There’s my inner tube
I use old bicycle inner tubes to tie plants against stakes because they provide a flexible support that allows the plant to grow and does little damage to the bark. Also, I have a lot of them. Walking on a slope at Flowerdale on a gloomy, overcast, 7-degree-C August day I noticed an inner tube lying on the ground. In the time it took me to move forward to pick it up, I realised that inner tubes don’t have tread or a pretty red stripe underneath. What I was trying to recover was a Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus). It’s a tough snake to be out ‘sunning’ itself in these conditions. Maybe we should name a subspecies to reflect this ………. P.p. flowerdalii or maybe even P.p.king-gee-ii.
Sugar Glider portrait
Another fantastic photo from Flowerdale for the Focus on Fauna folio! – this one of a Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) from Trent and Vikki who have been keen participants in the FoF project.
Sugar Glider
Anyone at home?
This nest-box is proving a popular spot for nocturnal mammals. We set up a remote camera because a recent inspection had revealed an apparently active Brush-tailed Phascogale nest inside the box. However, instead of the phascogale, we recorded a Sugar Glider and a Common Ringtail Possum conducting their own inspections. The box was actually designed for phascogales, with a small entrance hole at the back close to the tree-trunk. The hole would be too small for the ringtail possum, who eventually exits stage front, right over the camera !
The video may take a while to load.
Nocturnal echidnas
This Short-beaked Echidna was photographed recently on two separate occasions on a property on the Stony Creek at Kinglake West.
Echidna at night
Most people may be suprised to know that it is not uncommon for echidnas to be active at night especially in warmer weather.
It is however unusual that he’s out wandering at night in the middle of winter as echidnas usually go into deep torpor and hibernation over winter to save energy and reduce metabolism.
Chris Cobern
More birds of prey
Collared Sparrowhawk – photo by David Johns
Collared Sparrowhawk – photo by David Johns
These photos were forwarded to Chris Cobern earlier this year from a couple in Kinglake West. It was thought to be a Collared Sparrowhawk rather than the similar Brown Goshawk, and an expert at BirdLife Australia has just confirmed that for us – the distinguishing features being the relatively slender body, the lack of a really prominant eyebrow and the greyish plumage rather than brownish on the back.
Brown Falcon – photo by Joel King
And here’s another bird of prey photo forwarded by Susan from Strath Creek, a regular poster of comments on this blog. It looks like a Brown Falcon to us, a fairly common sight around the Flowerdale – Strath Creek district, either perched on a fence post or power line, or cackling as it flies overhead.
Any other thoughts on the identification of these birds would be welcome.
For more detailed information on these two raptors, click on the Birds in Backyards website pages for Collared Sparrowhawk and Brown Falcon.
Lunch for Little Eagle!
As a follow-up to the 15th July post “Birds of Prey”, our friends in Rutherglen have sent us a video clip of the Little Eagle with its prey, a cormorant – probably a Little Pied Cormorant. The eagle dropped the cormorant just 25 metres from their house and came back 3 days in succession to briefly feed on it. It stayed longest on the third day before flying off with the remains of its meal, as shown on the video, which may take a few moments to load.
Hillside skink
This handsome striped lizard turned up the other day on the steep slopes of Lade Hill just out of Strath Creek. Bertram, our Focus on Fauna reptile consultant, has identified it as a Ctenotus skink, most likely Ctenotus robustus or Large (or Eastern) Striped Skink, which is the most common skink of this genus. However the photo is not clear enough to make a positive identification. Ctenotus is the largest and most diverse lizard genus in Australia, with almost 100 species. Identification to species level is often considered difficult.
The Large Striped Skink is found in a wide variety of habitats throughout eastern and northern Australia. It mainly eats ants, as well as other animal and plant material. It is a relatively large striped skink, with a snout to vent length (SVL) of up to 120mm. SVL, which equates to head and body length, is used to measure lizards, many of which can lose and regrow their tails.
Birds of prey
Little Eagle
One of the joys of coordinating the Focus on Fauna project has been the wonderful wildlife photos that have been sent to us by members of the local community, and from others elsewhere who have learnt of the project through the blog or word-of-mouth. As an example, the two magnificent photos shown here of a Little Eagle and a Collared Sparrowhawk were sent in recently by email from a couple in Rutherglen. We thank them for their contribution.
Collared Sparrowhawk
Bandicoot update
Following our previous post on the Long-nosed Bandicoot, the good news is that Chris Cobern, the Landcare Fire Recovery Coordinator, has successfully recorded a live bandicoot on a remote camera between Kinglake West and Flowerdale, close to where the roadkill bandicoots have recently been found.
Look out for bandicoots!
The Long-nosed Bandicoot (Perameles nasuta) pictured here was killed by a vehicle on the Whittlesea-Yea Road at Flowerdale in April and is unfortunately one of five known roadkill bandicoots in the past few months, mostly in the Stony Creek area towards Kinglake West.
There is conjecture about the reasons for this spate of road deaths. Flowerdale farmer and naturalist Steve has been travelling along this road almost daily for 14 years, and, despite carefully monitoring roadkills (for possible young in pouch), had never seen a bandicoot until recently. One theory, looking on the positive side, is that, although disturbing to see these lovely animals being killed, it may indicate a large increase in the local bandicoot population following the catastrophic bushfires in the area in 2009. This may be as a result of the past two relatively wet years providing soft earth to dig in and a flush of insects and fungi, which constitute a large part of the bandicoot’s diet. Long-nosed bandicoots forage in leaf litter and often dig characteristic conical holes to locate invertebrates and underground-fruiting mychorrhizal fungi. The bandicoot also eats lush plant material and the prolific regrowth of vegetation after the fires provides both food and cover from predators.
The night-time shots in the slide-show below were taken on remote cameras set up at Toolangi in April this year.
If you do see a bandicoot, alive or dead, please let us know, either by posting a comment or by emailing focusonfauna@gmail.com.
