Barry Davies is a field guide for AUIP students spending time at Binna Burra during our South Queensland program. Barry shares with us information about some of his experiences and the place he loves:

It is raining again! I shouldn’t be surprised because I live in a rainforest and it has been raining all summer. ‘My’ rainforest is in the beautiful Lamington National Park in Queensland, Australia where AUIP groups come in May each year.

Sadly, due to other commitments, I won’t be working with the groups this year. I’m going to miss sharing the rainforest with students, and I’ll also miss the fun we have bush dancing and doing poetry. If you are thinking of joining a program here in May, don’t be put off by the mention of rain because it should have stopped by then and left a legacy of spectacular waterfalls and lush forests.

I’ve been a Naturalist and Guide in this area for about 30 years but I also go further afield. My year is a mixed bag of running field programs for study abroad groups of U.S. students, leading walking tours for older people who are at the opposite end of their careers and my specialist area which is organizing and leading bird watching tours and workshops. Most of my tours are in Australia, but I also go to New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea (pictured right) and other parts of Melanesia. My birding tours are for small groups (maximum 8 people) and are often just for one person.

I’ve had some interesting experiences lately involving places we visit with the AUIP groups and animals we see there. A wildlife highlight of any visit to Australia is seeing a platypus and most groups who visit Lamington NP get to see one. Platypus feed by diving underwater searching for worms and shrimps on the bottom of the river. They are normally solitary feeders but last week I watched one feeding alongside a diving bird called a little-black cormorant. They swam side-by-side and dived together. The cormorant appeared to be encouraging the platypus to dive by gently pecking the platypus on the tail. If you have never seen a platypus, this may not seem strange or unlikely but believe me, this is really bizarre behaviour that may not have been observed by anyone before. Just around the corner at the flying fox (very large bats) colony, a huge white-bellied sea-eagle (pictured left) flew across in front of me and nonchalantly snatched a flying fox out of the air and carried it off for dinner. It was another amazing sight.

If you would like to know more about what I do, please visit my website at www.gondwanaguides.com.au