on the snowy mountains road. Wife and I were heading to Narooma for a neice’s wedding.

I’ve never seen a Mala.

roughbarked said:

I’ve never seen a platypus or a dunnart or a bilby. I’ve only ever seen a live wombat the once and fortunately I did see the road move and slowed. Because the bit of moving road turned out to be a large road coloured wombat. It was just gone dark on the snowy mountains road. Wife and I were heading to Narooma for a neice’s wedding.

I’ve never seen a Mala.

There are wombat burrows in this very village, in one of the old graveyards, but I haven’t spotted an actual wombat since moving here.

But wombats are a common sight at Baker’s Beach, Narawntapu National Park (formerly Asbestos Range National Park), which I visited several times in the previous century.

Bubblecar said:

roughbarked said:

I’ve never seen a platypus or a dunnart or a bilby. I’ve only ever seen a live wombat the once and fortunately I did see the road move and slowed. Because the bit of moving road turned out to be a large road coloured wombat. It was just gone dark on the snowy mountains road. Wife and I were heading to Narooma for a neice’s wedding.

I’ve never seen a Mala.

There are wombat burrows in this very village, in one of the old graveyards, but I haven’t spotted an actual wombat since moving here.

But wombats are a common sight at Baker’s Beach, Narawntapu National Park (formerly Asbestos Range National Park), which I visited several times in the previous century.

I’ve got a lot of photos of wombat burrows and cubic turds. Thankfully I didn’t collect the one I saw because it was large and I was driving a corolla which could easily have been damaged by a large wombat.

I’ve only ever seen a hooded robin the once. At least I have a slide in a box somewhere to prove it. Sitting on its nest at a place called pulleytop it was.

Bubblecar said:

I’ve only once seen a bunyip, briefly rising out of the water at Murray Bridge.

Platypus, echidnas, bandicoots and wobblies were common sights in South Mole Creek. A number of bandicoot families nested on our property and echidna sometimes wandered through.

When I lived in Mole Creek township itself for a while, I often used to see platypus in the creek itself, which ran through my back garden with a little bridge over it.

Some locals claimed Mole Creek was named after the platypus (“moles”) who live in it, others said the name reflected the fact that the creek itself goes underground before reappearing above ground at various points.

You’re lying.

I’ve only seen a platypus once in the wild.

In Tassie.

roughbarked said:

I’ve only ever seen a hooded robin the once. At least I have a slide in a box somewhere to prove it. Sitting on its nest at a place called pulleytop it was.

No “y” in Pulletop. As a kid, I got some wolframite specimens from Pulletop.

Peak Warming Man said:

Bubblecar said:

I’ve only once seen a bunyip, briefly rising out of the water at Murray Bridge.

Platypus, echidnas, bandicoots and wobblies were common sights in South Mole Creek. A number of bandicoot families nested on our property and echidna sometimes wandered through.

When I lived in Mole Creek township itself for a while, I often used to see platypus in the creek itself, which ran through my back garden with a little bridge over it.

Some locals claimed Mole Creek was named after the platypus (“moles”) who live in it, others said the name reflected the fact that the creek itself goes underground before reappearing above ground at various points.

You’re lying.

No there really was and still is a bunyip at Murray Bridge. I saw the older one which was more scary-looking. Picture below is the current one.

https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/tourism/things-to-see-and-do/family-activities-and-attractions/bunyip

The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972. For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water and gave a very loud roar – twice. This roar could be heard up to one kilometre away. The ugly looking monster did frighten many small children.

His name was Bert the Bunyip. The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch… Bert then became Bertha.

The sound box has had many problems during its time… at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar – often through all hours of the night.

Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalised and part was broken off. A quieter, friendlier looking Bunyip was built and her cave was revamped in 2000.

The price rose to $1 for three appearances. Following major repairs in 2018, visitor can now view the Bunyip for free. The Bunyip receives in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in her cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

Bubblecar said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Bubblecar said:

I’ve only once seen a bunyip, briefly rising out of the water at Murray Bridge.

Platypus, echidnas, bandicoots and wobblies were common sights in South Mole Creek. A number of bandicoot families nested on our property and echidna sometimes wandered through.

When I lived in Mole Creek township itself for a while, I often used to see platypus in the creek itself, which ran through my back garden with a little bridge over it.

Some locals claimed Mole Creek was named after the platypus (“moles”) who live in it, others said the name reflected the fact that the creek itself goes underground before reappearing above ground at various points.

You’re lying.

No there really was and still is a bunyip at Murray Bridge. I saw the older one which was more scary-looking. Picture below is the current one.

https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/tourism/things-to-see-and-do/family-activities-and-attractions/bunyip

The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972. For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water and gave a very loud roar – twice. This roar could be heard up to one kilometre away. The ugly looking monster did frighten many small children.

His name was Bert the Bunyip. The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch… Bert then became Bertha.

The sound box has had many problems during its time… at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar – often through all hours of the night.

Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalised and part was broken off. A quieter, friendlier looking Bunyip was built and her cave was revamped in 2000.

The price rose to $1 for three appearances. Following major repairs in 2018, visitor can now view the Bunyip for free. The Bunyip receives in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in her cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

I wonder if she washed away as the flood moved down the river recently.

buffy said:

Bubblecar said:

Peak Warming Man said:

You’re lying.

No there really was and still is a bunyip at Murray Bridge. I saw the older one which was more scary-looking. Picture below is the current one.

https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/tourism/things-to-see-and-do/family-activities-and-attractions/bunyip

The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972. For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water and gave a very loud roar – twice. This roar could be heard up to one kilometre away. The ugly looking monster did frighten many small children.

His name was Bert the Bunyip. The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch… Bert then became Bertha.

The sound box has had many problems during its time… at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar – often through all hours of the night.

Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalised and part was broken off. A quieter, friendlier looking Bunyip was built and her cave was revamped in 2000.

The price rose to $1 for three appearances. Following major repairs in 2018, visitor can now view the Bunyip for free. The Bunyip receives in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in her cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

I wonder if she washed away as the flood moved down the river recently.

Here’s a video of the older Bertha and her baby, rising out of the water.

They’re a bit crappy but a bit nightmarish too. The second roar is quite alarming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcghJHRaqZw

I thought I saw a bunyip once but it was just a nargun.

Bubblecar said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Bubblecar said:

I’ve only once seen a bunyip, briefly rising out of the water at Murray Bridge.

You’re lying.

No there really was and still is a bunyip at Murray Bridge. I saw the older one which was more scary-looking. Picture below is the current one.

https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/tourism/things-to-see-and-do/family-activities-and-attractions/bunyip

> snip <

The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in her cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

“Give Us A Kiss!” :-*

Slime Cannon Attack – How Velvet Worm slime jets work

buffy said:

Bubblecar said:

Peak Warming Man said:

You’re lying.

No there really was and still is a bunyip at Murray Bridge. I saw the older one which was more scary-looking. Picture below is the current one.

https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/tourism/things-to-see-and-do/family-activities-and-attractions/bunyip

The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built by Dennis Newell and launched in 1972. For 20 cents the bunyip emerged from below the water and gave a very loud roar – twice. This roar could be heard up to one kilometre away. The ugly looking monster did frighten many small children.

His name was Bert the Bunyip. The Bunyip was given a baby about 10 years after the launch… Bert then became Bertha.

The sound box has had many problems during its time… at one stage vandals somehow worked out how to jam it so it would continue to roar – often through all hours of the night.

Then the Bunyip and baby were also vandalised and part was broken off. A quieter, friendlier looking Bunyip was built and her cave was revamped in 2000.

The price rose to $1 for three appearances. Following major repairs in 2018, visitor can now view the Bunyip for free. The Bunyip receives in excess of 20,000 visitors per year.

The Murray Bridge Bunyip can be found lurking in her cave today on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve Murray Bridge

I wonder if she washed away as the flood moved down the river recently.

You will be relieved to know the bunyip has survived the flood conditions unscathed.

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

I’ve only ever seen a hooded robin the once. At least I have a slide in a box somewhere to prove it. Sitting on its nest at a place called pulleytop it was.

No “y” in Pulletop. As a kid, I got some wolframite specimens from Pulletop.

Sorry about the typing.

There’s a lot of Wolfram in the area. There are Wolfram miines at Talimba.