One local platypus has been calling Lake Burley Griffin home this week, with Canberrans sharing pictures and videos of the mammal over social media.
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The sightings line up with Waterwatch's Platypus Month with the organisation hoping to wrangle volunteers to help conduct a census on the capital region's monotreme population.
Regional facilitator Woo O'Reilly said platypus eat a third of their body weight in water bugs every day.
"By the end of winter, bug numbers are getting low so they're more visible at this time of year," Ms O'Reilly said.
Platypus are solitary animals, so seeing multiple ones close together tended to mean there were enough bugs for all of them, Ms O'Reilly said.
Ms O'Reilly said there had been a few more sightings this season, with platypus spotted around the National Museum of Australia and Regatta Point.
But she warned sightings didn't mean the platypus population had healthy numbers as Canberra had no references to compare today's population with pre-development numbers.
"While seeing a platypus on its own is not an indicator of river health, the number of platypus you see on a stretch of river is a better indicator," Ms O'Reilly said.
She urged Canberrans to report sightings of platypus at any time of year by emailing Waterwatch, who are also calling for volunteers to help conduct dawn and dusk censuses of platypus around Canberra.
"We welcome anyone in the community to come and join us. We get about eight to 10 people along a stretch of river," Ms O'Reilly said.
She also ran free walks around the Queanbeyan river and would be looking to conduct a census outside of Cooma, near Adaminaby to survey platypus numbers at Murrumbidgee River.
Ms O'Reilly said Canberrans could help platypuses by keeping an eye out for fish or yabby traps, discarded fishing line or litter in the region's rivers.
"We get a lot of examples of platypus dying because of discarded fishing line or litter," she said.
Platypus forage with their bills, pushing it through the water, meaning it often gets caught on objects left by careless Canberrans.
Canberrans should report platypus sightings to Waterwatch by emailing waterwatch@act.gov.au with more details on volunteering for the census available at www.act.waterwatch.org.au/Platypus.html.
