Wattlebird wars
From our bedroom we look out on a Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta). For most of the year it is an unremarkable tree. The birds think so too as they seldom perch in it. However for 5 or 6 weeks at the end of the year this tree comes to life and puts on an amazing yellow–orange floral display. Now it is time for the Wattlebird Wars.
The Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata), called so because of the striking red wattles that hang from the cheeks, is a loud and aggressive honeyeater. It is very territorial and for most of the year will harass any bird that strays within the vicinity of the various grevillea shrubs on the property. In December the flowering Silky Oak is prized territory and throughout the daylight hours up to a dozen wattlebirds will tirelessly (and noisily) chase each other up, down and around the branches — an avian version of snakes and ladders.
We have noticed a definite territorial pecking order among the other bird species. The Red Wattlebirds trump the smaller Eastern Spinebills and Superb Fairy-wrens and will even drive off the larger Pied Currawongs. The big kid on the block though is the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita). When a group of them decide the Silky Oak flowers need shredding there’s not a Wattlebird in sight.
Boss cocky!
Birds behaving strangely
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters
We received this report of strange bird behaviour from Susan and Joel from Strath Creek:
“Outside our kitchen window dead leaves from a Silky Oak have formed a platform in a spindly bottle brush (Callistemon sp.). The other day we watched young Yellow-faced Honeyeaters stretch and lie on this platform with wings spread, eyes closed and beaks up, as if dead. After a while they started to pant (the temperature was in the 30’s) and eventually jumped up. Several birds repeated the same behaviour and we noticed there was a preferred spot on the platform. As one bird moved from this spot, another would take its place. We have not seen them return since that day! We wonder what this behaviour means – could it be related to the summer solstice?”
A possible alternative explanation that occurred to us was that the birds were engaging in “anting”, whereby they allow ants to crawl over their body or in some cases pick up ants in their bill and rub them on their feathers. Theories on the reasons for this behaviour are many and varied, including using the ants’ formic acid to combat mites, fungi or bacteria, to obtain Vitamin D, or even to gain an intoxicating effect! Of course the birds may just have been sunning themselves – another means they may use for parasite control and/or for Vitamin D.
A Subaru it is not
Satin-Green Forester
December is the month that the Honey-myrtles flower. The blossoming of our Cross-leaf Honey-myrtle or Totem Poles (Melaleuca decussata) has caused an insect feeding frenzy in the trees along our driveway.
Imagine my surprise when I found in the driveway a bright, shiny Satin-Green Forester. Unfortunately it was not a funky-hued Subaru but an iridescent moth of the Zygaenidae family, Pollanisus viridipulverulenta. This Forester is a daytime moth that after mating lays its eggs on plants of the Hibbertia genus.
Also present were the tiny Sedge Moth (Glyphipterix chrysoplanetis), only 3 mm long, and the Nectar Scarab Beetle (Phyllotocus apicalis). Scarab beetles are important pollinators of native flora and are presently living in great numbers on the honey-myrtles and nearby Burgan (Kunzea ericoides). Despite their numbers they do no damage to the trees.
Sedge Moth
Nectar Scarab
Bird gallery
Here’s a collection of native birds we have managed to photograph in the Flowerdale/Strath Creek area in recent days. Click on any of the photos for a closer look. We also recorded the calls of the Sacred Kingfisher and Brown Goshawk – click on the icons to hear them.
Sacred Kingfisher call:
Brown Goshawk call:
Evening encounters
Tawny Frogmouth
Local wildlife enthusiasts Trent and Steve ventured into Coonans Bridge Reserve, Flowerdale the other evening to check out the resident wildlife. After catching a glimpse of a Platypus in King Parrot Creek, they proceeded to record an impressive list which included a Tawny Frogmouth, a Southern Boobook with chicks, a Sacred Kingfisher, a young Black Wallaby, six Common Brushtail Possums and a Sugar Glider.
Sacred Kingfisher
Southern Boobook at nest hollow
Platypus – trust me!
Trent also took along his thermal imaging camera, which was able to detect feral bees in a tree hollow, a Common Brushtail Possum, also in a tree hollow, and the unidentified occupant of one of the many nest boxes installed in the Reserve.
Bees in tree hollow
Possum in tree hollow
Occupied nest-box
Summer memories
Nymph exoskeleton
Cicadas (Order Hemiptera, Suborder Auchenorrhyncha) are the sound and currency of my childhood. As a boy I used to listen to their deafening noise while having dinner on a summer’s eve. At school we used to trade them, dead of course. Greengrocers and Brown Bakers were legal tender in the playground and the rare Black Knight was the most coveted of all.
It is this time of year that the nymphs, which have spent their lives underground feeding on the sap from roots, emerge from the ground and take adult form. The strong burrowing front legs of the nymph, an adaption not needed by the adult, can be seen in the exoskeleton image (left). On grass stems, branches and leaves the empty husks left behind after moulting look like terrestrial Darth Vaders.
This week I came across this adult that had just emerged from the shell. It’s like the Hans Christian Andersen story of the Ugly Duckling all over again.
Renovate or move?
This is the question that perennially plagues us all. As our lifestyles change or the family gets bigger we all need to make this decision. In the case of this Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosaurus vulpecula) the crisis has been brought about by its own increase in size. One gum-nut pizza too many, methinks!
The house in question is one of the most popular pieces of real estate in Flowerdale. A previous post (click HERE to view) outlined the revolving tenancy of this nest-box. Over the past twenty-four months it has been previously occupied by a White-throated Treecreeper family (Cormobates leucophaeus), then an Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) followed by a Ring-tailed Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus).
The space inside the nest box is getting so cramped that recently this Brushy has been seen sleeping with various appendages hanging out of the nest box entrance, especially in hot weather. Not a clever move given the Powerful Owls (Ninox strenua) roosting nearby. With the impending summer heat, it is probably just a matter of time before this possum moves on to a more spacious abode.
We wait with bated breath to see what the next nest-box tenant will be.
How sweet it is!
White-throated Gerygone
It’s well worthwhile keeping an eye out for this lovely little bird – a regular visitor to the Upper Goulburn catchment at this time of year. In fact, you are far more likely to hear it rather than see it during breeding time in spring and early summer. It’s a White-throated Gerygone (pronounced jer-rig-ony, not jerry-gone) and it has what is surely one of the sweetest songs of all our native birds.
If you do catch a glimpse of this colourful bird, it is likely to be flitting among the upper canopy of a eucalypt. However, we were lucky to come across one at the Yea Wetlands recently which was so absorbed with feeding and singing on low branches, it was quite unconcerned by our presence just meters away.
Click on the icon below to hear its silvery song.
Fauna Survey Weekend – Toolangi
Over the weekend of 23-25 November members of the Kinglake Landcare Group and local residents carried out a fauna survey at a bushland property in Toolangi.
Led by Peter Homan from RMIT and the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria the volunteers carried out trapping for small mammals and bats, spotlighting for possums and gliders, bird watching and reptile searches.
Voluteers setting up the harp trap.
Over the weekend we were lucky enough to capture native Bush Rats and Agile Antechinus in the Elliott Traps and five different species of small insectivorous bats in the Harp Trap including Southern Forest Bat and Lesser Long-eared Bat.
Agile Antechinus
Spotlighting observations included Sugar Gliders , Ringtail Possums, Common Wombats and Swamp Wallabies.
The reptile searches turned up McCoy’s Skink and Southern Water Skink and bird watching resulted in the recording of 17 species of birds including Rufous Whistler and Tawny Frogmouth.
Native Bush Rat
Remote sensor cameras were also set up and we were able to get some great footage of Long-nosed Bandicoots.
Volunteers weighing trapped mammals
This fauna survey event was funded by the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund.
All field work was conducted under a DSE issued Scientific Research Permit.
Bat in harp trap
Chris Cobern
Landcare Coordinator
Upper Goulburn Landcare Network
Once bittern, twice shy
Nankeen Night-Heron
Actually, the bird shown here is neither a bittern nor particularly shy. There were unconfirmed reports of a bittern seen in the Strath Creek area earlier this year – perhaps an unlikely sighting given the shaky conservation status of the two bittern species that may be found in Victoria. We suspect the bird in question may have been a Nankeen Night-Heron.
The one in these photos was spotted by Brian and Jim one morning recently on a wooden fence at ‘Callandoon’, not far from King Parrot Creek. It then spent much of the day perched in a nearby tree in full view of interested observers and photographers.
This chunky bird is in breeding plumage, with a couple of slender white plumes coming from the back of its head. Although not often seen around here, it is widespread and nomadic, and can congregate in large breeding colonies in the Murray Valley.
