Focus On Fauna

A lot of fauna derive their common names from either the location where they are found or their appearance, or both, for example the Crimson Rosella, Blue-banded Bee, Eastern Yellow Robin. A few however are named after what they do. This is very useful when trying to look for them in the bush. With Spring almost upon us some of these ‘doing’ named critters are acting true to type.

One of the most delicate artefacts one can find when walking through the bush is a perfect skeleton of a gum leaf with all the veins intact. It should be no surprise given the theme of this blog that one of the architects of this is the caterpillar of the Gum-leaf Skeletoniser Moth (Uraba lugens). The adult moth lays between 100 and 200 eggs, twice a year. The resulting caterpillars (see picture above) eat only the surface layer of a leaf on both sides before moving on to the next leaf, leaving the gum-leaf veins.

Another critter with a name suggesting its habit is the Eucalyptus Tip-wilter Bug (Amorbus sp.). These insects are Hemipteran i.e. equipped with sucking mouthparts for extracting sap. In Spring gum trees start to develop new shoots. Both the adults and instars of the Tip-wilter Bug attack these shoots extracting the sap and causing the new growth to shrivel and die.

I suggest we start renaming some of our local fauna. How about a ‘Destroying the windscreen rubber of your car’ Cockatoo and ‘Poo all over the patio’ Swallow.

Recently the question was asked if the Strath Creek/Flowerdale area had ever been part of the home range of black cockatoos other than the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus.

A long term resident of the district recalls seeing what he assumed were the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus magnificus over 50 years ago.

There are two types of black cockatoos in Victoria that have red markings on their tails the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo and the Glossy Black Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus lathami.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historically both species were more widespread in Victoria than they are now but these days both birds have a very reduced home range (See map below). However Strath Creek/Flowerdale would have always been outside the normal range of both species.

C. lathami are now usually only found in far East Gippsland and C. magnificus is restricted to the western part of Victoria.

Occasionally C. lathami will still appear more westerly. This year for instance there have been sightings of them at Mt Macedon and even close to Melbourne in the SE suburbs around Dandenong and Frankston. Their recent movements are probably due to the fires that occured over large areas of East Gippsland. Other observations in recent years have also occurred in the Strathbogie Ranges.

In past decades it may not have been that unusual to occasionally see either of the species in the Strath Creek/Flowerdale district if their main feed plants were present.

A major part of the C. lathami’s and C. magnificus’ diet is the seed of sheoaks (Allocasuarina species) and the loss of these plants in the landscape is almost certainly the cause of the decline of both species in Victoria. Over the last few years UGLN have been including the drooping and black she-oak in many of our landcare plantings in an effort to increase the distribution of the plants and the wildlife that feed on the plants.

There are still a few remnant she-oaks in the district but logging, clearing for agriculture and browsing by stock, rabbits and feral deer have severely affected their ability to regenerate and these plants are now quite rare in much of the upper goulburn region.

If anyone has any old or new observations from the area about either of these two magnificent birds or sheoaks i’d be very interested to hear about them.

Email Chris Cobern: ugln.projects@ugln.net

Events of the past week sent me up the hill to the bush block to find some peace and quiet to ponder and try and make sense of it all. I had not been up there for a while. The need for reliable phone coverage and internet to sort out the current administrivia of my life had kept me in town for too long.

Even before I got out of the car I was greeted by an old friend. This male Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), pictured left, immediately appeared and took up the battle where he had left off months ago (it may not be the same one), attacking the old nemesis – his reflection in the car windscreen and rear view mirrors. The bird finally flew away when I realise that waiting in the car for the assault to finish might have me waiting a long time. So I got out.

In nest box at the side of the house I was greeted for the tenth consecutive year by an Australian Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus), pictured below. It was obviously still confused as it had again taken up residence in the ‘rosella’ nest-box. Meanwhile not 20m away were two ‘Owlet-nightjar’ nest-boxes that have sat vacant now for 11 years.

And in the bush the ‘acacia cycle’ was in full swing. There are eight acacia species on the property which flower in a specific sequence every year. The Cootamundra and Snake Wattle blooms were slowly fading, the Golden Wattle was in full flower and I know from past history which wattles will flower next and in what order. At ground level the appearance of Early Nancys signal the imminent arrival of the lilies. They are not called ‘early’ for nothing.

It seems that irrespective of how transient human affairs may seem to be, the predictable and reliable cycles of Mother Nature continue on. And there is a strange comfort in that.

Those who are regular readers of this blog will recognise the work of Macwake otherwise known as David Wakefield and Laurie Macmillan. Dave, Laurie and Bertram Lobert with the support of the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network set up the Focus on Fauna project in response to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. As well as active field-work Dave penned (and Laurie edited) the original Focus on Fauna blogs. Sadly David Wakefield and Laurie Macmillan passed away this week.

Much will be said in other forums about the impact they have had on the community at large and the legacy they have left.

From a personal perspective, I first met Dave and Laurie at a Strath Creek Landcare Group function just after I had moved into the district a week prior to Black Saturday. I immediately saw in Dave a kindred spirit. He was a gentle man with a love of the environment and a vast understanding of the natural world and the interaction of things in it. We ‘clicked’ immediately. Over the years Dave has been a mentor to me generously sharing this knowledge. In 2012 he invited me to contribute to the Focus on Fauna blog and together, until recently, the two of us maintained the punishing effort of publishing two blogs a week (one each) on all manner of fauna in our valley…nearly 700 in total. We also talked about the Focus project at venues across the state and it was Dave who first encouraged me to deliver talks on the animals that we had found, a creative outlet I have enjoyed ever since.

Focus on Fauna will continue true to the vision of David, Laurie and Bertram. The hole left by David and Laurie however is immense. I had so much more to learn from them but am grateful for what they shared.

Chapeau my friends. It has been an honour.

ronlit (aka Ron Litjens)

We are lucky enough to be living in Strath Creek during this pandemic so that when there is a break in the weather we can get outside to do some much-needed weeding in the garden. In the warmer months we keep a watchful eye out for wildlife, but in winter we tend not to be as aware, so that when one of the intrepid weeders took the next step to the left, it was a bit of surprise to see what was nearly underfoot – an Eastern (or Common) Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis), pictured below.

We took our camera out a day or so later to see if the snake was there again, and fortunately it was. By our reckoning it was probably about 1.4m long, although quite skinny. Usually you only see a brown snake as it heads away from you at lightning speed, but this one was much more relaxed, or sluggish, the temperature being a cool 14°C. Waiting conveniently until we had taken our photos, it slid ever so gently under the log where it seems to be living.

Some years ago we also saw an Eastern Brown out sunning itself at 9am on a frosty winter morning! So just be aware, COVID-19 may not be the only thing to avoid this winter, although we are actually quite accustomed to sharing our garden with the local snakes.