Best Photograph 2020

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus lumholtzi, Atherton Tableland.

We all know 2020 has been a terrible year and I have noticed that I have posted much fewer articles this year than most. This is a result of me not having traveled so much this year, none internationally. But in November the state borders opened in Australia and I was able to go on a field trip to Cape York, stopping for a few days on the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland. And that was where I spotted this lovely animal high up in the rainforest branches.

These are not the sharpest of shots, but not bad for a hand held long lens in dull light. It is the back-lighting on the fur and leaves that I like, and the pose. The kangaroo could not have held a better pose for me. And I like the detail of the mosses and ferns on the branches, a true wild shot of an animal in its natural habitat.

Although, as it sat there looking down at me, completely at ease in the branches, I was reminded of a similar scene from the movie Predator. I only saw this one kangaroo, I must have missed more. Real life is better than fiction.

Tawny Frogmouths are busy

Many of the tawny frogmouth chicks I have been studying this year have fledged in the past two weeks, like these two above, flanked by their parents. The family were sitting in a tree about 30 m from their nest tree. All were sitting quietly in the partial shade. Mum adopted a defensive hiding pose, adopting a posture to resemble a broken branch. Dad sat quietly, he had seen me often before and probably recognised me as no threat. The chicks were curious.

The chicks, like so many frogmouth fledglings, were so curious of the observer that they never adopted a defensive pose. They stared down at me as if determining what I was, and whether I was a threat to them. They were probably trusting in their parents for guidance. But they simply sat quiet and didn't give any soft alarm calls. Did the chicks feel safe because their dad wasn't alrmed?

Dad maybe looked calm, but I am sure he was ready to react were I to make any wrong move towards them.

There are numerous frogmouth pairs that did not seem to breed earlier, in september, as usual. But I have seen several new nests and birds on eggs in the past week, at the same time as most are fledging. This might be because there was limited food over winter and not all birds were in condition to breed in spring. Now though, with most pairs rearing two chicks, and some pairs rearing three, and it has been a wet spring, it looks like there is abundant food. I found this frog below one nest, and if this is an example of the prey available, that is a substantial meal for a frogmouth chick.

And I found this centipede below another nest. The kinks in the animal's body indicate where a frogmouth had grabbed it. I wonder what they taste like?

Blind Snake killed by Tawny Frogmouth

I found this dead Blackish Blind Snake Anilios nigriscens yesterday below a Tawny Frogmouth nest. It was lying directly below the birds' nest where there were two well-grown chicks, days form fledging. The snake was in amongst the scattering of droppings from the chicks, and there were two distinct pinches in the body, indicating where a frogmouth had gripped the snake when thrashing it against a branch to kill it prior to delivering it to the chicks. There were broken scales on the head indicating this, see image below. 

The nest was on the branch of a Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora. The adult male bird on the nest can be seen here against the sky. Less easily seen is the female two branches below.

Blind snakes are only nearly-blind. They hunt by following invertebrates such as ants and termites in burrows and have evolved scales over their tiny eyes, seen here as faint black spots 3-4 scales back from the snout. They seldom venture above ground except after rain, and 27 mm of rain fell in Canberra in the 48 hours previous to this find. Its burrow had probably been flooded. On one of these wet evenings, I watched another frogmouth hunting small invertebrates on the edge of a road. It sat on a sign post or branch and watched for prey to move. There were obviously plenty, as the bird only sat on a perch for a less than a minute at a time before pouncing down and carrying off some small animal to its young back at their nest. This snake, at 44 mm long, would have been an easy find and capture. 

Blind Snakes are almost defenseless against such attacks. They have very small mouths and cannot bite like an elapid snake. They can twist and turn, and release foul-smelling odour, but neither of these strategies would protect it against a frogmouth. I do wonder though, why was it lying below the nest. This is the largest snake recorded to have been killed by a Tawny  Frogmouth, twice the size of the previous record. Was it too large for a chick to swallow. Or had it been dropped between adult and chick by accident. I believe the latter scenario, as such a large snake must have been difficult for the birds to maneuver between mouths, especially inexperienced young mouths. 

Canberra Spider Orchids

Arachnorchis actensis

The orchids in and around Canberra are flowering really well this year after high rainfall in autumn, winter and spring. In the past week I have seen several species in flower, the more common ones in thousands on Black Mountain. Even some of the local specialties have been out in high numbers. And I have seen several groups of the local endemic Canberra Spider Orchid, with a total of over thirty flower spikes. By far the most I have ever seen.

A little group of Wax-lipped Orchids Glossodia major.

The detail of a Nodding Greenhood Pterostylis nutans.

At only about 10 cm tall and with two slim leaves, this Canberra Spider Orchid is easily overlooked in the shadowed leaf litter.

A burst of sunshine helps define the flower.

And the intricate detail of the flower head. A very rare flower. A treasure.

 First Shingleback of the Spring

The weather picked up a bit last week. It was bit warmer, there was blossom on all the fruit trees and many birds are well into breeding mode. And there hasn't been a frost for a while. All enough to encourage the reptiles to come out from their snug winter quarters under logs, rocks and sheds. Enough for this shingleback to take a wander through the woodlands.

I always stop to chat to these lovely lizards when I meet one. They are so harmless, quiet and sort of trusting that we won't hurt them, as they are too slow to escape. I just hope that more people do the same and don't bother them by picking them up and stressing them. Take a good look at them, get to know them, share the bush with them. 

I particularly like how the scales around their eyes fit together so well. The dust highlights this one's features and it's eye is intensely focused on the camera lens -  a big eye from its perspective.

It is obvious how they gained their name, shingleback, the scales along their back fit together like shingles on a roof, and they are just as efficient at casting water. But that dust does tend to get into all the cracks.

 Spring Frogmouths

After a long slow winter, people-wise, due to obvious reasons, spring is now well on the way here in Canberra and fieldwork is in full swing. There was good rainfall in autumn and winter, and the plants have turned the landscape green. The Tawny Frogmouths Podargus strigoides however have of course stayed in their neutral grey colouring. Like this pair sitting in the sunshine, one above the other. 

The male was highest, sitting between grey branches with his head tilted up to the sun.

The female has more red on her collar, the females usually have more red (tawny) in their plumage than the males. In this spot, the red and grey fits well with the red and grey of the tree bark. Do the birds know this, the colour of the background and their plumage, and select roosting sites to suit?

Meanwhile, at another territory, the birds already have eggs and the male was sitting as they do during the day. They share incubation at night when they have to hunt for themselves.

A closer view of the male on the nest, showing trust in his camouflage and 'dead branch' pose for protection.

Autumn Frogmouths

It's now late autumn in Canberra and the Tawny Frogmouths are settling into their winter roosts. Each pair seems to have a favourite perch where they will spend most of the winter days, although they will occassionally move to other perches nearby. They like to use dead branches on the northern side of a live tree where they can bask in the sunshine. And they settle close to the trunk, where they blend in well with the background tree structure.

The female is usually perched behind the male, closest to the trunk. He is larger than her, and females in most animal populations are the more important sex as they lay the eggs. This female is peeking over her partner's shoulder. He might appear to be asleep in the sunshine, but he will be watching me through almost closed eyelids.

Even from a more favourable aspect to see them against the sky, they are still well concealed. They match the form of the dead branch as well as the colours.

This is how they were when I found them, basking with heads tilted back, to catch maximum warmth from the sun. And that was how I left them.

Epicormic growth

Epicormic growth is the sprouting of leaves from branches and the main stems of trees.

After a year of dry heat, fire and smoke in the south east of Australia the trees are coming back to life. Here in the heart of Canberra, on Black Mountain right next to the city centre, the re-growth is now spectacular in the wetter autumn months. The main tree species are Scribbly Gum Eucalytus haemastoma and Red Stringy bark E. machrorhynca.

The shoots are mostly a rich crimson colour when they first emerge, then they grow into the more expected lush green.

The first re-growth tends to come out around the thin brances in the crown of the trees and the trunks are relatively bare, reminiscent of a Gustav Klimt painting.

Or perhaps 'Blue Poles' by Jackson Pollock, which hangs a few kilometres away, across the lake in the National Gallery of Australia.

It won't take long for these trees to recover from the drought, but for now most of the life is in the canopy, so always remember to look up when out for a walk. Sometimes, that is where it is all happening.

Frogmouth seeking protection?

This Tawny Frogmouth flew into the garden yesterday, to escape from a group of Pied Currawongs and Magpies that were chasing it.

I was tidying up the back garden when I heard a commotion from the front drive. I looked up and a frogmouth came flying over the gate, zoomed past me at waist height and landed on the shed roof a few metres away. In hot pursuit were several currawongs and magpies, all scolding and swooping in full alarm. They had obviously mistaken the frogmouth for an owl, which they resemble but are not related to, and which they would consider to be a potential predator.

I immediately shooed away the currawongs and magpies. While the frogmouth watched them, and me, but he was more afraid of the birds than of me. Once the attackers had all retreated to their various patches in neighbouring gardens, the frogmouth relaxed and flitted into a tree overhanging the shed.

I believe that he had deliberately flown to be near me as he knew the other birds would be less likely to attack him when close to me. I have witnessed this behaviour before. Once with a Red Grouse that dived into heather a few metres in front of me on a hillside in the Scotish Highlands. A Golden Eagle came swooping over my head seconds later and hung on the air above me looking for the grouse. The second ocassion was when a Rock Ptarmigan dived into rocks a few metres from me, on another hill in the HIghlands, as a Peregrine dived then pulled out at the last second. Both birds stayed motionless while the raptors were above, and would not move when I approached them. Both held themselves hugged cloe to the ground, deep in cover. All three birds seemed to have used me as cover, perhaps in judgment of me being the lesser of the risks of predation. They probably all knew that an eagle or peregrine on their tail could very likely be a cause of their death, or in the case of the frogmouth, an angry mob could also have killed him.

I refer to the frogmouth as 'he' because I could readily recognise it as such by his size and colouring, the females are smaller with more rufous in their plumage. He was probably a young bird from last year's breeding season. Autumn is when the young birds leave their natal territory and family groups, to go in search of a territory of their own, and a partner, ready for next year's breeding season.

A difficult time in their lives for young birds of all species.

Wedge-tailed Eagles and Red Fox

When out for an essential covid-19-era exercise walk yesterday I had a wonderful birding experience.

I heard a couple of ravens giving alarm calls which I recognised to be their call for eagle. I looked up but could not see anything, then from really high in the sky I saw a dot growing larger. It grew and grew and all the time I knew what it was, so just watched. Then a second bird materialised and both were diving, seemingly towards me. They dropped their feet and pulled their wings back. Then wham, the first bird, the adult male, struck at something in the long grass, 106m downhill from me. I measured the distance afterwards. He missed and a Red Fox jumped away, but before it could correct its balance the second bird, the female, slammed into it, or rather, as I identified later, a dead rabbit that the fox had been standing over. I never pulled my camera out during the dive and strike, so the first shots are as above, showing the eagle mantling over the rabbit as the fox stands beside it. These are not good photographs, all I could grab with a small lens fitted.

The male came back around and landed beside the female for a while, and the fox ran to cover below a sapling. All this time the ravens and magpies were giving the eagles a hard time.

The male flew up into the lower branches of nearby trees, and the female lifted the rabbit into the shade of a tree to begin eating it. The fox watched for a few minutes then slipped away.

The female dined on the rabbit for about 40 minutes. The male kept watch from the branches all that time, although he never came down to share the meal.

Meanwhile, their juvenile from last year's breeding season came over, calling, begging for a share of the food.

The youngster landed in a nearby tree, and kept giving occassional begging calls. Eventually, the female stopped eating and lifted the rabbit onto a stump.

Then she flew over and dropped the rabbit below the youngster, before landing in the same tree as it was perched in. The juvenile kept calling, as if asking the parent to deliver the food directly. That was not happening, so it dropped to the ground and ate the rest of the rabbit itself.

As can be seen by the wires in this shot, this all happend on the edge of suburbia in Canberra, where Wedge-talied Eagles are common.

She watched over the young bird while it ate. Perched on a roadside post.

When all was over, the two birds slipped out of the trees and headed away with an escort of ravens. I don't know where the adult male had gone meantime.

All that was left at the scene were a few fluffs of rabbit (right) and eagle (left) down.

And a covert feather from the eagle's wing.