A hive of activity
Looking across the landscape at the moment not much is flowering. At our place the Mexican Orange Blossom (Choisya ternate) is the one showy exception. An exotic shrub planted by the previous owners, it is currently in full bloom and attracting a vast collection of insects – similar to the Burgan (Kunzea ericoides) earlier this year (click HERE to view). The plant is a hive of activity, literally. Honey Bees, various native bees and even some bee look-alikes are all in a feeding frenzy.
Pictured above, a European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), a Blowfly (Chrysomya sp.) and a smaller native Reed Bee (Exoneura sp.) share a flower head. A lot has been written about the European Honey Bee and the detrimental effect its larger mouthparts (compared to native bees) have on the native flora. The photo clearly shows the difference in size between the two.
The Reed Bee (pictured right) is so called because it generally nests in the dried-out stems of plants, particularly plants with a soft-cored stem like 
Native Raspberry (Rubus parvifolius) or Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus). They are a social bee, co-operatively looking for food and sharing and guarding a nest. During the winter the adults hibernate, meaning that the bee pictured is probably starting to feel a little sleepy.
Another native bee present, pictured left, is possibly a Gold-barred Nomia Bee (Nomia sp.). Also a social bee, the Nomia bee builds a nest in the ground that is shared by a small number of 
females. As with the Reed Bee, the adults collectively forage and guard the nest. In the case of both the Reed Bee and the Nomia Bee the female guards the nest by blocking the nest entrance with her body. During the day she uses her head and at night she turns round and uses her ‘bee-hind‘.
Also contributing to the activity is a bee look-alike, the European Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax), pictured right. From a distance it looks like a honey bee and even more like a honey bee drone, but being a true fly it only has two wings. Its name is derived from the high-pitched drone caused by the rapid beatings of its wings. What a buzz.
Spreading our wings
This blog is supposed to be about wildlife in the Flowerdale-Strath Creek area, or at least the Upper Goulburn catchment, and indeed most of the posts are. But occasionally we receive amazing pictures from further afield and can’t resist sharing them with our followers. In this case, Bronnie and Gavin, well-known Strath Creek residents, sent us photos from Peru of a few of the spectacular birds they have come across on their South American travels.
With over 1,800 species of birds, Peru is a paradise for bird watchers. This total includes 21 species of toucans and an incredible 135 species of hummingbirds!
Thanks to Bronnie and Gavin for the pictures and we wish them well on the rest of their trip.
The picture tells the story
The devastating effects of barbed wire on wildlife have been previously posted on this website (click HERE to view) and have recently featured on the King Parrot Creek Environment Group website. Let me state up front that I am not a farmer and have never been one. I have not experienced the vagaries of ovine or bovine mentality. Therefore, to those who run stock, the following commentary may appear naïve or biased. I do realise that to replace all the barbed wire on a property is expensive, but if you are building a new fence consider the effect that barbed wire has on the native fauna.
These photographs were taken last week. They were taken on a piece of land so rocky and so steep that only a cow or sheep with a 
hover pack could have reached it (therefore any justification for barbed wire based on stock pushing through fences is probably invalid). The bloodied tufts of feathers on the ground suggest that the ensnared Southern Boobook (Ninox boobook) struggled to free itself for some time, and probably died a slow and painful death from hunger or thirst or both. No creature, whether it be a magnificent owl or a humble moth (featured previously), deserves a death like that. The picture says it all. End of commentary.
P.S. The views expressed by this author do not necessarily reflect the views of other authors on this website (although I suspect that they do).
Not so commonly seen
This attractive pigeon may be dubbed Common Bronzewing, but common doesn’t always equate to being seen often. It is normally a shy and wary ground-feeding bird that flies off rapidly with a clatter of wings when disturbed. Despite its iridescent wing colouring and white cheek stripe, it is often well camouflaged, especially in the dappled shade of its usual habitat of drier forests or woodland, including roadsides, and heathy scrub. The ‘common’ label was probably given to separate it from its similar-looking but less widely distributed relative, the Brush Bronzewing.
The bird pictured, which was photographed between Strath Creek and Flowerdale, is a male. Like many birds, the female has generally duller plumage, although she retains the distinctive wing colouring and white facial line.
The call of the Common Bronzewing is a deep, resonant and repetitive ‘oom’, which can be heard by clicking on the audio icon below.
The lores of nature
The part of a bird’s head between the eye and the beak is termed the lores. Even though all birds have them, for most birds the lores do not get a mention in any field guide. However for some bird species the lores are critical for identification purposes. An example is the Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus). The red-brown lores and eye-ring of the female fairy-wren (see picture left) distinguish it from other fairy-wren species.
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For another local resident, the Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica), the colour of the lores is one of the features that distinguish the male (pictured right) from the female, the male having white lores, the female grey.
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A recent visitor to our dam has been a Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), pictured left. The lores on this specie are not feathered but comprised of bare skin. The colour and intensity of the lores can also indicate breeding status, level of aggression and the extent of any stresses the bird might be under.
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There are no lores against Black Snakes
Birds are not the only creature with lores. Reptiles and amphibians have them too. In snakes the scale between the eye and the nose is called the loreal scale (not a weighing device for cosmetics). Interestingly, this scale is missing in snakes of the Elapidae family – 99 venomous species in Australia including our local Tiger Snakes, Black Snakes and Brown Snakes. So if you see a snake whilst you are bush-walking, the absence of a loreal scale should tell you to keep clear. Of course to get close enough to see that you would have to disable the snake. And there are laws against that.
Tracking fish movements
Macquarie Perch
Acoustic transmitter
This year, in addition to their regular tagging program, about 30 larger Macquarie Perch have been implanted with acoustic transmitters to find out more about fish movements. Several receivers have been located along the creek, which will record each time an implanted fish passes by. The logged data will provide valuable information on likely breeding sites, how far the fish travel, the locations of any obstructions to fish movement and refuge sites during low flows, e.g. do they move into the Goulburn River ?
For more information about Macquarie Perch posted on the DEPI website, click HERE.
The King Parrot Creek Project is funded through the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority by the Victorian Government’s Securing Priority Waterways – On Ground Works Program. The project aims to improve the health of the King Parrot Creek and protect and expand Macquarie Perch habitat by providing grants to landholders for stream-side fencing, weed control, revegetation and off-stream watering for livestock. For more information about the project, phone River Health Officer Sue Kosch at the GBCMA on 5736 0100. Sue reminds us that taking Macquarie Perch from the King Parrot Creek is prohibited. Anglers are asked to record the numbers on any tagged fish caught and notify the GBCMA after carefully releasing the fish back into the stream.
When a black bird isn’t
When I was a city slicker, the black birds I saw in the backyard I could quite confidently call Blackbirds. And I’d have been right. The Blackbird was introduced to Melbourne in 1862 and, given its pest status, it deserves the scientific name of Turdus merula.
Now I’m living in the bush, the identification of black birds is not so easy. There are so many possibilities. On any given day our birdbath is frequented by any number of predominantly black birds – Currawongs, Choughs, Ravens (pictured, click to enlarge). My bird field guides helpfully point out the distinguishing features by which the birds can be identified. For example, the Little Raven (Corvus mellori) is described as having a small gular pouch under the base of the bill, the Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina) has 
white undertail-coverts and the White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) has a full, mobile tail. This is useful if you know what these things mean.
For me it is much simpler – eye colour. The Little Raven has (officially) a white eye (although I think it looks light blue); the Pied Currawong, a yellow eye; and the White-winged Chough, a satanic red-orange eye. Unless you are colour-blind you can’t go wrong.
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Of course it is not that simple. Nature never is. The juveniles of these birds all have brown eyes. For them the simple descriptor, black bird, will have to do.
Ouch !
This fuzzy out-of-focus shot of a Spotted Paralote probably accurately represents how it felt after flying into our kitchen window. After rushing for the camera, the photo was hastily taken through the window before the bird managed to fly off into a nearby callistemon bush. There we were able to get some clear close-up shots as it gradually recovered. (Click on the photos below for a good look at this gorgeous bird). After a few minutes it flew off, apparently unharmed apart from possibly having a splitting headache!
Many birds are not so lucky and collisions with windows are a significant cause of mortality in some species of birds, although probably not to the extent of altering the conservation status of any one species. Estimates of the number of birds dying from window strikes are in the many millions, but do not appear to be based on any reliable scientific study. 
However, many of you will have heard that sickening thud and experienced the distress of finding a feathered body next to the window.
For information on why birds collide with windows and what can be done to prevent it happening, go to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website HERE.
Not so lady-like after all
An adult Transverse Ladybird Beetle (Coccinella transversalis)
Ladybird Beetles or Ladybirds are of the family Coccinellidae, from the Latin word coccineus meaning scarlet. The term Ladybird or Lady Beetle originates from British red, seven-spotted ladybird. The ‘Lady’ refers to The Virgin Mary, who is often depicted in early paintings wearing a red cloak, and the seven spots symbolise the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mary.
The common Ladybird image is of a cute, benign creature – pretty to look at (usually orange/red with black markings) and beneficial in the garden for reducing pests. This image is further promoted by cartoons of the insect world, such as Minuscule on ABC-TV, where ladybirds are the ‘good guys’ whose main sport is to vex the poor hapless spiders.
The truth is slightly different. Adult and larval ladybirds are voracious predators of aphids, scale insects, mites and if food is scarce, each other. A fully grown larva will consume several
Larval Common Spotted Ladybird (Harmonia conformis) eating a ladybird pupa
hundred aphids per week. A ladybird larva moves around using a combination of its six legs and the tip of the abdomen, which can attach itself to surfaces. During feeding, a larva may suspend itself by the abdomen, leaving the legs free to grasp prey.
The red colour serves as a warning for ladybird predators. As extra protection, when disturbed ladybirds may exude an off-smelling toxic liquid. Not so lady-like after all.
What next ?
Not content with discovering Striped Legless Lizards and recording a snake-eating snake on their Strath Creek property (click HERE and HERE for the stories), Kay and Neil have found evidence of another threatened species, the Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa). Unfortunately this time the discovery involved a dead animal.
Kay and Neil’s property includes one of the sites of the Strath Creek Biodiversity Project and, after conducting a bird survey on the site, we decided to check nest-boxes installed elsewhere on the property some time ago. One of the boxes showed clear signs of a phascogale’s presence: wool, bark and feathers as nesting material, and lots of smelly droppings (scats) – see photo at left. There was also a skull visible in one corner of the box which we decided to remove. This turned out to belong to a small phascogale with a lovely brush tail and very sharp teeth! – click on the photo for a clearer look.
This was presumably a juvenile from last year’s breeding, born in July or early August, making it about 7 or 8 months old, depending on when it died. The box was checked with a special nest-box camera in late January and found to be empty, so this was not the breeding site. The cause of death of the young phascogale is unknown and it is also not clear whether or not the box is still being used.
The extensive revegetation undertaken on this property and a neighbouring property by the Biodiversity Project will significantly improve the habitat available for phascogales and there will hopefully be an expanded population in the future.
Focus On Fauna 