The natives are going wild
European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Hylaeus Bee (native)
Wild Pollinator week got away from me. A tour of the local wetlands to celebrate the event yielded no flowers at all, such is the topsy-turvy nature of the seasons in the district at the moment. It was not until I was on a meditation retreat a week later that I had a chance to sit and observe the requisite flower for 10 minutes (how meditative is that!). The flowers were attracting a heap of native bees (see photographs) and though not in the King Parrot Creek valley, all of the bees pictured can be found there.
Halictidae Bee (native)
The thing that amazes me the most since participating in these surveys is not the fact that there is a large range of native bees in addition to the Honey Bees pollinating our flowers, but that there are many other species that perform the same task – flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies, moths, birds. This is particularly evident in the spring wild pollinator counts (This year between 11 – 18 November).
Blue-banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata) native
If you wish to participate by adding your observations later in the year check out the website https://wildpollinatorcount.com/ to find out how you can. And if you feel that distinguishing between a Flower Wasp and a Hover Fly is just outside your area of expertise you can download a helpful field guide to Pollinating Insects at https://karenretra.com/resources/ .
Ten minutes is all you need – but as I found out, sometimes it’s not so easy to get.
I wish I could do that
My childhood was populated with wonderful stories of strange creatures from other places – cormorants with rings around their necks to stop them eating the fish they caught, snakes large enough to crush a man to death and insects that look indistinguishable from sticks. I have subsequently seen all these things – apart from the crushing bit.
Last night I was reminded of this when the ‘ghost’ of a hunting gecko walked outside on the kitchen window (pictured left). Of course lizards that could walk on vertical glass surfaces were also one of my childhood wonders. A search of the house exterior the next day revealed a Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus), pictured below right, on the brick wall.
Those who have stayed in tropical climes will be familiar with some of the characteristics of geckos. They are territorial and patrol their patch of the house looking for insects to eat. They also have a very loud chirp or cough which is used for communications. The Marbled Gecko is the most southerly distributed gecko in Australia. Unlike many other geckos it lays hard-shelled rather than soft-shelled eggs.
The ability for geckos to climb on most surfaces is not due to suction cups on their toes as I used to believe. Nor is it due to surface tension. The pads of a gecko’s toes have hair-like outgrowths. Weak intermolecular bonds (van der Waals’ forces) between these structures and the surface molecules allow the gecko to walk vertically on most surfaces.
However for me the most amazing feature about these animals is that they have no eyelids. To clean its cornea the gecko simply licks it with its tongue. I wish I could do that.
Focus on Foxes
Focus on Fauna is joining with the King Parrot Catchment Fox Control Project (KPCFCP) to hold a forum on foxes this coming Sunday 22nd April at Strath Creek Hall, starting at 10am. A panel of experts will provide an overview of the damage the introduced Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, causes particularly to native wildlife; report on a fox management research project; and look at various methods of control.
To establish the abundance of foxes in the district, the KPCFCP has been running a program using remote cameras on both private and public land in the King Parrot Creek catchment area. The latest round of monitoring has recorded plenty of foxes as well as a variety of native animals that are vulnerable to predation by foxes.
Click on any of the photos below to view as a slide show.
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- Brown Quail
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- Lewin’s Rail
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- Superb Lyrebird
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- White-faced Heron
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- Long-nosed Bandicoot
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- Short-beaked Echidna
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- Bush Rat
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- Common Brushtail Possum
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- Mountain Brushtail Possum
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- Agile Antechinus
Fallow Deer
Sambar
The camera monitoring program also shows up other pest species in the environment such as cats, another introduced predator of native wildlife, and deer, which can cause significant damage to native vegetation and fragile ecosystems.
For a snapshot of sightings of foxes and a range of other feral animals go to the FeralScan website.
Not so comedic after all
The harlequin is a character from 16th century Italian comedic theatre. Over time it has been portrayed as a dimwitted fool, an intelligent trickster or as a reinterpretation of the devil. Invariably it is dressed in a chequered costume of many colours. It is the chequered colours that give the Australian Harlequin Bug (Dindymus versicolor), pictured, its name. As pretty as they look it is not so funny to have this insect in your garden.
The Australian Harlequin Bug is an hemipteran, that is a sap-sucking insect. Like other hemipterans previously discussed on this blogsite, such as the Southern Green Shield Bug, this bug develops through a series of instar states until the adult emerges. The insect feeds on common orchard weeds such as marshmallow, dock and wire weed but also fruit and vegetable plants as well.
Over winter the adults hide under the bark of trees. Mating occurs in early spring when large numbers of these insects can be seen swarming on trees and fence posts. The eggs are laid by the larger female in leaf litter.
Both the adult and instar bugs use their mouthparts to pierce the outer layer of the plant or fruit and then suck the sap. In fruit this results in a depression in the surface of the fruit and browning underneath. Such is its notoriety that the Harlequin bug is listed as a Australian biodiversity pest on the government Pest and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL).
When confronted with a threat i.e. a camera lens, these bugs will actively hide on the underside of vegetation. Methinks more devil than fool.
Keeping a low profile
There are certain birds that, although common and widespread, often seem to be overlooked. A couple of these have recently been encountered on our Strath Creek property. The first is the Australasian Pipit, a well camouflaged ground-dweller that darts about in bursts in pastures, grasslands and open woodlands, feeding on insects and occasionally seeds.
It often perches on logs, rocks or fences and wags its tail up and down on landing, but can be quite unobtrusive even in close-cropped paddocks. It feeds, sleeps and nests on the ground so needs to be alert to avoid predators like foxes and raptors.
The pictured bird was one of four we came across on our back hill. They were remarkably unconcerned by our close presence which allowed for some clear photos.
The other species that appeared the other day among a mixed flock of thornbills, Weebills and Grey Fantails, was a small group of Varied Sittellas which included a couple of juvenile birds (see left) that were still being fed by an adult. The sittellas are rather odd little birds, adept at busily foraging among tree branches and head-first down tree trunks. They have sharp slightly upturned bills ideal for prising out grubs, beetles, spiders etc. When feeding they seem to be perpetually on the move, but when they do rest, they often huddle together with a lot of jostling for best position.
So, perhaps unobtrusive, but it’s always a delight to spot either of these two species!
It’s easy being green …
… when you look like a leaf, as this rather prehistoric-looking insect does.
It’s a katydid, a close relation of crickets in the order Orthoptera, which also includes grasshoppers and locusts. We think it’s a Gum-leaf Katydid, Torbia viridissima, although it is equally well disguised on the Callistemon sp. branch shown here as it would be among eucalypt leaves.
Not so well hidden though when first found on the low Spyridium obcordatum shrub shown at right in our garden. In fact katydids are mostly nocturnal, so it was surprising to see it out and about in the afternoon. At night they ‘sing’ to attract females and protect territory by rubbing their wings together, rather like crickets . They feed on foliage and even small insects, although the Gum-leaf Katydid apparently feeds solely on gum leaves.
Katydids can sometimes be confused with praying mantids (order Mantodea), and with stick insects (order Phasmatodea), but the katydid’s enlarged hind legs in particular distinguish it from these other insect groups.
So keep an eye out for ‘leaves’ with strong back legs!
Close but no cigar
This blogsite was borne out of a project to record and report on fauna returning to the King Parrot and Strath Creek valleys after the 2009 bushfires. To this day Macwake makes sure that we keep to the original vision by only publishing posts of fauna from those valleys.
Recently I observed a distinctive looking bird doing acrobatics in a eucalypt tree. It turned out to be a juvenile Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis), pictured below.
The green patch around its eye is bare skin and is indicative of the age of the bird. Young birds have yellow skin around the eye which turns green after six months. This skin turns blue after about 16 months and what a colour it is (see photo left). Blue is such a rare colour in nature and this hue is stunning.
This honeyeater is found in open woodlands north of the Great Dividing Range all the way up to New Guinea. These photos were taken just north of the Strathbogies and therefore fall outside the range of fauna reported on this blogsite. Close, but no cigar.
Forget that you read any of this.
Nature at the door
Our glass-panelled back door seems to have been a magnet for interesting insects just lately. The small fly pictured at left we thought at first was a mosquito, but Karen Retra from the Wild Pollinator Count suggested on the BowerBird website that it may in fact be a non-biting midge (family Chironomidae), and so far no one has disputed that.
If so, it is a nectar feeder and potential pollinator, although not all adult midges actually feed. But with those feathery antennae (which indicate a male) plus a hairy abdomen and rear legs, it is easy to see it being an efficient pollen collector. Click on the image for a closer look.
Then we noticed the small long-legged fly (family Dolichopodidae) pictured at right with green eyes, striped abdomen and patterned wings. Any further identification suggestions for this one would be welcomed.
Another non-fly insect keen to have a peek through the door was this small frail mantis nymph at left, which was only about 4cm long.
We thought about cleaning the door for better photography, but then perhaps the dirty glass is what these insects find attractive?!
Pete Best – in our garden
Gardening is such a peaceful past-time. Sometimes the idyll is punctuated by the sighting of a snake or the unearthing of a Pobblebonk, or worse still, half a Pobblebonk, just to add that dash of excitement. My gardening experience was recently interrupted by an angry buzzing (click on the sound clip below. Ignore the cockatoos in the background).
Instantly a number of possibilities came to mind – none of them good. If the neighbours had been watching they would have seen me hurtle out of the garden and then from a safe vantage point survey the veggie plot for a considerable amount of time.
The result – nothing. The expected appearance of an angry something (bee?/wasp?/frog?/cicada?) failed to materialise and after a while the sound stopped only to kick off again as soon as gardening resumed. The culprit, a Rhinoceros Beetle (Dasygnathus trituberculatus), pictured below.
Rhinoceros beetles are Scarabs just like Christmas Beetles. They are active at night. The male beetle sports three horns, one on the ‘nose’ and two on the ‘forehead’. The former is used for digging in the soil and for fighting other males with during mating season. The larvae live in the soil and feed on plant roots.
I am not sure of the mechanism by which the sound was made. It was obvious on closer inspection that the abdomen was vibrating rapidly under the hard wing case. Maybe the sound was generated by friction or maybe by air. But the investigation went no further and it was released. Clearly a very annoyed beetle. Just like Pete Best (a bit of trivia for all you Beatles aficionados!)
Right at last
The science of nest-box construction is fascinating. The size and position of the entrance hole and the depth, length and width of the box all influence which fauna select what residence. After the 2009 fires I, like many landholders in the King Parrot Creek valley, was supplied with nest-boxes to install on my property to replace the natural hollows which had been destroyed by the bushfires. Over the years this blog has reported on the many tenancies these nest-boxes have had. Some nest-boxes have been popular, some have not.
The rosella nest-box has had a revolving tenancy each year of White-throated Treecreepers, Australian Owlet-nightjars (ONJ) and both Ring-tailed and Brush-tailed Possums. Rosellas for the past seven years have been repeatedly trying to get into a Sugar Glider nest-box. The entrance hole is too small but that has not stopped them from spending many hours trying to gnaw a bigger one (see photo left).
The Brush-tailed Phascogale nest-box has been occupied occasionally by Sugar Gliders and the two ONJ nest-boxes have never been occupied. That could be more a statement of nest-box location than design. But never has a nest-box housed the animal or bird for which it was intended – until now.
A check of the phascogale nest-box this week revealed, surprise, surprise a Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), pictured above. The animal was curled up in a cylinder of leaves. Macwake informs me that it was probably a recent arrival in the box as the nesting material and design is that of Sugar Gliders. Phascogales prefer nests of shredded bark and their own scats.
Brush-tailed Phascogales are regularly photographed by motion-sensing cameras on our property. They are frequent visitors to our bird-bath at night (pictured right) and individuals can be identified by their appearance e.g. shredded tail, white marking on the flanks. But we have never had one in a nest-box.
My expectation, now that the phascogale has moved in, is that the displaced Sugar Gliders will occupy the Sugar Glider nestbox and relieve the rosellas of the futile efforts they are making to widen the entrance hole. The rosellas in turn should move into the rosella nest-box displacing the treecreepers, ONJ and possums. Where will they sleep? Looks like the next project is to build more nest-boxes – of the correct design, of course.
Focus On Fauna 