The Carnivorous Plant FAQ Field Trip Report -

New South Wales, Australia, in 2007

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Me:
Yep, there I am. Beth took this photograph of me as I was photographing the Drosera.

While I fiddle-faddled with these plants, Beth did some birding (I think she was identifying some honeyeaters), and Robert, John, and Kirk wandered ahead. My photography was interrupted by their calling to me. Apparently they had spotted a brown snake on the trail. This was very exciting! Brown snakes (Pseudonaja sp.) are extremely venomous fanged snakes, easily capable of killing people who annoy them. I immediately started towards them on the trail.

Unfortunately, I had a quandary. They were a few hundred meters ahead, shouting about a brown tree snake on the trail between us. But I did not know where the snake was, nor was I exactly sure what I should be looking for, other than a brown snake somewhere in the brown leaf litter on the red-brown ground. I slowed to a hurried but careful pace and by the time I finally saw the snake, it was mostly just a few glimpses of brown scales retreating into the leaf litter of the bush ten meters off the trail. But it was thrilling even so!

Our trail proceeded, and finished with a nice view of the ocean. But no carnivorous plants. We returned to our car, lunched at a biker's roadside stop called the Roadwarrier Café (if I recall correctly), then drove to our next site.

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Revised: October 2007
©Barry Rice, 2005