Bird-bath biodiversity
If you have been following previous posts on Ron and Kate’s bush block bird-bath at Flowerdale, you will know that they have recorded on a remote camera a wealth of visiting fauna. To add to the list of about 25 native birds, ringtail and brushtail possums, sugar gliders and a brush-tailed phascogale, not forgetting mice, rats and a frog, they now have a delightful new arrival – an antechinus, most probably an Agile Antechinus (Antechinus agilis). So the bath is clearly becoming a biodiversity hot-spot !
To see a close-up photo of the Agile Antechinus, have a look at the previous post Antechinus using nestboxes.
Some good news on ‘maccas’
Researchers from Arthur Rylah Institute have once again been monitoring the endangered Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) in King Parrot Creek and have good news to report. Preliminary results show a tally of 54 Macquarie Perch at 6 sites, which is the highest number recorded since annual surveys began in 2006. The number is certainly well up on last year, when only 19 were caught.
The highest number of maccas was just downstream of Burslems Bridge (21), with a further 9 netted at the nearby “Callandoon” site. This stretch of creek has previously been found to be a major spawning site for the perch. Other survey sites along the creek from Flowerdale down to Kerrisdale all recorded significant numbers of Macquarie Perch. Most of the fish were around 200 – 230mm long (from 2 to 4 years old), but a couple of maccas were up around 40cm. One disappointing result was that only 2 juveniles were captured – it is not clear at this stage why there were so few, but it tallies with similar results in Hughes and Seven Creeks.
It was of great interest that two of the captured maccas were tagged fish that had previously been caught at the same location in 2010, and had grown well over 100mm in just 2 years! The ARI researchers are testing a new tagging method this year. This involves an external tag (see pictures in slide show) with a unique fish number as well as “DSE, REWARD” and phone number on it. If an angler catches a tagged fish, it is hoped it will be reported to DSE and there is less likelihood of the fish being taken illegally. To encourage reporting, the angler will be rewarded with a stubby holder or lure! The reported tag information can provide valuable data on fish growth and movement between survey periods.
Other positive results from the surveys were that no carp were found upstream of the Goulburn Valley Highway, and 2 platypus were recorded. Unfortunately the survey team also found illegal nets set in the creek as well as a considerable amount of abandoned fishing line.
A timely reminder here that this once-widespread fish is now confined to a few isolated populations and is a threatened species. It is strictly prohibited to take Macquarie Perch from all Victorian waters, except Lake Dartmouth, the Yarra River and the Upper Coliban Reservoir.
Film Launch & Final Fling
On Friday 13th April, Focus on Fauna held a ‘final fling’ at Strath Creek to celebrate the end of the project and launch a short film. In somewhat of a party atmosphere, about 70 people joined us to watch the film and be treated to a fascinating presentation on Powerful Owls by local enthusiast Ron Litjens.
You too can watch the video below. The download size of this video is 280 MB.
Enjoy
Further remote camera images and photos sent in by community members can be viewed below.
Creeping, crawling, buzzing …
Hawk Moth caterpillar - photo Kay Granter
Some small critters have been brought to our attention recently, including this large caterpillar photographed at Strath Creek by Kay, whose daughter and dog seem to be equally curious. Our friendly and helpful moth expert Peter Marriott, author of the Moths of Victoria series of books, has identified the caterpillar as most likely that of a Hawk Moth, Psilogramma casuarinae. This species has only been discovered recently in the north of Victoria, too late to be included in Peter’s volume on Hawk Moths. The mature larvae can actually be either green or pink.
Black Spider Wasp - photo by Ron Litjens
We also received from Ron at Flowerdale a photo of a Black Spider Wasp, Fabriogenia sp. Ron informs us that they are solitary wasps, and soon after mating the female looks for a single spider on which to lay her eggs, while the males die !! In this picture, the wasp has cut off the spider’s legs, so that it can fit into the nest.
Foliate Jumping Spider - photo by Laurie Macmillan
Perhaps Ron’s wasp wouldn’t bother with the tiny Foliate Jumping Spider, Clynotis severus shown below, which was photographed by Laurie near Strath Creek, very bravely managing to overcome her arachnophobia!
Scarlet Robins calling
Male Scarlet Robin - photo by Ron Litjens
Scarlet Robins can now be seen and heard in farmland areas around Flowerdale and Strath Creek. They tend to move down from their higher, more forested summer breeding areas in autumn to forage in more open habitats throughout winter, where they can often be seen perched on fence wires.
The picture at left shows the more colourful male. The somewhat duller female can be seen perched on a branch at a bird-bath in the remote camera image below – click on the photo for a closer look.
To hear the robin’s distinctive call, click on the arrow on the icon below.
An ancient owl & a spooky coincidence.
Owl, Chauvet Cave, France; 28-30,000 years old!
This is the oldest known human depiction of an owl anywhere in the world- about 30,000 years old! It comes from one of the limestone caves in southern France, inhabited by humans during the last ice age.
Last Friday, Friday the 13th of April, was the final fling for our Focus on Fauna project. Despite the ominous overtones provided by the date, the night was a great success. There’ll be more written about it later, but I thought I’d share this with you. The last presentation of the evening was given by Ron Litjens, about the recent fascination that he and Kate have developed for a pair of Powerful Owls that regularly roost on their property. Ron is collecting some really interesting data about the habits of this pair of owls and it was a thoroughly enjoyable talk – you can see some of Ron’s owl pics on previous posts on this site.
I got home late that night and only then noticed the image on the daily calendar we keep (above) – an owl on Friday the 13th, the night I’d just heard a talk about owls – spooky!! They are awake when we’re asleep, have silent flight, can rotate their heads through 360 degrees, their large eyes make them appear wise and they’re constantly asking the question “who?’. Little wonder that owls figure large in human mythology and Ron, and Kate, can take comfort in being part of a long tradition of humans being fascinated by these remarkable creatures.
For more about Chauvet Cave, the owl and the humans that lived there, you can ‘visit’ the cave and see the owl for yourself, or read about the cave on Wikipedia.
Falcons too …
Just to emphasise the value of isolated paddock trees, even dead ones, as perches for birds of prey, this pair of Brown Falcons was spotted in the same dead tree as the Black-shouldered Kite featured in the post “Top of the tree” on 29th March.
Further phascogale photos
The Brush-tailed Phascogale featured in an earlier post (click HERE to view) has become a fairly regular night-time visitor to our bird-bath, and the remote camera set up there has recorded a series of photos which are displayed as a video below.
Focus on Fauna – final fling
To mark the end of the Focus on Fauna project, the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network is launching a short film about what we have been doing for the past year or so. We invite you to join us at Strath Creek Hall on Friday 13th April at 7.30pm to see and hear what we have found.
If you’ve been involved in any way in the project, or just taken an interest in the blog, why not join us – click on the flier below for full details.
Top of the tree
This beautiful Black-shouldered Kite has been spotted several times recently perched in characterstic pose on the topmost branch of a dead tree in the middle of a paddock above King Parrot Creek. Just before these shots were taken, it was swooped by a passing Grey Butcherbird. After raising its wings and giving a little squeal, the kite settled back and seemed unperturbed.
Thanks also to John for his report of a pair of Black-shouldered Kites in a tree-top near the Falls Road junction just out of Strath Creek. The kites are no doubt taking advantage of the large numbers of mice and rats that seem to be around at present.
The perching habits of the kite (and the Nankeen Kestrel) highlight the value of leaving dead standing trees in open farmland.
