Dryandra vs Tone-Perup Nature Reserve?
Hello!
I will be visiting Western Australia this coming January, primarily for mammal-watching. The current plan is to spend 3-5 days searching for Numbat, 2-3 days at Francois Peron National Park in search of the Bilby and depending on success rates at either location potentially squeeze in searches at other locations for Rock Wallabies, Honey Possums, and Western Ringtail Possums.
Dryandra always comes up as the go-to spot for Numbat, as well as having good chance for echidna, woylie, and lower but not horrid chances at chuditch as well. However, in my research I also become familiar with Tone-Perup, which at least in theory has all the above species, plus Western Ringtail and Honey possums.
However, there aren’t many reports or details about Tone-Perup in comparison. Does anyone have experience with the latter (or preferably with both)? My current plan is focused on Dryandra to maximize chance for Numbat, but if the possibility isn’t too bad at Tone-Perup I might just switch gears and try that location out.
As an addendum, the last verified record I can find of a live Bilby siting at Francois Peron was in 2018. Does anyone know if there have been more recent viewings? I fear that the reintroduced population might have succumbed as other species released at the same time have been confirmed to have done. If Bilby seems unfeasible there, I might switch to either Dirk Hartog for hare wallabies or drop the Shark Bay region entirely and dedicate more time to Dryandra / Tone-Perup.
Thank you for any insight you can provide and have a great day!
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6 Comments
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Huntingforparadise
Can’t help you with the bilbies, but looking forward to your trip report if you find them!
Regarding Dryandra vs Perup debate.
If you’re short on time then I reckon it’s about 10-15 times easier to see the species you’re after in Dryandra versus Perup. It’s not necessarily about the amount of animals in those areas, but more about the density of the understory between the two.Dryandra is very open woodlands, with grass covered glades and plenty of wide open spaces, this makes spotting these tiny camouflaged critters a lot easier than the dense and thick understory of the Perup woodland complex.
I guess it’s a bit like visiting South Africa in the wet versus the dry, the animals are still there in the wet, they’re just dispersed away from the roads and a heck of a lot harder to see.
I’m lucky enough to live a half hour drive from Perup. On an average day searching for them I’ll be lucky if I spot even one, but it’s very hard to track through the bush once I do, as it quickly gets lost in the undergrowth.
There’s a reason there’s more trip reports for Dryandra, it’s because it’s better.
Good luck, and if you’re after any tips, I wrote a guide on how to spot them last week on this forum, you’ll likely be able to search for it.
Cheers,
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Dalton Van Leeuwen
Thank you very much for your insight! I did see your guide as well; I look forward to implementing the strategies recommended! My further research is suggesting that unfortunately Bilbies might be absent from Francois Peron but depending on what other places I end up swapping in and out I might squeeze in a trip there.
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Michael Johnson
If you don’t get the information you are after here, you could try the Facebook group “Australian Mammal Watching”.