Australia, where I'm working for 5 months. Near the town of Warrnambool, about 3.5 hours drive West of Melbourne, there is a large and beautiful nature reserve called Tower Hill (sounds like a stop on the London Underground). There is a boardwalk through the extensive marshes and where it rejoins the forest I saw signs of digging in the firm mud, which I guessed was due to ecidnas. I walked back and forth along about a 300 m stretch until dusk, and finally saw one beside the boardwalk. It didn't hang around long, but waddled off into the undergrowth.
I went back to this fantastic reserve at 7 a.m this morning because there is an impressive variety of birds including honeyeaters, fairywrens, scrubwrens, emus, assorted parrots and fantails, as well as excellent views of grey kangaroos, black wallabys and koalas. I found an area where there is are even more extensive signs of echidna activity. I will check it out in a few weeks.
I have now seen 50% of the genera of egg-laying mammals, which is far higher than I've managed for placental mammals. My daughter is coming to visit me in a couple of months and top of her agenda is seeing echidna and platypus (I have plans for the latter which I haven't seen yet), so I must do my research - and it's a nice break from labwork.
Sorry it's such a long reply, I get carried away with my enthusiasm for the wildlife here, which most of the locals don't seem very interested in.
