Red Wattlebirds or Red-wattle Birds?
Every year in January, a Silky Oak tree (Grevillea robusta) is the scene of the epic wattlebird wars where Red Wattlebirds (Anthochaera carunculata) take on each other and all-comers to protect their nectar supplies. These fearsome battles have been previously documented. Well, it has started again. The field of battle this time is a grove of Pincushion Hakeas up on the hill. For about a week now the raucous ‘yakyak’ calls have signalled the restarting of hostilities.
Upsy-daisy
Pincushion Hakeas (Hakea laurina) are endemic to south-western Australia and were planted by the previous owners. Because of where the flowers grow on the plant, the wattlebirds often have to perform amazing acrobatics to feed on them.
To date it appears the wattlebirds are just fighting one another – sort of like a civil war. But I know from past years it is just a matter of time before other species, particularly the New Holland Honeyeaters, get in on the act.
Red Wattlebirds are one of Australia’s largest honeyeaters. The common name is problematic in that it neither refers to their colour nor the trees in which they perch, but describes the red
A rare sight – a wattlebird at rest
fleshy bits called ‘wattles’ that hang from their cheeks. (The scientific name, Anthochaera carunculata, is derived from the Greek, anthos meaning flower, khairo meaning to enjoy and carnis meaning meat, referring to the wattles themselves).
Thinking about it, a less confusing name for this bird might be Red-wattle Bird.
Not toad-in-the-hole …
… but frog-in-the-barrel. We have a plastic barrel that collects water off a shed roof, but also at times tends to collect mosquito larvae. While scooping larvae out with a fine-mesh sieve the other day, an unexpected grey lump flopped into the sieve. It turned out to be a Peron’s Tree Frog (Litoria peronii), presumably also catching mosquito larvae.
Peron’s Tree Frog is readily identified by the cross-shaped eye pupil, and by the bright yellow and mottled black colouring in its groin and arm-pits, which was clearly visible when it hopped, but doesn’t show up in these photos. The male’s strange call is the origin of its other common name – the “Maniacal Cackle Frog”.
Listen to the call, which was recorded in Flowerdale, by clicking on the audio bar below. (The “eeeeek” of the Plains Froglet can be heard in the background.)
Tree Frogs (Family Hylidae) are characterised by having pads on their digits, and Peron’s Tree Frog has particularly large pads, as seen in the photographs, and is a very agile climber, known to climb into gutters and downpipes as well as trees, and barrels!
After the photo session this frog was returned to the barrel to continue its mosquito control – and save us some work !
Tales from the woodpile #6
Over the years our woodpile has proved to be a treasure-trove of invertebrates, which have been highlighted on this blog, and this year is no exception. Now I KNOW the first rule of blogging on this website is NO SPIDERS. But I am reminded of two proverbs: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission – (see the last sentence).
While collecting wood from the woodpile yesterday I came across this creature which I think is absolutely beautiful – apologies to all the arachnophobes. It is a species of Huntsman spider known as a Badge Spider (Neoparassus diana). It is nocturnal, hunts other spiders among other things, and builds a silken home in leaves or under bark.
The name is derived from a striking black, cream and brown ‘badge’ marking on the underside of the abdomen. I glimpsed the badge and tried to photograph it but the spider was not inclined to display it a second time and I was not inclined to push the point.
If you (can) look closely, you’ll see this animal is an optometrist’s dream, as it has several pairs of eyes. Some are used for detecting motion and others are thought to detect light intensity and so are used for maintaining balance (and I suppose knowing when it’s bed-time).
For those who don’t find this beautiful … forgive me.
Gliders at home
Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps) readily take to nest-boxes and they have featured on this blog a number of times before. But we never tire of viewing remote camera images of these little creatures, and nest-box sites are a good place to record them.
Nest-boxes are a means of compensating for the loss of natural tree hollows due to land clearing, and give birds and small arboreal mammals like sugar gliders a better chance of survival and breeding.
However, in Tasmania, researchers are trying to develop nest-boxes for native birds that exclude Sugar Gliders, which are thought to have been introduced there early last century and have been implicated in the predation of endangered birds like Orange-bellied Parrots and particularly Swift Parrots. The sugar gliders, primarily sap, nectar and invertebrate feeders, have been found to eat eggs, nestlings and even adult female Swift Parrots, placing the species under severe threat of population collapse.
And if you think these cute and cuddly critters couldn’t possibly be so vicious, a friend who was bitten while working with them said it really, really hurt !
Down to earth
This magnificent young Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) provided us with a rare close-up view as it perched next to a dam in a Strath Creek paddock.
We know it’s youngish from the straw-coloured plumage on its nape and across its upper wings. The plumage gradually darkens with age, developing into mostly black after about 5 years old.
Wedgies soaring above the King Parrot Valley are quite a common sight these days, and they can also be seen on the ground, either feeding on carrion or just resting on a hillside – but it’s not usually possible to approach as closely as this one allowed. Despite its species name ‘audax‘ meaning bold, they are generally fairly shy and wary.
It’s a Flame … by a nose
Male Flame Robin
During a recent bicycle ride down the Epic Trail on Mt Buller I shared my lunch stop with a flock of Flame Robins (Petroica phoenicea). The photo (left) certainly does not do justice to how striking the male plumage is, particularly against a dull and rainy day in the high country. As far as I knew, this was the first time I had ever observed a Flame Robin.
Recently I found myself in the middle of ‘the tribe’ – a mixed flock of small birds that forage together across our property. It contained treecreepers, thornbills, scrub-wrens, fairy-wrens and robins (usually Scarlet Robins and Eastern Yellow Robins). In fact the male Scarlet Robin was easy to spot flitting through the undergrowth. 
When I later examined my photos on the computer, what I assumed to be a female Scarlet Robin, was in fact a juvenile male Flame Robin, pictured right. Surprising, because I had never seen Flame Robins before on our hill (or so I thought) and also because the adult male bird was nowhere to be seen in the wandering flock.
To my untrained eye the difference between the Flame Robin (right) and female Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang), pictured below, certainly at a distance and in the bush, is slight. But when you see them together the obvious give-away is the white nose spot on the Scarlet Robin. So I may have observed a Flame Robin before but not noticed. 
It’s another tick on my list of bird sightings up on the hill.
The one that got away
Sometimes the smallest things in nature are the most fascinating to watch. The sight of this tiny Wall Spider (Oecobius navus), not much bigger than the Green-head Ant it was wrapping in its silk, had even our resident arachnophobe enthralled. The spider ran round and round the ant, gradually cocooning it. However, just when the ant seemed thoroughly encased, it somehow managed to escape, and the spider retreated to its nearby web in the brickwork.
Immigrants or emigrants?
Hitting town for the winter
With the coming of winter, all across Victoria, people are starting to dream of the upcoming ski season. In bird-world, though, some species are not so rapt with the approaching cold in the high country. They are known as ‘winter or altitudinal migrants’. In summer they spend their time in the cooler temperatures of the higher altitudes. But when the temperature starts to drop they are out of there and make their way down toward us in the milder climes of the low altitudes.
In the King Parrot Creek valley we are now starting to see species such as Scarlet Robins (Petroica boodang), above, and Golden Whistlers (Pachycephala pectoralis). Similarly, populations of Pied Currawongs (Strepera graculina), right, have increased recently and flocks of ‘green’ Australian King-Parrots (Alisterus scapularis), below, have also entered the district.
This migration is not as pronounced as it has been. With milder winters and humans providing a plentiful food source, particularly for the King-Parrots, some species are less inclined to follow the seasonal path up and down the mountains.
If these species are called winter migrants in the lowlands, are they called summer migrants in the hills?
Riparian restoration reaps rewards
King Parrot Creek at Burslems Bridge
There was great news last week from the scientists from Arthur Rylah Institute who recently completed their annual fish survey of King Parrot Creek. Using fyke nets at the usual 5 sites and some electrofishing at intermediate locations, the team caught 386 endangered Macquarie Perch, by far the highest total since surveys began in 2006, and an increase of almost 60% above last year’s catch.
As Jo, one of the survey team, commented: “It’s wonderful to see the creek so healthy, and it really does show that all the hard work that the Landcare group are doing along the creek continues to pay off.”
Some key findings from the survey were:
- Native fish accounted for 86% of all fish collected – 7 species in all
- Macquarie Perch were the dominant species, comprising 64% of the total catch and found at all sites
- One year old MP were the most numerous group, suggesting strong breeding in spring 2013
- Only two introduced species were caught – that means no carp, no goldfish and no redfin
One downside of the survey was that litter, discarded fishing line and illegal fishing traps are still being found along the creek.
We are very grateful to the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority for its continuing support for these fish surveys. To see posts on previous surveys simply type Macquarie Perch into the ‘Search This Site’ box in the right hand sidebar.
Take me to your leader
Summer has ended and with it goes leaving the curtains open until late at night. On summer nights the insects amass on the outside of the window trying to get in through the glass – mainly moths and beetles – but also the occasional praying mantid comes over for a feed. At a high level, praying mantises are grouped with unlikely bedfellows such as cockroaches and termites. The mantids belong to the order Mantodea (logically enough!), which derives its name from the Ancient Greek word mantis, meaning prophet, and eidos meaning form, referring to the way these insects hold their front legs as if they were praying. They are ambush 
predators that wait for prey to get close and then they grasp it with their spiked front legs. If you look closely at their eyes it seems as if they have a dark pupil. However like most insects, mantids have multifaceted compound eyes and the ‘pupil’ is an illusion created by the eye structure. The praying mantids on my window in summer are the green Garden Praying Mantis (Orthodera ministralis), pictured above. Recently I have come across some mantids of different sizes and colours. At about 10 cm long this Purple-winged Mantis (Tenodera australasiae) at right was a minor obstacle on the bike path.
Another mantid, pictured at left, was hidden 
on a tree and seemed from a distance to be part of a branch. I don’t know about you but a praying mantid’s head reminds me of pictures people draw of aliens. Na noo, na noo.
Focus On Fauna 