Alan's Wildlife

Eyebrowed Thrush

2011-02-09T19:21:00.002+10:00

More photos of the Thrush. These from Jun Matsui

Terry's Strange Thrush

2011-02-08T20:14:00.004+10:00

This morning my friend Terry Heidenreich rang to ask if I was interested in a strange bird in his garden. Now, Terry is a very good birder so my system went to high alert.

He said it is a thrush or that type of bird, hops quickly across the ground and will sit still for some length of time. It appeared to be hunting for worms. When it flew into a tree he could not find it. He told me that the bird was the colour of a Bower's Shrike-thrush on the head but browner on the back. Terry spoke of a long white eyebrow and black whiskers edged with white. The throat is white but he thought the chin is black. He was confident it was not in his Australian or PNG field guides.

Despite not having eaten breakfast I jumped into the car and headed straight round.

Terry showed me where he had seen the bird a couple of times and I settled down to wait. I later went for a walk around his property and along the road checking out areas of similar length grass. Eventually I left birdless. Well not really but without having seen the target.
Terry rang a little later to say he had seen the bird in the same area again and that the bill sometimes looked yellow and sometimes yellow with a dark tip. Now he had seen the bird front on and the belly was white and the flanks were buff. Michelle, his wife told me the sides of the breast were yellow-brown. He saw the bird again in the afternoon so round I went yet again.

Going on Terry's description the best we could do was to consider Eyebrowed Thrush. This time I got glimpses of the bird as it hopped through ankle length grass on the edge of longer grass. It really did look like a small thrush. Although my views were really poor and my attempts to photograph the bird equally so I was able to confirm many of the field marks. When I saw it fly, I noticed that the under wings were uniformly pale except for a hint of darker edging to some feathers, the belly was white and the sides of the breast were a warm colour.

Having looked at pictures on the web I think there is a good chance that this is a first year male Eyebrowed Thrush.

Yasi, another cyclonic event and her aftermath

2011-02-06T12:26:00.006+10:00

Yasi was a huge category 5 cyclone which at one stage was heading just north of us. This is the worst case scenario for us as on the east coast the strongest winds and greatest rain come on the south side of the eye. Then it looked like we would experience it straight on and in the middle of the night. Fortunately for us the cyclone headed a bit further south.

The photo above shows Maria in our cyclone cubby. The table just fits between the washing machine and the shelves in the laundry. Behind and to the side we close off with mattresses to slow down any flying debris. In the shelf we had food and water, first aid supplies, torches, radio and a few tools in case we needed to dig our way out. We also had a waterproof bag with a couple of changes of clothes, money and important papers in case we had to evacuate after the storm passed. I am glad we prepared so well as we were able to relax. I went to sleep listening to "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" and Maria said she enjoyed listening to my soft breathing.

Only one fatality so far and that person seems to have become overwhelmed by fumes from the diesel generator he was running in the small closed room where he sheltered. No serious injuries ether which is great but many people injure themselves when cleaning up
The most significant damage to our house occurred as I was closing the LAST window. I pulled off the clasp. An immediate repair was called for and completed. There was a little leak in one corner of the house. I have been on the roof and sealed anything which looks like it could be the problem but still cannot understand how the water got in.
As evening deepened and the winds strengthened this pair of Northern Sedge Frogs seemed to use the tape on the windows as a stairway.
The afternoon of the cyclone Maria and I were walking in town when a sea bird flew over. Believe it or not I did not have my binoculars around my neck! It is a standing joke in our village that I remove them to take a shower. I think it may have been a Great-winged Petrel. The next morning I went to Tinnaburra on the local water reservoir and saw more birds not usually there: 4 Common Terns, 1 Lesser-crested Tern, 2 Crested Terns, 5 Gull-billed Terns (not all that unusual), 1 Pied Cormorant and a Little Egret. Saturday afternoon I found this adult male Lesser Frigatebird flying around and then roosting for the night.

Beautiful but Vacuous

2010-12-26T19:12:00.005+10:00

On Boxing Day we had some friends over for breakfast and had an unexpected visitor dropped in.
He certainly got everyone's attention. Perhaps he was after the young wallaby in the bag behind her but it was getting hot under the roof and he wanted to shift. He had tied his rather fat middle section in a knot and jammed it between the iron and the flashing. It is probably not the same snake as features in http://alanswildlife.blogspot.com/2009/06/ceiling-carpet.html as I think this animal is smaller. Shorter that is; it is certainly fat.

'Beautiful but vacuous' just about sums him up.

All hands action stations! The snake could not be budged despite Andrew and Tony's best efforts. Not forwards, not backwards. I went on the roof and loosened the ridge capping enough to reach in under and try and push him out. No go. Andrew wanted to have a go on the roof. With Andrew holding on to the middle of the snake I was able to feed it backwards, bit by bit into the space and Andrew prevented it from tightening the knot. Once he had the head out he was able to pull the snake through with a bit of shoving from underneath. During all this the snake made no attempt to strike at any of us though it would have had plenty of chances and must have suffered some pain when snagged on sharp iron.
Only when the dog came in close for a sniff did the snake become defensive. See the lovely blue of his mouth. Dog backed off and no harm done. Everyone got to pat or hold the snake before we released it in the back shed.

I wonder if I could fit it with a ring like the Chinese do with cormorants and train it to catch rabbits for my dinner?

I really will have to find a way to seal this gap. Christmas day spent cleaning up from a cyclone and Boxing Day morning spent rescuing the snake. The kids may not even remember this as the operation could not compare with creating their own puppets & play.

Christmas Cyclone

2010-12-25T15:39:00.007+10:00

Woke early this morning to strong winds. My wife who was in Darwin for Cyclone Tracey 36 years ago does not sleep in such circumstances. I tried to go back to sleep but she woke me to say a cyclone was on the way.

Quickly we picked up the light things on the veranda to bring them inside. I filled a jerry can of water. Little time to prepare but it was only a category 1 and a small system too. It came ashore to the east of us. The eye passed very close but it was not organised by that time and we did not have the dead calm but light flukey winds. Strong winds started up from east of north after dropping when they were westerly. Corn and bananas flattened, lots of leaves stripped and rain horizontal.

Not the Christmas present we wanted, Cyclone Tasha!
. Wonder if the strong winds from the other direction could stand my fruit trees up again?
The small wetland below our house is a lake at the moment. Petersen Creek is running a banker and daming our small stream. The sun came out, sort of, and allowed for a clean up. Not one's usual Christmas clean up.

From http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/25/3101567.htm?section=justin

Flash flooding is expected to inundate far north Queensland after a category one cyclone crossed the coast this morning.

Heavy rain and damaging winds are expected to continue after Cyclone Tasha crossed the coast south of Cairns, near Gordonvale, about 5:15am (AEST).

The cyclone has since been downgraded to a tropical low.

Wind gusts of up to 105 kilometres per hour were recorded off the coast and about 100 millimetres of rain in the space of an hour.

Flash flooding has already trapped a family of three on the roof of their house at Woopen Creek near Babinda, south of Cairns.

Forecaster Clare Richards says areas around Tully have seen falls of about 200 millimetres in the past 24 hours.

Surprise Disguise

2010-12-25T15:08:00.003+10:00

If you go down to the woods today you're in for a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today there's something there in disguise
This butterfly was taking advantage of the lull after the winds of Cyclone Tasha when it came to grief. Flower spiders turn up when plants flower and lie in wait. In this instance it has caught a small blue butterfly on an exotic Hoya flower. Maria thinks that the abdomen of the spider looks like an evil elf's face.

Fairies at the bottom of the garden

2010-12-22T19:00:00.005+10:00

Down at the bottom of my garden, where things are a little wild...
.. behind a palm frond of the thorny Wait-a-while ...
.. is the beautiful little nest of a Fairy Gerrygone. The palm has spines on its leaf stems and climbs with nasty recurved hooks. This makes it a tough place for a tree-snake to hang out. The funnel shaped awning on the left helps to restrict the activities of those brood parasites the cuckoos. I think they were successful in this because there is more than one chick in the nest. You can tell by the noise they make.
Here is a bird on its way to the nest.
You can tell that this is the dad because of his moustaches.
Here he is feeding young. Passerines produce their faeces in a little sack which their parents remove from the nest, dropping it well away. This gene would be one I would nominate to be entered into the human genome.

Central Australian visit, Plants

2010-12-05T11:32:00.009+10:00

Desert Grasstree, Xanthorrhoea thortoni growing on a ridge south of Murputja.
Gum from these plants is used as a glue.
Yellow Thryptmene, bark above and flowers below.

Weeping Wirewood, Acacia coriacea, is a small wattle of the sandy soils with some clay but in northern Australia along river banks can grow into a medium sized tree.

Red-bud Mallee, Eucalyptus pachyphylla. Eucalyptus means well covered and refers to the cap on the bud, which in this case is red, and falls as the flower opens. Mallees are small growing multistemmed trees.

Paper Daisy

Mistletoe, Lysiana sp. It is worth noting that no Australian mistletoe is poisonous. Maria says that the normal rules apply but I keep telling her that is only at Christmas time. Don't be too greedy girl!

Green Birdflower, Crotalaria cunninghamii, also known as rattle pods because the ripe pods rattle when shaken.

Eremophilla wilsii

Eremophila sp

Eremophila latrobei

A forest of Desert Oak, Allocasuarina decaisneana. Young trees grow very upright in columnar fashion until they start to branch. The fruit are large and spiky looking a little like cones but these are true flowering plants.
Another daisy.
Bladder Senna, Swainsonia coloutoides, is closely related to Stuarts Desert Pea.
River Gums in Charles's River. the morning had been grey but the sun came out, budgies and honeyeaters were very active and the skinks came out on the rocks as well.

Central Australian visit, animals other than birds

2010-12-02T10:00:00.016+10:00

I am seriously explaining that lizards are not a health hazard, and how to handle them. Left to their own devices many of the kids would have stoned any lizard big enough to make a target.
This large female Katydid with her huge ovipositor was living in an Eremophilla at the top of an isolated hill surrounded by flat sandy country. The ovipositor is sticking up between the wings. This happened as she tried to get away from me. At first it protruded from under the hind wings. "The "katydid" is actually a Raspy Cricket, a gryllcridid, Hadrogryllacris sp. There are at least 3 of these large blackish ones and this one is probably undescribed," said Mr Smiley see comments below.
A very handsome and friendly cockroach. This one lived under a rock north of Alice Springs.
Feral Camels are a real problem but fortunately this part of the country does not have donkeys, horses or cattle. This family group were not very worried by our presence.
Camouflage is an important survival strategy and this grasshopper is a great example. Viewed against the rocks they almost disappear.
A highly camouflaged bug. The grains of sand were loosely attached.
A shield bug. Nymphs of this species were quite common on the rocks of the Musgrave Ranges but we only saw a few adults. Interestingly all the animals we saw were on rocks. I wonder what they could be eating.
Probably a Cyclorana frog of some kind. I have more pictures if someone would care to identify it for me. Cyclorana maini Thanks Stewart.
Military Sand Dragons, Ctenophorus isolepis, seem to disappear on certain backgrounds
Having this Netted Dragon, Ctenophorus nuchalis, sit up on a stump was great for viewing and photography.
The Thorny Devil, Moloch horridus, is a slow-moving dragon which feeds exclusively on ants.
On the other hand ctenotus lizards are very fast and hard get get a camera on in the wild. Fortunately for me the sky had only just cleared and this Blue-tailed Finesnout Ctenotus, Ctenotus Calurus, had not yet been able to warm up. This species feeds largely on termites living under and in the spinifex.
This Centralian Bearded Dragon was photographed at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre which has some very good displays. www.reptilecentre.com.au/reptiles.htm
A common gecko near Murputja was the Centralian Dtella, Gehyra montium, and not strictly nocturnal.
The Desert Rainbow Skink, Carlia triacantha, is more an animal of the gravelly soils where there is a build up of leaf litter.
Long-snouted Lashtail, Amphibolurus longirostris, is the same species as I am holding above.

Central Australian visit, birds

2010-11-30T17:29:00.010+10:00

Birds breeding all over the place in the green outback of Australia in late 2010. Budgies in pairs and small flocks were seen almost everywhere and most tree hollows were occupied.

This Western Bowerbird maintains his bower near the picnic shelter in the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens where members of the public are not only welcome to enjoy the wonders of the flora of Central Australia but also the use the library and computer.
Grey-crowned Babblers were the most commonly seen but I did find three White-browed Babblers but this one was not excited about seeing me. It opened its eye, seemed to sigh and then go back to sleep. It was the middle of the day but a cool, cloudy one.
White-winged Fairywrens are normally very shy, flighty little birds and this one was no exception. It would pop up for a few seconds and then back down into the bush.
This male Splendid Fairywren was feeding young in a nest and not happy about my standing near his flight path. At one stage he hopped onto a log, stuck out his moustaches and yelled at me, most insistently to go away, so I did.
Spinifex pigeons are dapper little birds reminding me of the Hercule Poirot as played by David Suchet, full of self-importance a mincing walk and a condescending air.
Slatey-backed Thornibills proved hard to track down and then as is often the way I saw a number of groups on the Tanami Road and then at Charles's River.
Australian Ringnecks were very approachable in the towns and in the desert.
One Red-capped Robin jumped up on a rock close to me but would you believe it, I was changing the memory card in the camera at the time.
Like most Australian kingfishers,the Red-backed does not fish.
Crimson Chats were seen on every day as far as I can remember but not once did I get a clear photo! On one occasion on was sitting with a Black Honeyeater when an immature Crested Bellbird jumped between them and frightened them away.
Chestnut-rumped Thornbills were in good numbers in the hills east of Alice Springs. Often they formed mixed flocks with other thornbills and Red-throats.
Black Winged Stilt at the Alice Springs poo ponds. Access is via a key from Power and Water in the Todd Mall. The $30 deposit is fully refundable. Ask for a key not a permit as that only confuses the lovely ladies on the front desk.
Black-tailed Native Hens and Black Swans were among the hundreds of water birds at the sewage works.

Centralian Visit 2

2010-11-29T13:17:00.007+10:00

Here is my navigator, cook and love of my life beside the Lasseter Highway. We did get some sunshine and clear skies as you can see.
Lake Amadeus to the north and Mt Conner to the south from the Lasseter Highway.

Mt Conner from the west.
The school and houses at Murputja where we were based for three nights. One of the teachers was working away at another school and kindly allowed us the use of his house.
Grasses were in flower everywhere. Some of the spinifex had flower and seed heads over my head.
Red sand dune country with spinifex and Grevillea.
Every River Redgum had a pair of nesting budgerigars and often Galahs, Cockatiels and Australian Ringnecks.
North of the Gunbarrel Highway are the Musgrave Ranges.

Centralian Visit 1

2010-11-28T18:22:00.008+10:00

We flew out of Cairns heading for Alice Springs. Then we flew back into Cairns. A minor problem but one that could not easily be rectified in the Alice so we were late flying in grabbed a vehicle and groceries for four days and hit the road.

East MacDonnell Ranges are like a geomorphology lesson.

I was heading into the desert to work with the kids from Murputja Anangu School. Their teacher, David Hartland had inspired them with bird watching. This visit was in return for their visiting me in the rainforests and swamps of north Queensland.

A hard day at school. The kids keep records of their sightings and forward those to the Birds Australia Atlas.

As we headed south we were impressed by how green the desert was.
Erldunda was our first night's stop. Frogs were calling loudly from the little waterhole across the road but proved very elusive.

Night and Day

2010-04-07T16:42:00.004+10:00

Boyd's Forest Dragon. Relevant to end of owl story.

Barking owls are well named. Their call is like that of a small dog. the female has a high pitched two syllable call but the first is a diphthong. the males voice is lower pitched. She usually initiates dueting and can be very insistent. I once saw one fly to an unresponsive male, lean into his face and bark an invitation at him. He got the idea eventually. Maybe this is a bird I should have adopted as my totem in my youth?

This pair was photographed along Petersen Creek in Yungaburra. they have been using this site regularly for a while now. During the evening they can be seen in the Hoop Pine tree opposite the pub. From here they hunt the large moths which come to the lights of the village.

Barking Owls do not always bark. They also have a most beautiful soft churing sound which they use when waking in the evening and before going to sleep during the day. When disturbed during the day they seem to use this soft call to reassure their mate. As well as this they can scream! It is a most worrying sound which will cause the hairs to rise on the back of your neck.

Recently I had the most marvelous experience with a pair of Lesser Sooty Owls. My guests and I left a Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo to track down some noisy owls. Turns out it was only one noisy owl. As we headed in her direction I heard the very soft sound of a bomb dropping to our left. There was a male with a large freshly killed Boyd's Forest Dragon. A beautiful bird with a stunning reptile, newly molted to show its pinks, greens and blue-grey colours, with its yellow dewlap extended. The owl had the dragon by the skull. The female flew in and spread her wings in a wonderful soft pattern of curves and continued to make such harsh sounds.

The visual and auditory experiences were in conflict.

He disappeared, almost, into a dense tree and she followed. After a minute of much screaming and hissing she flew out with the dragon and he flew off quietly. When I made the falling bomb call she was quiet for 3 to 5 minutes before starting up again. Sometimes we see sleeping Green Ringtails in the trees along Petersen Creek. They love eating fig leaves.

Bug (and beetle) Discovery

2010-04-06T11:05:00.004+10:00

Lyramorpha parens

The bugs above are Lyramorpha, literally in the shape of a lyre. Being this bright red with the beautiful soft grey-blue edging they stand out in the rainforest. However while they have been known for a long time, their hosts have never been recorded. Until now! I was told this on Friday, found one host on Saturday and two more on Sunday.

Yes you are looking at a world first.

In the top picture you can see three different instars of the nymph stage. Later they go green and their wings grow. I am yet to find an adult feeding on the hosts or better yet guarding her eggs.

Some bugs exhibit high degrees of maternal care; even carrying their young around with them.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

Beetles bite / bugs sux

My friend Geoff Montieth said of these little fellows, " are beetles of the family Endomychidae. I think the genus is Encymon... Sometimes they are very common but I've never seen them eating anything so being predatory is interesting."

Here they are eating tiny tree snails. The snails are about one millimetre in diameter.

Somthing rotten in the State of Queensland

2010-04-06T10:28:00.007+10:00

Well, rotting more than rotten.

Fungi are very important in the breakdown of all sorts of living, dead and even nonliving parts of the environment to make nutrients available. The late wet season is a wonderful time on land west of the Great Barrier Reef and the colours are as varied. Here are some from my garden in Yungaburra.

Have a look at Faunal Fungi Feast from October 08 for more photos of fungi. The stinkhorns are out now too.

Lumhotz's Tree-kangaroos

2010-04-05T18:30:00.003+10:00

Petersen Creek in Yungaburra has become a well known Platypus viewing site but now its reputation for tree-kangaroos is soaring.

A week ago I went along the creek looking for the Barking Owls which often hang out there. I was disappointed in my quest but very happy to find five Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroos. The big male was in too difficult a position to photograph but the two females with joeys at heel sat nicely for me.

If you come across tree-roos please do not approach so closely that they jump or slide to the ground. This is what they do when they are upset and then on the ground the can fall prey to feral and domestic dogs.

Lepidoptera and their larvae

2010-04-04T14:51:00.005+10:00

Towards the end of the wet season there are butterflies, moths and their larvae everywhere. The huge caterpillar above is that of the Cairns Birdwing, our biggest butterfly, and is just about to pupate. Below is an Ambrax Swallowtail and its larva.

Ambrax are a midsized swallowtail. On one recent morning there were five species of swallow tail flying in the garden. Unfortunately, without breeding the animals they are hard to photograph; they wont sit still.

There are lots of ringlets. Here are the similar Orange Ringlet and Orange-streaked Ringlet.

I think this might be an Orchid Flash as it has the two tails per hind wing.

Like many butterflies this Northern Jezebel loves feeding on Pentas flowers in the garden. As well as planting the trees, shrubs and vines for the larvae it is necessary to have nectar plants or the adults will spend their time in your neighbours garden.

I once gave a box full of 'butterfly plants' to an acquaintance in Cairns. When I saw her a few months latter and asked after them I was told that she had removed them. Why? She didn't like to use so much spraying in the garden and they were always covered in grubs.

I think I saw a Spotted Jezebel last month. That would be right at the limit of its range.

Coastal Visitor

2010-03-07T16:53:00.005+10:00

The picture above was taken in the Flecker Botanic Gardens, Cairns, of a young Black Butcherbird

After New Year we often have Black Butcherbirds visit the eastern parts of the Atherton Tablelands. Earlier this week though I woke to the unmistakable call of this vicious songster. I say vicious because of their habit of hanging their prey in tight forks or on thorns while they dismember it. Their prey may still be alive while this is happening.

Stinky Flowers

2009-12-10T21:21:00.010+10:00

While Teaching in the Torres Strait I came across this plant in fruit. I asked a group of young adult males what they called it. A hushed and giggling discussion followed until one of them approached me shyly and said behind his hand that they call it "Penis Flower." They were horrified when I said so do the scientists, they call it "Amorphophalus,"
Amorphophallus grow from Australia to south-east Asia. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes but this one which can approach two metres is the largest I know of. The plant is deciduous. After the first rains a single leaf or a flower spike appears.
Once open the smell is that of a rotten mammal. It can easily turn a sensitive stomach.
Flies on the other hand love it and come from miles around. There were six species of flies on the flower before I removed it from the garden so I could eat my meal in the house.
Here you can see the masses of male and female flowers.

Actephila foetida is aptly named but not nearly as strong in its scent as the amorphophalus. Rather than flies it is pollinated by beetles. This group of insects are very important pollinators in the Australian rainforest. Use the flowers as a scale and you will see that although these beetles look very similar the top one is half the length of the bottom one.This 'interesting' smelling Gossia is also pollinated by beetles but they would fly off as I approached so I photographed this one on a Grevillea where it was feeding on nectar.

The Australian "Oaks"

2009-09-15T15:08:00.004+10:00

In Australia the Proteaceae family often have common names involving oak if they grow into trees. This is because of the oak like grain in a radial pattern. Other trees to be called 'oak' are the Sheoaks or Casuarina.
Below are two Proteaceae in flower at the moment: Darlingia darlingiana, white, and Alloxylon flameum, red. Above is the Banksia from yesterday's blog.
In most of the Proteaceae the flower bud opens by the tepals, undifferentiated perianth segments, opening to reveal the style standing proud. the Anthers are more or less stuck to the tepals and open before the bud so the pollen is left behind on the style and surrounding area. The style become receptive to pollen at a later stage.

Flowers in the Forest: September 2009

2009-09-14T16:09:00.011+10:00

Spring time is not the best time for flowers but there are some around at the moment. In the tall sclerophyll forests of the western edge of the Atherton Tablelands is Banksia aquilonia, the tallest of the banksias. It is a handsome tree and the flowers are usually terminal. 'Cones' with seeds lose their old flowers but they are retained if no pollination is successful.
Johnstone River Satinash, Syzygium erythrocaylyx, flowers on the trunk, and branches. Red to scarlet buds open to green flowers. This tree only grows in very wet areas. The fruit is large, red and edible. One should not eat fruit from the rainforest unless a reliable guide indicates it is safe to do so. Let them eat it first and if they are still walking around in half an hour give it a go.
The rich golden yellow flowers of Myrtle Satinash, Thaleropia queeenslandica, cause the trees to stand out like beacons. The first flowers are beginning to open now on the southern Tablelands.
In the wilds of the Kennedy Range, the Powder-puff Lilly-pilly, Syzygium wilsoni ssp wilsoni, is a scruffy shrub. Grown in a garden with a bit of care and pruning it is a magnificently dense shrub with these wonderful flowers with white pollen. The new growth of this form is magenta. Other forms of the species grow into huge trees with white flowers or small trees with pink flowers and blue fruit as opposed to the white fruit of this form.
Bonewood, above and the following plants are all in flower now on the middle altitudes of the Atherton Tablelands where I am fortunate enough to live. Emminosperma alphitoniodes, is a great small tree with glossy green leaves. It is rare for the tree not to have new growth, fruit or flowers, whatever the time of year. The canopy is darkly dense and the trunk so pale as to be almost white.
Daphne Buttonwood, does not have the largest flowers but they make up for this by being highly scented in the early evening. the fruit look like old fashioned ribbed buttons.
Umbels of small flowers can still cover a whole tree of Snowwood, Pararchidendron pruinosum, and will be followed by dry leathery pods containing black seeds. The pods are dark brown on the outside and reddish-brown on the inside.

Pittosporum rubiginosum is in flower around Malanda and at Lake Barrine near the entrance to the huge Kauri trees. Small orange fruit contain many small sticky red seeds.
Darlingia darlingiana, or Brown Oak is now just starting to flower. They have a very strong honey scent. Beetles, flies and wasps are important pollinators.
The Tree Waratah is a stunner! One can see these in the forests from Malanda to Tolga but also in the towns. the timber is also of high quality.

Spring Time in the Mountains

2009-09-01T09:57:00.014+10:00

Mt Bartle Frere hovers above the Tablelands. Taken two weeks ago this paddock now looks brown.

Today, September 1st, the first day of spring for those who follow the three month cycle of seasons. Actually we are beginning our fry season [accidental typo but I'll keep it] and it is dry already. The countryside is brown, unlike last year when we received enough rain throughout the year to keep the grass green and the creeks and springs flowing. Water levels are dropping quickly in the creeks and with the over extraction form our aquifers they will drop a lot further before the rains come. Still there is plenty of beauty around. The Red Cedars have now almost completed gaining their new leaves. The setting sun was still striking the colourful new growth of this tree near Malanda.
Fruit is becoming more available in the forest. From this little Thorny Yellow-wood which is eaten by honeyeaters to the large Water Gum which is eaten by Musky Rat-Kangaroos, This is the time for the northern migrants to return. The birds from the shorelines which fly to above the Arctic Circle to breed and those Cuckoos which just go to Indonesia and New Guinea for a holiday are returning. Some local birds breed at this time of year and other are displaying in hope of a mate later.Victoria's Riflebirds are beginning to display. A Bar-tailed Godwit has returned from the north and is feeding on the Cairns Esplanade with this Beach Stone-curlew. Metallic Starlings have just returned to the Tablelands but are already nest building on the coast.
Pheasant Coucals will turn almost black before they breed. This bird was photographed in our garden. Barred Cuckoo-shrikes have white eyes when not breeding but they are now turning a sexy yellow.

I got a little fright this morning while running around the yard to do a few jobs while creating this blog. I almost ran onto this handsome fellow. A Red-bellied Snake should be treated with caution but while they are bad news for dogs, humans should have little to fear from their venom. Lots of snakes are beginning to move out of their winter quarters and become active. A Yellow-faced Whipsnake was run over outside our house yesterday which is rather sad. Carpet Snakes, above, and Amethystine Pythons do not have to sun themselves for as long these warmer mornings and are soon on the move.

Whale Watching out of Cairns

2009-08-16T18:19:00.006+10:00

As I had to go to Cairns for another function I took the chance to go whale watching. It was beautiful weather, an almost flat sea with a light breeze to keep one cool.This male dived and came up tail first. He gave us a wave but that was the most exciting display we saw close to.

After watching a few pods in the distance and a couple of single males at close quarters we were heading to shore satisfied but not thrilled with the afternoon. The skipper then announced that he had a call that Migaloo, the white Humpback Whale was seen 2 Nm north of us and would we mind being late back to port. Blow the book launch, show us the whale.
There it was, south of Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef, and heading south towards Cape Grafton.

The experience was only spoilt by a couple of idiots in a runabout approaching the whale at high speed and forcing it to dive; presumably in an attempt to get a closer look. they were well within the exclusion zone around any whale, let alone Migaloo's.

Still it was a great experience and a wonderful privillage to see this special creature.

Peterson Creek, Yungaburra

2009-07-22T21:10:00.004+10:00

On a cool but sunny afternoon, Maria nad I went for a walk along Peterson Creek. Under some shady rainforest trees some fungus was glowing brightly despite the recent dry weather. A little further down stream at Snodgrass Pool I thought I saw something under the far bank. A look with the binoculars showed it to be a Water Rat, Hydromys chrygaster.After grooming for about ten minutes it ran along the undercut bank and up to a hole. It almost fell backwards out of the hole. I am not sure if the hloe belongs to this rat or something else. The path to a Platypus burrow is usually more smoothed than this one was.

Then it was off to look for dinner.A female Little Bronze Cuckoo, Chrysococcyx minutillus, almost sat on Maria's hat but landed on the branch above her head instead. The picture below shows the colour of the wing with some lighton it. In full sun the wings have a strong bronze sheen.

We saw three species of parrots, four honeyeaters, three cuckoo-shrikes, two skinks and a Platypus. As we walked back through the village a flock of 20 Sarus Cranes flew over in V formation.

Mystery Picture

2009-07-19T13:21:00.003+10:00

Can you tell what this is? Just for fun you can enter you answer on the quiz on the top right hand side of the blog.

More Platypus

2009-07-19T13:03:00.003+10:00

A north Queensland female Platypus showing the structure of her leathery bill and the golden patch below her eye. It is obvious that I have mislead some of you by saying in the past that their eyebrows are golden; sorry. Platypus have no teeth but use bony plates to grind the food brought to the surface in their cheek pouches.

Here is a view of the hind foot of a female.

And below is the spur of a young adult male.

Bergman's principle illustrated!

Thanks to Stephen Kolomyjec for the pictures in this blog.

Platypus

2009-07-17T12:16:00.009+10:00

The Platypus is unique in the true sense of the word. Another overused word is icon but in this case I think it is apt to say that the Platypus is an Australian icon.
As an egg laying mammal it blongs in the sub-class of monotremes. The other living family of monotremes are the echidnas.Stephen Kolomyjec from James Cook University has been studying their genetices. To do this he must catch the animals. Here he is setting his nets in the late afternoon as most activity will occur around dusk and dawn.

Once a Platypus is in the net it must be retrieved. As there are no weights on the net there is no rush as the animal can swim to the surface to breathe. However Stephen is keen to avoid stressing the animals.

Holding it by the tail, he frees it from the net. Into the bag it goes. The gloves are in case it is a male. Males have a spine on their hind leg, linked to a venom gland. Envenomation can produce a lot of pain for the unwary researcher.

Back on land the young female is measured and microchipped.
Have a look at her front feet. Beyond the long claws the webbing extends to make a huge paddle. Most of the swimming effort is made with the front legs.
Once I was explaining to a group of tourists that the Platypus was the only venemous Australian mammal. A fellow towads the back said, "Bullshit," just loudly enough for me to hear. As we left the site I asked him which other Australian mammal was venomous. He turned to his companion and said, "He obviously has not met my first wife!"

Pretty in Pink

2009-07-13T14:33:00.006+10:00

A pink bottlebrush has been attracting lots of attention and not just from the people passing by. Above is a Macleay's Honeyeater. This is one of eight species of honeyeater in the garden at the moment.

Flies and wasps also come to the nectar and pollen.

This tiny Trigona bee is stingless and lives in a hive in an old pot by my water tank. There are many species of skippers but I think this may be a Grass Skipper of some kind.

The Zodiac Moth flies during the day, is large and colourful with small tails on the hind-wing. New Guinea has a butterfly which mimics this moth and hence gains from the nasty taste of the poisons stored by the moth. Birds soon learn not to try eating the moth.

Below are two species of Jezebel Butterfly and one which looks like it might be.

Scarlet-banded Jezebel, Delias mysis.
Common Jezebel, Delias nigrina.

Jezebel Nymph, Mynes geoffroyi.

Ceiling Carpet

2009-06-04T16:28:00.010+10:00

This is the carpet in my ceiling.

The colour patterns depend on the light source and the reflective surfaces near by.

Actually it is not carpet but a Carpet Python and to be honest she is too big to get into the ceiling anymore. As it is a warm place, it is winter now and there are sometimes rats there, it makes great home for a snake.

She is determined to visit her winter home but has grown too much at just under two metres long and ten centimetres in diameter, she cannot squeeze through the gaps under the iron. Here she is under the carport at the corner of the house.

After each attempt she has had to extract herself, rubbing the scales against the grain. What is that saying about stupidity is trying the same thing over and expecting a different result. While she is very beautiful I do not think she is all that bright.

What about this gap from a different angle?

And yet again today June 5th! In this far and then backing out again. At least this spot the wood is smooth and there is no mesh above the joist for it to become stuck on. At least I hope it does not get stuck. I do not want to have to take the roof off. Can you see the snake's head on the right of the picture?

Well, it is said that one should not focus on what one does not want!She got stuck. And after a night of struggling she was not in the best of health. Andy Mason, local computer whizz and 'snake man' came around to lend a hand. We loosened the screws above her and wedged up the roof. We removed the wire mesh at the left of the picture, hoping to remove her through that space. While she may have been weakened by the ordeal she was still able to take a firm hold in the wall space and we left her there. This was the last we saw of her.But she may not have been a 'she' as Maria heard slithering and banging in the ceiling consistent with snakes fighting. This happened last year and the noise was so loud with the two pythons knocking each other's head against the ceiling that we moved into the spare room for the night. A Green Treesnake of similar length but a fraction the diameter is living in the ceiling at the moment but I do not think it would be them fighting as the size difference is too much. We have seen the treesnake returning to the roof at about 0930 on a couple of mornings recently.

Onset of Winter Weather

2009-05-18T09:52:00.003+10:00

On last night's nocturnal tour where we saw one Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo, 11 Brushtail Possums and two Green Ringtail Possums the sky was as clear as a bell. We had fun looking at the constellations of the southern sky which were new to my guests from the Netherlands. The constellations which they knew were upside down. It was fun trying to use their northern hemisphere star chart to determine the names of some stars I did not know. The challenge was to flip and invert the image in one's head to match what we were seeing in our northern sky.

A fog formed over night which stopped it becoming really cold and the warm sunshine has now burnt off the fog.

Death on the High Wire

2009-04-13T14:00:00.004+10:00

Warning!

This blog contains images which will upset you.

Many animals die on barbed wire fences every year. Bats and owls are the main victims.

This gliding possum, probably a Squirrel Glider, Petaurus norfolcensis, ran into the top wire of this gate and died a long painful death.

You can see how its gliding membrane became wrapped around the wire as it struggled to get loose.
The irony is that this farmer has wildlife friendly fencing. See the top wire on the fence is a plain, non-barbed wire. It was only the gate which had the barbs on the top wire.

Baby Tree-Kangaroo Strikes out

2009-04-13T13:13:00.005+10:00

Imagine learning to walk in the trees? "It's OK Mum, I'm a big girl now!"

This delightful series was sent to me by my friend Sandy Carroll. She often sees Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroos outside her bedroom window. Being able to watch then behave naturally is a rare privilege as these are shy creatures which are very aware of strangers in their forest."OK, now I've got this far what happens next?

"If I grab this vine over here will that help?"'Guess not!"

"Up sounds good."You can see that when climbing a vine, tree-roos use their arms to do most of the work and their hind feet act as clamps to stop them slipping down.

At my site the numbers have dropped since Cyclone Larry even though all my habituated animals survived the blow. there has been some social disruption with Jill being displaced by Sarah. I had never previously heard of a breeding female loosing her territory to another. Unfortunately Sarah does not sit in the open as often as Jill used to. Spider jumped out of a low tree when we were watching him last week. He went into a vine tangle so I am a bit worried about his health. We were not very close to him but as we had not been seeing him much lately, he may have been worried about us. Normally tree-kangaroos will jump if they feel threatened so it is best to give them plenty of space if they are not up high.

Birds on the move

2009-04-08T09:52:00.004+10:00

But first a snake story. While taking a lunch break the other day I was sitting on the veranda with my back to the vege garden when I heard movement under my chair. This Yellow-faced Whipsnake had caught a small skink. The skink was dispatched and quickly eaten and my visitor moved off after more prey.

Bustards are back on the central part of the Atherton Tablelands. This was one of four in a peanut paddock on the south end of Marks Lane.

White headed Pigeons and Topknot Pigeons are visiting the Camphor Laurels in Yungaburra in flocks of up to 60 birds at the moment.

In the fruiting fig trees are Double-eyed fig-Parrots and Barred Cuckoo-shrikes.

Pacific Black Ducks do not migrate from here and some have ducklings. Most of the other water birds have moved further west to breed but it wont be long before they start to return.

It's good night from me and good night from him and good night from him and good night from him and good night from him.
Four Brown Gerrygones cuddled together for warmth and safety.

Golden Orb and Friends

2009-03-25T10:44:00.012+10:00

This Golden Orb Spider, Nephila pilipes, is not actually on my face but they are very friendly spiders.As she moults to maturity she will become a really big spider. She will share her web with many other spiders like this beautiful but tiny Dew Drop Spider which you can see is aptly named.

Here she is on the web and below on the back of my hand.

Many other species of small spiders can be found in her web. They eat the things that are too small for her to worry about. Sometimes they suck the juices from her prey right under her lip.
The male is small but the same body shape as the female. His pedipalps or feeding feet are however shorter with clubs and hooks on the end. She does not get to eat him as he mates when she moults for the last time and is still soft.

As a young spider the Golden Orb is silver on the dorsal surface which is seen from below the web ..

.. and green, brown and black when looking from above, wonderful camouflage. At this stage she builds a horizontal web. Later as she morphs towards the adult form she will start building vertical webs.

She also develops the colourful golden knees at this time and the web takes on its golden hue. This golden colour is more pronounced in spiders living under dry conditions with less food. My impression is that the golden webs are stronger but I guess that they are more expensive in terms of energy to produce. Being more easily seen they can be avoided by birds.
This is a closely related species, Nephila edulis with her male in attendance. I think I would have to be very hungry to eat her.

Laughing Gull

2009-01-23T09:01:00.002+10:00

It is no laughing matter flying from North America but when you have to do it under your own steam it must be rather tiring. This first winter Laughing Gull is spending the northern winter at the north Cairns holiday spot of Palm Cove. The photographs were taken by Jun Matsui.

Weekend Wildlife

2009-01-10T18:58:00.011+10:00

Being modern spiders, jumping spiders have only three pairs of eyes. Four eyes look forwards and the other two cover the sides and back. Most are small and beyond the capabilities of me and my camera. This one had a total length of about 2cm. Note that the fangs can work in opposition from each side in contrast to the older, eight eyed spiders which need to rear up on their legs to strike downwards with their fangs together. This is because the 'big hairy' spiders have backward facing fangs.

On wet windy nights these huge Spiny Katydids, Phricta spinosa, come to the forest understorey to avoid the vagaries of the weather. Females also come to the forest floor to lay their eggs. Nymphs are much more commonly seen than the adults. This animal was over ten centimetres long. The red and black of the inner thighs is diagnostic.

I would have driven past this Frilled-neck Lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingii, if it had not been for a sharp-eyed passenger. These wonderful dragons hunt invertebrates and take the occasional lizard.

Their threat display is wonderful to see. They erect their frill, hiss and will even jump towards the threat before turning tail, running on their back legs to the nearest tree and climbing it on the side opposite the observer.

Unlike snakes, they lose their skin in a rather patchy manner.

Just down the road from the Frill-neck were these Eastern Greys and two Agile Wallabies. Before they raised their heads to look at us they were well camouflaged in the termite mounds.

Size differences between the sexes is common in macropods, kangaroos. It reaches its maximum in the Antilopine Wallaroo and minimum in the tree-kangaroos and rock wallabies.

I have mentioned the short faces of tree kangaroos before but did you know that in most macropods the molars erupt in series, migrate to the front and fall out. A young kangaroo might have only its two first in position and use behind the premolar. An older animal may have numbers 1 to 3 in use with number 1 where the premolar was and an old animal only molars 3 and 4 in use. The Nabarlek, a small rock wallaby, has molar teeth erupting and moving forward throughout its life.

This serial use of molars is shared with elephants and allows much more grinding area to be used during the animal's life than could be accommodated in the jaw at one time.

Early Wet Season Activity

2009-01-06T18:53:00.007+10:00

On the morning of January 4th before the start of the cricket I visited the Curtain Figtree to see what the rainforest pigeons were up to. Wompoos and Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves had shown signs of nest building and there were fruit around to attract them to feed. All the local species of rainforest pigeon and monarchs were seen or heard with the exception of one of each group.

I met a lovely young family from Townsville and their three kids were having great fun trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from and what the noises were. After being shown a few pictures the kids were great at finding the birds and animals. This Wompoo was doing a fast head nodding display with its partner until a third party interrupted and a fight ensued. Wompoo Pigeons are large fruit eating birds of the rainforests of eastern Australia. The smaller fruit-doves were present but not providing photo opportunities.

Whipbirds are normally secretive skulkers of the rainforest floor but this male was spending most of his time in the bushes above eye level. When Whipbirds duet the female usually makes the introduction, he emits the loudest noise and she has the last word. I have never heard of such behaviour in another species!!!

Which raises that great philosophical question: If a man is alone in the forest, without his wife to hear, and he makes a statement; is he still wrong?

Boyd's Forest Dragons are medium to large rainforest predators. They sit on trees and other vantage points from which they observe for the movements of prey which is largely taken on the ground.

Lots of plants are in flower or fruit at the moment and the Atherton Suaropus, Sauropus macranthus, is doing both. This little bush of the understorey is a rare and threatened plant of the Atherton Tablelands.

Calamus, or Wait-a-whiles are climbing palms which uses hooks to get to the light without making their own trunk. The flowers are tiny and the small fruit are sweet but covered in a flaky skin. The plants are also known a lawyer vines but as it is the new year I'll be nice.
Boat-fruit, Neisosperma poweri, usually come in pairs but there are a few triplets around this year. The milky sap of this plant is a cautioning feature. The fruit are poisonous though eaten by Musky Rat-Kangaroos and Giant White-tailed Rats. The seeds are covered with an endocarp with branching ribs reminiscent of some palms.

This Caper vine, I think it might be C ornans, flowers at night only, is highly fragrant and produces a large globular fruit.

After leaving the forest I walked along the creek on my way home. Here I saw the tiny Silver Wisp and a Brown Ringlet enjoying the sunshine. i am starting to get my head around some of the local Dragonflies and Damselflies so that might be my next blog.
Silver Wisp
Brown Ringlet enjoying a bit of dull sunlight after a wet night.

Broome W. A.

2008-12-30T08:14:00.006+10:00

I recently made a trip to Broome in Western Australia to help in the count of shorebirds. South of Broome lies Roebuck Bay and 80 Mile Beach, two of the most important shorebird habitats in Australia. Our team was comprised of 26 people,mostly volunteers.
It was at 80 Mile Beach that it was realised that the population of Oriental Pratincole was greater than the estimated 700 000 when 2.88 million of the birds turned up one year. We did not see that number but they are the dominant bird in the foreground. As the tide comes in it forces the birds into small groups along the shore. This makes counting easier than when they are dispersed across the mudflats. The difficulty lies in the dense flocks hiding smaller birds. At the site above I missed 96% of the Sanderlings on the first count. When the tide receded the birds spread out a little and we could recount. This produced higher numbers of all the smaller birds. We were glad that the bigger bird counts were the same; it boosted our confidence. The aim is to count each bird once.Hundreds of thousands of waders leave the muddy flats of Roebuck Bay as the 8 metre tides flood the rich muds. They roost on sandy beaches, rocky headlands and even behind the mangroves.

Some areas such as Gordon Bay had not been surveyed before while the well known and richer sites are counted twice a year.

Sometimes an onshore wind increases the height of the tide in this wide shallow bay. This makes prediction of roosting sites difficult and this flock is getting away. A quick count of the overall numbers and a rough allocation of proportions was all that could be done and then hope we can find then elsewhere.

I learnt a lot about identification of not only waders but tern subspecies. The Gull-billed Tern above comes from Asia.

We had workshops and this excursion to a freshwater wetland acted as a training session.

I was pleasantly surprised that most of our counts came in within 5-10% of the median figure but each of us had the odd count which was way off the mark. Except for missidentification the miscount was always under the true total. The birds move, they hide and some come in while others leave.

We had professionals and amateurs from China, Korea and Australia. The Koreans and Chinese were most interested to see where "their" birds go during the northern winter. All of us are most concerned about where our birds will feed between their southern feeding grounds in Australia and their breeding areas in Siberia and Alaska. Wetlands around the Yellow Sea are being "reclaimed" to produce industrial and commercial land. This has already put hundreds of fishermen out of work and is robbing the birds of their staging posts during their long migration.
Once the data are collected it is necessary to enter and store it for later analysis. These experienced counters could manage four plus species at once and still handle totals in the thousands.

Two kilometres is not very far to walk but...

through soft sand...in forty-two degrees (in what shade?) and with lots of flies...
it is thirsty, tiring work.With a little protection, some good management and the nations of the East Asian, Australasian flyway honouring the agreements they have signed, generations to come will also be able to enjoy the wonders of thousands of shorebirds wheeling through the sky: seeing the flocks turn from grey to white as they alter direction and observe the colours of the birds change as they develop their bright breeding plumage.

Time flies, true Flies and other 'flies.

2008-12-27T08:43:00.009+10:00

It is almost the end of the year 2008. Like most years it seems to have gone very quickly until I look back on all that I have done and then I wonder how I managed to fit all that into just one year!

This is a great time of year for insects. Here a few I photographed in the last few days. The Bristle Fly above did not seen bothered by my thumb. Yes Mum, I have cleaned my nails, I was working in the garden!

Here is a painted Grasshawk which patrols my vege patch.

This one was rescued by Maria from a spider's web the day before. I know spiders have to live too but it was early morning and the spider was strictly nocturnal so the dragonfly was facing a long slow death.

Now they are coming in squadrons.

The Tau Emerald is not such a common sight in the garden. I am not sure what his mate is below.The three below dragonflies were photographed at Mt Hypipamee on Christmas Day. I do not know their names. the last one did not make it out intact.

Christmas Beetles

2008-12-27T08:09:00.003+10:00

Early Rains Bring out the Flowers and Insects.

Many trees are flowering on the Atherton Tablelands at the moment. The Queensland Maples, Flindersea brayleyana, look like giant cauliflowers in the rainforest. The River Cherries, Syzygium tierneyanum, flower either among the leaves or along the branches and sometimes both. Beetles are important pollinators in the Australian rainforests and while most are small there are some large colourful ones too.

The large beetle in this picture with the green lyre design is the small beetle in the picture above that. Below are a pair of Flower Longicorn beetle, Aridaeus thoracicus, which presumably gain some protection from their superficial similarity to wasps.

Tawny Frogmouth Family

2008-12-04T15:38:00.007+10:00

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE LOOKING AT!?The Tawny Frogmouth of north Queensland is smaller than its southern relatives. The female may be a reddish brown on the wings and in streaks on the breast. The young birds and male are mostly grey. They are named for their wide mouths.

As members of the Podargidae their nearest relatives are the Nightjars/Nighthawks in Caprimulgidae.

There is one in the picture below.

Here she is a bit closer.

Can you see how many young are with their father in this picture?
There are four, dad and three young. Here are two of the young ones.

Frogmouths mate for life and live in their territory of 20 -80 hectares throughout the year. They will often nest in the same tree or near by in successive seasons. Both birds share the building and incubation duties. As in many species of birds the male often sits on the nest during the day but remember this is a nocturnal species so the behaviour is really an unusual one. The nest is a flimsy platform of twigs in a horizontal fork. Usually two pure white eggs are laid about three days apart.

Greatest activity occurs in the hours after dark and before dawn. Food is large nocturnal insects and other invertebrates, taken from low branches or the ground in gliding dives.

The young bird in the first picture was making a hissing noise and moving its head from side to side, looking like Grover from Sesame Street. As this was a threat and alarm behaviour we moved back before it could start snapping its bill at us.

McIvor Crossing Excursion

2008-11-19T14:48:00.014+10:00

Work took me to Cooktown last week so I took the chance to go birding with some friends to McIvor River. This area is north of Cooktown and we passed through an area where Joseph Banks made significant collections back in 1770.
We did not have time to spend retracing his steps or collections and besides I had done that 22 years ago. We did however stop for breakfast at Isabella Falls and I thought of the intrepid explorers dressed in breeches working their way up river from Cooktown to this beautiful spot. Now despoiled with litter,while we were there a beer bottle washed over the falls and broke in the hole below.
Syzygium angophoroides, Yarabah Satinash, was in fruit above the falls.

At McIvor River crossing the fruiting Cluster Figs, Ficus racemosa, made quite an impression with me but were not attracting the frugivores that would be at them if further south or north.

In the litter hunted the wonderful large skink, Carlia longipes. And then a flash of orange, grey and black. Our target bird! A Black-winged Monarch. (originally posted as Black-faced Monarch)

He was a very handsome bird which is not given justice by these pictures but they are a record. It was an Australian first for the three of us so we will be celebrating when we meet again this weekend for the Pied Imperial Pigeon count at Mission Beach.

One of the most common trees along the stream is the River Gum, Tristaniopsis exiliflora. 'River Gum' as a common name applies to at least three trees of different genera so that is why I include the scientific binomial in my posts.
The trunks can be twisted and fluted into beautiful shapes so I could not resist shooting a few pictures and now wish I had spent some more time with them. They became wonderful subjects to play with. It used to take me two weekends in the darkroom to produce a poster print and now I can do the same sort of thing,with less control admittedly,with three clicks of the mouse.
Another good subject for such play and a more satisfactory result was the flower ball of Nauclea orientalis, Leichhardt Tree. The beautiful yellow wood of this tree warps a great deal making it not suitable for most applications. The trees have a layered, oriental appearance.

Big Greasy steps out

2008-10-26T09:36:00.006+10:00

This is how the Big Greasy, Cressida cressida, pupa looked for most of its time.
Then one evening I saw the colour had changed. Over a few hours the pupa darkened dramatically. I expected that it would emerge in the morning.In the morning it looked like this.When I came home at lunch time the butterfly was already well on its was to spreading its wings.

It was still the next morning before the Big Greasy flew. I wonder if it had been a warm sunny day, would it have taken so long. The conditions were cool with light rain.

Faunal Feast on Fungal Phallus

2008-10-19T09:40:00.005+10:00

Stink-horn Fungi

This fungus is also known as the bridal veil fungus because of the lacy fringe.

Other species can be red or orange. Size varies from 10 to 20 centimetres. They are usually associated with rotting wood and wood chips in moist gardens are a haven for them. The white one was photographed in Cairns at the Centenary Lakes, while the orange one is breaking down the wood chips in my vegetable garden. These of course are the fruiting bodies. Most of the fungus is out of sight.
Did you notice all the flies? The flies are attracted by the sour sweet smell of the fungus. While feeding on the provided fluids the flies are picking up spores which they can then spread around to other potential fungus growing sites.
The availability of free flies attracts predators. In my garden dragonflies make a happy hunting ground of the fungal bounty. In Cairns the Green Ants make good use of the supply.
This one has itself a meal. But then the competition moves in!
I did not stay around to watch what happened in this tug of war. Sometimes when conditions are good, the fungus produces a mass fruiting. Before they erupt they look like puff ball fungi.

The Curtain Figtree, Yungaburra

2008-10-17T08:01:00.007+10:00

Famous FigtreeWhen overseas I can often let people know where I am from, by reference to this tree.
Most people who visit the Atherton Tablelands call in to see this strangler fig. Bring your fish-eye lense if you have one!

The fig fell over after it had killed its host but before it was strong enough to support itself. The result of its being caught by another tree and continuing to produce these aerial roots is the famous curtain. The roots are still growing and more are being added each year. The red tips indicate that this is new growth which has been prompted by recent good rains.

Ficus virens is a deciduous tree which grows from northern New South Wales to Asia. The leafless period is brief and below you can see that new leaves are starting to show in the dawn light. SunriseThe new leaves of figs are wrapped in sheathing stipules which in most species drop to the forest floor as the leaf opens. As the new growth is rapid, a shower of these pink stipules falls onto the path below as in this picture. In a few days the fig is approaching its former glory.

Tilapia Terrorises the Tropics

2008-09-25T14:34:00.004+10:00

Tilapia Terrorises the Tropics

In north Queensland we have two introduced Tilapia species. This one, Oreochromis mossambicus, Mozambique tilapia, was photographed yesterday in the Freshwater Lake at Centenary Lakes, Flecker Botanic Gardens, Cairns.

It, along with many other males have established breeding areas which they have cleaned. they have adopted their colourful breeding condition to impress the females. See the red margins to the dorsal and caudal fins, the bright red pectoral fins and the pale yellow cheek patch on the gill covers. the females are smaller, more grey and with less prominent lips. Young are pale grey with a spot on the posterior margin of the dorsal fin.

Tilapia eat detritus, live plants and prey on the eggs and fry of other fish. They can live in a wide range of habitats and reach incredible densities. They are tough fish being able to withstand unusual pH levels and low oxygen as well as high salinity and fresh water conditions. When those in the water features of a golf course in Port Douglas were killed using a fish poison something like thirteen tonnes of fish bodies had to be disposed of. These fish pose a threat to prawn and barramundi stocks and hence people's livelihoods. The beautiful endangered Oxleyan Pygmy Perch, Nannoperca oxleyana, and the vulnerable Honey Blue-eye, Pseudomugil mellis, are under threat from the expansion of this species range.

The dumping of exotic fish in our streams and lakes has made Australia one of the world's hot spots for fish invasions. Native fish and crustacea are also being spread into areas where they did not occur with the loss of local species being the result. Lake Eacham no longer has Lake Eacham Rainbow Fish. There used to be millions. When I first moved to the Atherton Tablelands I would sit on a log in the Lake and these little fish would suck on the hairs of my legs until the tickling got too much for me. Some of these introductions are by misguided people releasing aquarium specimens but others are done by people who want to fish for the species they are introducing. It is a shame that such environmental vandalism is still occurring; Tilapia have been found recently in the Walsh River Catchment and near Cooktown.

Changing of the Guard

2008-09-25T12:03:00.006+10:00

Photo copyright Eric Preston

Lots of disruption happening with the Tree-kangaroos at my site recently but one thing sneaked under my guard. This male Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo is superficially similar to Joan, a three and a half year old female who remained with her mother, Jill. At some stage I have started calling him "Joan" and not realised my mistake. When a strange female turned up, first near Jill's territory and then in it I wondered what was going on. That "Joan" was spending a lot of time near the new animal seemed really strange to me. Why would either of them tolerate the other if they were not closely related.

Now it makes sense that the new dominant male should let the new female know that she was welcome but he was 'the man'.

One possible cause of the disruption is the work being done by National Parks to control some of the nasty weeds which have invaded the forest. Turbina corymbosa and Aristolochia elegans are two of the culprits. Turbina is eaten by all three species of arboreal foliovores but still overgrows trees, causing their death. After the cyclone it responded to the increase in light levels by germinating throughout much of the forest. It, along with other vines, proved an important food source as the trees had lost most of their leaves. Fallen vines continued to grow, feeding the animals. A strip of land to the west of the track we use is to be re vegetated this wet season which is great. I do wonder though how much the possums, pademelons and tree-roos will allow the small trees to grow.

Below is the best picture I have so far of the new female. She has a joey in the pouch which we have seen out on three occasions. She is not yet habituated on us but is more relaxed than when she first turned up and would woof at us at the least excuse. Tree-kangaroos have this breathy but voiced woofing alarm call. It may be a threat call but I have not observed enough behaviour between animals in the wild to tell. When heard the animals were usually moving away from me but they were directing their attention in my direction.

Beetles Bite, Bugs Sux

2008-09-21T16:04:00.005+10:00

Beetles bite but bugs suck.

If you are not sure have a look at the jaws on this curl grub, the larva of a rhinoceros beetle. The black bug below is sucking the life out of a beetle

Beetle larvae come in a variety of forms from slug like creatures to the curl grub illustrated above. The adults have two pairs of wings with the first pair hardened to form elytra which cover the flight producing and delicate hind wings. Beetles are the most common of animals, almost a third of all known species are beetles. You can see the destructive eating habits of the little glossy beetles shown below. This is the same species which lost one of its young to the tiny bug above. Like the adults in this species the larvae eat leaves and are quite active. While most beetle larvae eat leaves, some like those of fire flies feed on snails. Some beetle larvae are slow moving but the little fellow below is off looking for more food.
When I got the camera too close he climbed on board.

Big Greasy bites the dust

2008-09-21T15:56:00.002+10:00

I am not certain that this is the Big Greasy which has been patrolling my Aristolochia vines but the circumstantial evidence is strong. Posed this dead butterfly to give you an idea of what he was like in life. Though to be honest I never saw him visit these flowers.

Spit Bug and Friend

2008-09-20T15:55:00.008+10:00

It looked like someone with a bad cold had been spitting in this Casuarina but the animals concerned were healthy and living in this spit ball.Like all true bugs this sucker is just that, a sucker. Bugs use their rostrum, a hollow tube below the head to feed. The majority feed on plant juices but a few suck the from other insects and bed bugs suck from humans given the chance! The spit bug sucks the juices out of the plant and froths up the exudate to make this hiding place. The bug above had just moulted and you can see the old skin on the right.

Here he is getting a real move on.

As an adult they have wings. Unfortunately I did not work fast enough and this is the only photo of the adult I got.

Other small leaf hoppers can also be found around here. Many are plain green. This one shows the transparent wings which give rise to the name of the order Hemiptera, half wing.

'Little' Big Greasy's Big Day Out

2008-09-18T16:31:00.007+10:00

'Little' Big Greasy's Big Day Out

For more than a week a male Big Greasy butterfly, Cressida cressida, has been patrolling a patch of our garden where there are some young Aristolochia vines. These vines are the host for a number of butterflies including the spectacular Cairns Birdwing.

When I wasn't watching he must have been visited by a girlfriend as eggs like this were laid on all the vines.

Yesterday one of the eggs hatched. The scale on the ruler is in centimetres. Today he was joined by another. The male is still flying circuits past these vines. Maybe he is keeping other butterflies from laying on 'his' vines. There are too many eggs for all the caterpillars to reach maturity so it will be interesting to see what happens. Related species are know to be cannibals.

This is one of the butterflies having a hard time because of the introduced Dutchman's Pipe Vine, Aristolochia elegans. The female will lay her eggs on this close relative of the host but the larvae hatch, begin feeding and die. At least this is a wide spread species with populations well away from human habitation. The Richmond Birdwing, Ornithoptera prianus pronomus, has suffered loss of habitat and the trials of the introduced garden plant killing its young.

The first specimens of this species collected for science were taken near Cooktown when Cook was forced to repair his 'Endeavour' there in 1770.

This is the same leaf as pictured at the top. Somehow I have reversed it. I'll keep you informed of progress. Below is a pupa which has over wintered. Hopefully I'll get a picture of the butterfly for you.
For more information on this beautiful butterfly have a look at http://www-staff.mcs.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/papi/cressid.html

New Bird for Home Block #189

2008-09-16T16:48:00.003+10:00

This morning I went outside to investigate the unusually loud trumpeting of numerous cranes and got an even bigger surprise. The Sarus Cranes were circling around to the west of the village and I was wondering if they were leaving early this year. No they were not gaining height. It may just have been the meeting of a couple of flocks.

Then I noticed one was flying very low. It was coming up from the creek and over Nick's Restaurant. It was a Great-billed Heron! It turned and flew north along Peterson Creek, giving its guttural, groaning rattle of a call.

The Great-billed Heron is a shy bird of the mangroves. I have heard reports of them being seen on the Tablelands before but this one was visible from home so it goes on the list. My home block list includes all the birds seen on or from our yard and the paddock below the house as far as the creek and wetland.

This marks the 189th species of bird to be sighted at our place in Yungaburra. Living on the edge of the village with the wetland nearby and the Curtain Figtree National Park not far away gives us the chance to have many visitors. Some like this bird may not be seen again. A Rose-crowned Fruit Dove was seen two days before Christmas last year. On the second of August 2007 I was lucky enough to see a brown coloured Golden Bowerbird fly out from under a fruiting mandarin tree, land in another tree but then it disappeared. A Satin Bowerbird visited after the cyclone in 2006 and stayed around with some Spotted Catbirds to eat our citrus! At least they eat the whole of the fruit unlike the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.

Some of the unusual birds on our list:-
Red Goshawk. First spotted this pair over our house. they stayed around the village for a month and a half.
Pelican.
Black Swan. The wetland is a bit small for these two species.

There are not too many more that I would expect to show up but it is strange that the Australian Wood Ducks have always sat on the opposite shore on the rare occasions they have visited. Might just have to go around and herd them across next time. When the water is low I expectantly scan for waders as this is the group most liekly to add to my total.

I have twice seen birds I have seen well enough to identify if I knew them already. One was a long tailed small grey and white bird flying over with a swooping flight of a couple of wingbeats and then a glide. The other I feel may have been a northern hemisphere warbler.

Scarlet Stunner

2008-09-14T20:12:00.008+10:00

Scarlet Stunner

This male Scarlet Honeyeater, Myzomela erythrocephala, was feeding in the yard a couple of weeks ago. The Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea johnsonii, flowers are now finished but the scarlet honeyeaters are still here, feeding on callistemons.

Leafwing Butterfly

2008-09-12T14:08:00.004+10:00

The Australian Leafwing, Doleschallia bisaltide, has some interesting habits as a larva and as an adult. The eggs are often laid on the flower buds of a native herb, Pseuderanthenum variabile. The young yellow to tan Caterpillar will eat one or two buds before starting on the leaves. During peak breeding season multiple eggs can be found on the one inflorescence. During the heat of the day the larvae hide under leaves. They come out in the late afternoon to start feeding. The larvae are capable of fairly rapid movement and will eat more than one plant before pupating. I have not recorded cannibalism or read of it in this species but it would not surprise me as the number of young larvae will drop dramatically when there is an over abundance. They leave their food plant before pupating in a sheltered spot about a metre off the ground, suspended head down by the cremaster.

As adults they often fly low to the ground but can be seen flying up into trees where they will hang onto a twig below a leaf, mimicking a dead leaf with their wings closed. They will more often land on the ground. When disturbed they have a strong flight but usually do not fly far before again adopting a camouflage position. The colours and patterns of the underwing are highly variable. The females have slightly more rounded wings than the males. The hindwing extends into a short tail which can resemble the leaf stem when the butterfly is at rest.

This individual has overwintered here. I can be sure that it is the same one because of the slightly deformed wings easily visible below.

Spring Song in the Lemon Tree

2008-09-10T10:14:00.005+10:00

If anthropomorphism disgusts you turn away now!

Dramatis personae:- Two Silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis

Hey beautiful can I have a word in your ear?

Who told you that!

I don't listen to such scurrilous gossip.

Give me a kiss then.

Behave yourself!

How do you like being pecked on the neck?

Actually I prefer under the chin. Aah, that's better!

Signs of Spring

2008-09-09T11:39:00.012+10:00

The Colours of Spring

"Signs of Spring" and you start with autumn leaves? Well no. We have winter, spring, summer and periodic deciduous trees here in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia. This is Damson Plum, Terminalia sericocarpa, which is usually spring deciduous but some trees lost their leaves in winter this year, going a rich plum colour with the first frosts. The edible fruit is high in vitamin C and very tart.

One of the early spring flowering legumes is Northern Bloodvine, Austrosteenisia stipularis, a large vine endemic to the rainforests of north-east Queensland. They are able to produce spectacular shows and anyone crossing Winfield Bridge outside of Malanda is recommended to watch out for it over the next two months. This plant is just coming into flower on the bridge over Petersons Creek, Yungaburra. The flowers on this individual are about mid range with some being more purple and darker while others are a light pink. The closely related A. blackii has deep red flowers. Both vines will flower when they are partly deciduous which helps to show off their flowers. A. blackii is a very large vine up to 350mm in diameter. Two of this size can be seen at Lake Barrine after the twin Kauris. Walk to where the track divides and then another twenty metres. The vines grow between the two tracks and tie a most wonderful knot.

Cassia brewsteri comes in a variety of colours and forms but this medium sized tree with the green and red flowers is one of the best. Later in the season a beautiful small golden flowered form will flower in the median strip, Cedar Street in Yungaburra.

A number of hatchling spiders have blown in on the wind. This is a young Golden Orb, Nephila pilipes, which by the time she is fully grown will be about as large as my hand. Her abdomen will go grey, the rest of her black except for her wonderful golden knees.

We have had a bit of rain of late and that has started the frogs moving. I heard a Green Tree-frog last night but could not find it. This little Eastern Dwarf Tree-frog, Litoria fallax, was sitting on one of my dwarf bonsai plants.

Other hints of spring have been a little thunder with the rain yesterday and reports of Channel-billed Cuckoos and Koels returning. I have not seen or heard them yet but two lots of friends have reported them. With this warmer damp weather the snakes will be starting to move so please take care when travelling on the roads or in long grass.

Stinging Trees

2008-09-07T16:10:00.007+10:00

The Stinging Tree, Dendrocnide moroides

To some overseas visitors Australia is a place of friendly people but a most unfriendly nature. We have the most poisonous land snake, the most dangerous spiders and the most painful plant. The worst of the stinging trees is not actually a tree but a bush. Of the six species in Australia there are two trees and four shrubs. While closely related to the stinging nettles, the shrubs are much worse and the worst of these is Dendrocnide moroides.

The leaves are heart shaped with teeth on the edges, a quilted appearance and a covering of fine hairs. While they can grow to seven metres it is unusual for them to exceed three. All parts of the plant carry the stinging hairs.

The leaves of the Gympie-gympie (Stinging Tree, Dendrocnide moroides) are covered in silica hairs which are like straws of glass. By brushing against the leaves the hairs penetrate the skin. Each is capable of inflicting a nasty sting like a wasp to those unlucky or silly enough to rub shoulders or any other part of their anatomy with this gem of the rainforest. The tubular hairs contain a nasty chemical which excites the nerves and causes pain for two days. Although the pain is intense the agent is not causing any damage to your body; it just feels like it is killing you! The effect is to stimulate the nerves causing a painful sensation. After this there are secondary effects which have lasted for me up to 4.5 months and can vary from person to person. None however are pleasant. They include burning sensations and electric shocks.

I discovered from one of my learned guests that this secondary reaction is a syndrome called, 'reflex sympathetic dystrophy'. Presumably this is caused by nerve damage cause by the chemical in the hairs. It seems that the pain is not reflex nor sympathetic and is not related to dystrophy. And I thought wildlife taxonomists were crazy! If you want to read more about the definitions you might like to go to http://jnnp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/71/3/291

It is not necessary to actually touch the bush to suffer its impact. Just working near the plants for some time or slashing them with a machine can be enough for the hairs to irritate the membranes of the nose and eyes. After effects vary from person to person and on the area stung but I have had them last for four months. When the area became cold I would get a little electric shock. Others suffer a burning sensation when the area is rubbed.

These plants do not lie in wait to jump out at unsuspecting bush walkers but they do often grow along tracks. For stinging trees to grow, they need good light but protection from wind. Beside roads, tracks and where trees have fallen are the best places to find and avoid stinging trees.

Prevention is always the best medicine. Find out what they look like, stay on the track and don’t touch. If one is stung, the removal of the hairs by hair removal wax or some other method will reduce the pain. Distraction by focusing on something else is often the best pain control. A severe sting will cause the release of lymph and the swelling of the gland in groin or armpit. In the case of unbearable pain or the injury of infants seek medical supervision. Do not try the bush remedies you may have heard of as the best is of negligible use and the worst, dangerous.

Below is the Mulberry -leaved or Shiny-leaved Stinging Tree, Dendrocnide photinophylla. This tree can grow as an emergent of 45 metres but by the time it is more than 5 metres tall it rarely produces stinging cells. Have a look at the hooks rather than hairs of this species. They only sting like a wasp for five to twenty minutes. The good news is there are no secondary effects. You may have noticed the holes in the leaves. These are caused by beetles. The White Nymph butterfly, Mynes geoffroyi guerini, lays its eggs in clusters on both the above species. The brownish coloured larvae are gregarious. Green Ringtail Possums, Pseudochirops archeri, also eats both of these plants. They are particularly fond of the Shiny-leaved Stinging Tree which they will eat through most of the year except the early dry season when the trees lose most of their leaves. After a prolonged dry spell the Gympie-gympie is one of the first plants to respond to a good rainfall. At this time it is possible to disturb a Green Ringtail feeding low during the day on these shrubs.

Wildlife On the Rocks, Granite Gorge

2008-09-01T07:10:00.012+10:00

Granite Gorge is located outside the north Queensland town of Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands. It is best known for its Mareeba Rock Wallabies which have become habituated on the hand outs they receive from tourists. This male was spotted sitting under the rock shown below. Can you see him in the second picture?

The gorge consists of huge granite boulders smoothed by millennia of water but on this excursion the Tablelands Frog Club spent its time mostly on the slopes surrounding the gorge looking for lizards.

Still cannot see the wallaby? Here is a closer view.

Under the rocks was where we were looking but the first thing I found was a case moth. It felt firm enough for something to be in the case but not as firm as to be a healthy pupa. On investigation this proved to be correct. Look at some the maggots which came out of the pupal case which was inside the structure of leaf pieces and silk built by the larva.

Not only do the animals which live on these rocks hide under them but they are camouflaged as well. This is a Zigzag Velvet Gecko, Oedura rhombifer.

And here he is in profile. Zigzag Velvet Gecko, Oedura rhombifer

This little fellow may be Nactus cheverti, but herps are not my long suit.

Skinks are often diurnal but there are nocturnal and crepuscular species as well. Carlia mundivensis (below) is a crepuscular species. That is it is most active at dawn and dusk.

Carlia schmeltzii turned up under a piece of old iron.

Tommy Roundhead Dragon and Two-lined Dragons are very similar, both have two lines along their backs and another on their flanks and both occur here. The fold on the throat gives this one away as Diporiphora australis, the Tommy Roundhead.

Back to insects now and this wonderful grasshopper is well camouflaged for its rock home.

Preying mantids are well known for their disguise but these two were on the same branch. It is likely that they emerged, some weeks before, from the ootheca or egg case shown in the second picture. You will be able to tell from the comments below that I originally posted these as stick insects. Thanks to the reader who pointed out my mistake. Mantids are carnivores with large well spaced eyes while phasmids (stick and leaf insects) are herbivores with tiny jaws and eyes close together on the front of the head. Mantids produce these oothecae with many eggs surrounded by a hard and a foamy casing. Phasmids on the other hand just pop out their eggs in a random manner. Some will emerge immediately and others will take some time; up to two years I have read.

Golden Bowerbirds build bachelor pads

2008-08-21T16:41:00.011+10:00

Golden Bowerbirds build bachelor pads

The smallest of the bowerbirds is the Golden Bowerbird of north Queensland. Despite its size it builds the largest bower. Usually the bower consists of two towers joined by a bridge but in some places they build a second one on each side. The central bridge is decorated with lichens and fruit. In some instances it is decorated with flowers. I once saw a bower with seven flowers of a rare orchid. The friend with me at the time was an orchid fancier rather than a birder and was most distressed at the orchid's loss of reproductive potential due to the amorous intents of the bowerbird.

This bower is not a nest but a bachelor pad. It is the Ferrari sports car or Armani jacket of the bird world. It shows how fit the male is. Like athlete's attractiveness it is not his promise as a provider of goods but of good genes which makes him attractive. He will take no part in the nest building or raising of the young.

Before any of you males out there think that this is the life style, take a moment to reflect on the stress of the situation. He must start displaying now even though the females will not be interested in mating until December. He must maintain the bower throughout that period; building it with more sticks as they decay, keep it decorated, prevent other males from stealing his goodies and chase the young pretenders away if they get too uppity. The level of activity from the juvenile males which will trigger aggression from the 'old man' depends on his personality and varies greatly from bird to bird. Some males will allow uncoloured males to build substantial but undecorated bowers close to his while others will not tolerate a young male within 10 metres of the bower.

He must keep himself looking good as well and be on hand if females are checking out the local talent. To aid with feeding during this time birds will cache food. If you look at the tree below you will see a hole where a branch has broken off some time ago. This is the cache spot of this bird.

Despite this bower being on a road reserve, its presence is under threat of a logging operation to occur on the neighbouring private property. All these pictures were taken this afternoon.

Lake Sunset and Sweet Flowers

2008-08-20T18:06:00.003+10:00

Liz, the lovely lady who runs Lake Eacham Tourist Park www.lakeeachamtouristpark.com sent me these beautiful pictures so I thought I would share them with you. The one above is of Mount Bartle Frere which at 1622 metres is our highest mountain around here. No that is not snow in the foreground even though it feels like winter has returned. These are the flowers of sugar cane.

Below is Liz's swimming pool. Actually as it is a national park she has to share it with the rest of us. Lake Eacham is a beautiful spot for a swim, walk or picnic. the bird watching there is pretty good too and with figs and quandongs coming into fruit it is just going to get better in the next month. Look out for Double-eyed Fig-Parrots near the toilets and above the chelid (turtle) viewing area. Bowerbirds and large pigeons will start feeding on the quandongs in the top picnic area soon. They are already feeding on the Polyscius elegans, Celerywood, in that area.

Lake Eacham is a volcanic crater filled with about 65 metres of rainwater. While it is not quite the classic maar, that is the best name for this type of volcano which produced little extruded matter. To the south of the lake the soils are mostly derived from the Hodgkenson formation metamorphics which underlie much of the Tablelands. Elsewhere the soils are derived from lava and volcanic scoria.

Phytophagus Phasmid's Phytotaxis and Predator

2008-08-17T13:48:00.015+10:00

"Phytophagus Phasmid's Phytotaxis," not really but it sounded good. I was looking in the dictionary for 'phsiognomy' to check out words derived from it for the title of this blog. These two words jumped out at me and demanded use. A phytophagus animal is leaf eating. Phytotaxis refers to the arrangement of leaves. As this and many phasmids have leaf like structures on their legs, I do not think it is stretching things too far to use the newest word in my vocabulary. Back to 'physiognomy;' the face of a phasmid or stick insect does give a bit away about its character. At least it lets us know that it is phytophagus. Phasmids lack the strong jaws and large widely spaced eyes of carnivorous mantids. All phasmids are phytophagus so it is a bit of a tautology.

The Spiny Leaf Insect, Extatosoma tiaratum, has flown around the world but not on its own wings. This insect from north Queensland is available in pet shops in Europe and North America. This large female has tiny wings and cannot fly. When not feeding she hangs vertically or upside down with her tail bent over like a scorpion's. I have observed this girl eat leaves of a fig, a lilly-pilly and an elaeocarpus. The male is slimmer with short fore wings and long hind wings. He will fly in search of a mate but she does not move very far at all. The eggs are shot out all over the place in a random fashion. Some may hatch within weeks but others may take two years.

Pacific Bazas, also known as Crested Hawks, love phasmids. Along with treefrogs they form the main part of the Bazas' diet. Young birds have broader bands on their breast and the most beautiful ochre under wings. Mating displays include swoops, rolls, twig exchange and talon grasping. When they lock talons the top bird glides down with the lower one hanging below with wings folded. The twig exchange takes place when one bird uses greater speed to come up under the other which is carrying the twig and seize it when upside down. Sometimes the top bird will not let go and I have seen both birds tumble towards the ground. When taking larger prey Bazas will sometime launch themselves into the foliage, grab the prey item and fall through the leaves till they come to a clear space where they spread their wings and fly to a perch to feed.

You can see the crest in this picture.

Tree-Kangaroo Update

2008-08-12T17:42:00.013+10:00

This Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo was photographed by Petersen Creek in Yungaburra at about 9.30 am. She is licking the inside of her pouch and appeared to swallow something which would indicate she has a pouch young. The young will not defecate or urinate until the mother licks its cloaca. This means that carers of orphaned marsupials must do the same. (Well at least a reasonable facsimile.) They will wipe the young with a warm damp cloth to stimulate voiding.

The Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroos of the western end of Curtain Figtree National Park are spending muck of the evenings feeding low to the ground. This has led to our disturbing Joan on one occasion and Jill twice in the last two weeks. Still, they recovered from their frights and have been relaxed when we saw them later. I hope Jill is not too angry with me as one the 11th she was almost on the ground. I took my guests quietly past her but then could not resist checking her out from a bit further away. As she climbed the huge Milky Pine, Alstonia scholaris, she made the woofing alarm call. This is something which not many people have heard and I had never heard it from her, despite almost standing on her one night.

Jill is still sharing her territory with Joan despite Joan now being three and a half years old. Joan has shown no signs of having pouch young yet. Jill's young from last year, Peta, was not with her the two times I saw her in the first week of August. It would not mean anything that during the disturbing incident of the 11th Peta was not seen. One of my guests did believe that there was another animal on the ground behind the tree. We will just have to wait and see but perhaps Peta has left home.

Pexie sitting in Turbina corymbosa, a vine from central America. She ate this while we watched.

Dorothy when she was much younger.

Photo by Jun Matsui who is soon to release his photo book on the wildlife of north Queensland, text in Japanese
As a joey she was almost black and white but has become more typical as she aged. Her arms used to be dark up to the elbow and her legs to the hips. Since maturing her back has become more tan and the shoulders darker. Her face now has the light forehead of an adult.

Dorothy is still spending most of her time across the highway which I remain disappointed about. I am happy that she is not often crossing the road.

Birds In and Around the Village in August

2008-08-12T16:43:00.006+10:00

Buff-banded Rails are a common sight along quiet back roads of the Atherton Tablelands. This photo shows a bird ready for breeding but most are not this colourful yet.
White-headed Pigeons are fruit eaters. While they will take it fresh from the tree they are also happy to eat from the ground. After Cyclone Larry in March 2006 many of our birds left the district because of the lack of fruit. Numbers are now returning to normal and it is not unusual to see them feeding on the footpaths and road verges in Yungaburra or Malanda. Their nests are typical of their tribe being so thin one can see the egg through the bottom of the nest. However they are better than most pigeons at hiding their nest in dense vegetation. They lay a single large white egg.
Black Ducks live on most of the waterways here. this one was photographed under the new swinging bridge across Petersen Creek in Yungaburra.
Barred Cuckoo-shrikes eat mostly fruit. This one was in a fig tree in Short Street. Also in the same tree was this male Figbird with its face already coloured up for breeding. The face skin becomes dull out of the breeding season but then turns this lovely crimson as they get sexy. The females face is grey for most of the year but when she is getting ready for breeding it goes a beautiful mauve.

Revenge of the Maksed Lapwing

2008-08-12T15:48:00.006+10:00

Masked Lapwings on the market ground in Yungaburra. On the bird below you can see the spur on the wing.

Masked Lapwings occupy any large piece of open ground. Also know as spur-winged plovers, these are noisy birds. They take insect and other invertebrates from in the grass. Normally quite shy of people they will follow mowers as they are disturbing insects for the Lapwings' dinner.

When nesting on the open ground or when with young, they defend their progeny with vigour. Our northern subspecies has these large facial wattles but small spurs. The black on the head extends down the back of the neck of southern birds and around the bend of the wing. Those southern birds are much more apt to actually strike their invader.

When I was teaching down south a pair nested in an unused corner of our school grounds. The children were warned to stay away. During a morning tea break one of my year six students was seen heading in the direction of the nest. I opened the staff room window to yell at him but thinking about the energy needed to project my voice through the cold spring wind and over eighty children and sixty metres, I closed the window and sat down. He continued on his way as I watched.

First one bird swooped on him and then the second joined in. They attacked from different directions. While one had the boy's attention the other clipped him from behind. The spurting of blood was obvious from my chair.

Grabbing a pad and a bandage I directed a colleague to call the boy's mother and if I was to wave vigorously then an ambulance as well.

Mum took the contrite and bandaged brigand off to hospital.

Just before the end of classes for the day I observed the mother on the school steps going towards the office. I remember thinking that I had misjudged that family as I had not expected thanks or an apology. When I entered the principals office in response to his summons I was ready to graciously receive her thanks.

"I will. You can't stop me. I'm going to sue him," she was almost shouting.

Normally slow to anger, this triggered a different response in me, "You'll what! You silly woman? And for what?" After pointing out that there was such a thing a malicious suit and that I would have the full support of the union and my employer I found the cause of her grief.

The pad I had used was just that, a sanitary napkin. At the hospital the nurses had laughed to see one put to such good but alternative use. I had brought her son into derision; made him a 'laughing stock.'

I turned on my heel and walked out. We never heard from the woman again!

Wetlands and Waterfalls

2008-08-12T10:14:00.019+10:00

The Atherton Tablelands is lucky to have some wonderful wetlands. They are under threat however from sedimentation, draining and the excess use of water, mostly for irrigation. Hasties Swamp used to dry out every second decade or so but now it is almost a yearly event.
Wetlands are tricky things to manage and the removal of stock is not always the best thing. Exotic grasses and other weeds can overgrow the edges making them unsuitable for small birds and fences can lead to the death of wildlife.

Plumed Whistling Ducks and Magpie Geese roost at Hasties Swamp which is located just south of Atherton. As the dry season progresses more birds will move in from the ephemeral ponds in which they breed. In the bottom right of the lower picture is a Jacana. Sometimes known as the "Jesus Bird," they have long toes which enable them to spread their weight over many

floating plants and appear to walk on water.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Millaa Millaa Waterfall is one of the most symmetrical falls and thus is very aesthetically pleasing. At the base of the falls is a plunge pool but it is always too cold for me to swim. In the little stream are a number of fish species including Eel-tailed Catfish. There is a leucistic (tending to white but not albino) fish here which often hides under the overhanging gingers.

There are many small farm dams on the Tablelands which contain a variety of wildlife. Always ask permission first before entering paddocks. This is as much for your own protection as being good manners.

Platypus abound in the streams and dams but the best places to see them are in Yungaburra along Petersen Creek and at Tarzalli Lakes Fish Farm. They have a farm tour on which they guarantee you will see Platypus; you can't get better than that! They also have some wonderful smoked goods and fresh produce. Try some of the herb combinations which Dave uses on the fish and chicken.
Chelid turtles withdraw their necks to the side when threatened. Australia has many species and these are the Saw-shelled Chelid, Elseya latisternum.

Six-winged dragonflies? Not really, it is the shadow cast on the rocks. The Blue dragonfly is probably a Blue Skimmer, Orthetrum caledonicum, but it has no yellow on the sides of the thorax. The red one is the aptly named Scarlet Percher, Diplacodes heamatodes. Where you have water and insects there will be swallows. The Welcome Swallow is a migrant is Southern Australia but we have birds all year round. they build their nests out of mud, plant fibres and feathers.

Adventures of a Brown Tree-Snake

2008-08-01T16:42:00.012+10:00

Adventures of a Brown Tree-Snake, Boiga irregularis This beautiful Brown Tree-Snake, Boiga irregularis, was found in our ceiling space as we were doing some renovations. I moved him to the garden as the access to the ceiling was being greatly reduced.

His presence upset the local birds. Honeyeaters were particularly active and vociferous in letting their feelings about the intruder be known.

Feeling unloved the snake moved off but still the cries continued. This Lewins Honeyeater was telling him just what he thought of sharing the garden with such an egg, frog and small bird eater. A Brown Honeyeater came along as well as two Dusky Honeyeaters and two Lewins.

Look at this pattern and tell me that snakes aren't beautiful!

Petersen Creek Walk, Yungaburra

2008-07-27T07:19:00.021+10:00

In clear winter sunshine we went for an afternoon walk along Petersen Creek in Yungaburra. The path here is maintained by a group of volunteers from the village.

Rainbow Bee-eaters flock to our area in large numbers during the winter. As they fly out from their perches in pursuit of bees and wasps their wings flash bronze or orange depending on the light.

One distant view of a Platypus was all we got but at that time of day more than we expected.

This is a great spot for Platypus which are often seen in the early morning or late afternoon.

Did you know that Platypus have electro-sensors in their bills to detect the nerves firing the muscles of their prey. this enables them to hunt in total darkness.

Despite it being the middle of winter there is plenty of new growth in trees and shrubs along the creek. The Grey Bollywoods, Noelitsia dealbata, produce pendant flushes of white new leaves which age to pink and then bronze before standing out into their normal position and turning darker greens as they age.

Laughing Kookaburras do sit in gum trees but don't eat gum nuts as one of my guests recently sang to me in their version of the children's song. They eat snakes, lizards and large insects. These birds are resident in Yungaburra but in winter are sometimes joined by the more colourful Blue-winged Kookaburras. As well as the more extensive and brighter blue, they have blue rumps. The males also have blue tails while those of the females are orange and black.

Not so many butterflies are flying at the moment but there are some hanging around waiting for warmer weather. These larvae are of the Orchard Swallowtail and Ulysses Butterflies.

Return of the Cranes and Bustards

2008-06-24T19:16:00.007+10:00

Today along Forsayth Road I came across five Bustards strutting their stuff across a fallow paddock.

Winter on the Atherton Tablelands bring us birds which spend other parts of the year elsewhere. The more distant of these two males Bustards is the older bird. While we often have the odd Bustard on the inner Tablelands, it is now that their numbers increase and one might see a dozen in a paddock. The males can inflate their throat pouch when displaying. Bustards fly with slow deliberate wing beats.

The Sarus Cranes were feeding next door. These stately birds breed in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria wetlands but many winter, or rather spend the dry season, here. Australia's other crane, the Brolga, has only a small red patch on the back of the head. As you can see the Sarus Cranes have an extensive red area. Their legs are pink in contrast to the grey of the Brolga.

Sarus Cranes dance to build and maintain their pair bonds. Pirouettes, bows and high hops are accompanied by high pitched calls. As the season progresses they become more intense in this and will often throw high above their heads the grass or sticks they have in their bills. This second year bird has not yet developed the full red on the head and neck nor the pink legs. It is not stopped by this in practising a few dance steps.

Cuckoos love Caterpillars

2008-06-23T14:59:00.019+10:00

On Sunday 22/06/08 Maria and I were birding with Birds Australia North Queensland Group at Eubenangee Swamp near Innisfail. Apart from birds we saw a couple of big crocs.

In the trees along the creek we observed the catterpillars of the Four O'clock Moth, Dysphania fenstra, on Carallia, Carallia brachiata . Also known as Corky Bark the fruits of this tree are eaten by many birds. This bright yellow and black larva develops into a very attractive moth which flies in the afternoon, hence its name.

A female Little Bronze Cuckoo, Chrysococcyx malayanus, with some of the features of the subspecies russatus, was feeding in the bushes accompanied by a juvenile. On finding this large larva it set to work for some time before freeing the tenacious caterpillar.

Success at last!

Testing Testing

2008-06-09T15:24:00.003+10:00

Here I am testing the waters of this technology which is new to me. Actually this is a Coppery Brushtail Possum, Trichosorus vulpecula johnstonii. These are the most common of the possums seen on my nocturnal tours. They eat a wide range of leaves, fruit, flowers, bark and even the odd insect and bird’s egg.