Garden quenda

A Quenda, Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus 

I am over in Perth, Western Australia for ten days helping Simon Cherriman monitor, ring and tag wedge-tailed eagles, more of that in a later post, for now here are a few images of the local wildlife, starting with a sample from the garden.

Simon sets off down the front drive to hang some nest boxes for black cockatoos around a local school

The house sits in a large rural residential block with a mix of local and introduced flora. And Simon has put several nest-boxes up for various parrot species, owls and ducks, as most of the trees are too young to have natural holes large enough for these large birds.

Morning light on a corner of the garden

The mix of water in the dams, boxes to nest in and grass to eat make the garden a great breeding area for Australian Wood Ducks Chenonetta jubata.

Gum trees reflected on the lower dam

A pair of Australian Wood Ducks with their brood of three well-grown ducklings

There are numerous nectar-bearing shrubs such as bottlebrushes Callistemon spp and these are full of honeyeaters feeding from the flowers.

A New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae

There are four species of honeyeater in the garden, all fighting and chasing one another for the nectar: Red Wattlebirds Anthochaera carunculata are top of the hierarchy as they are the largest, then there are the Western Wattlebirds A. lunulata, the New Holland Honeyeaters and finally the Western Spinebills Acanthorhynchus superciliosus 

A Western Wattlebird feeding on a bottlebrush bush

My morning started with a great view of a Quenda exploring the front porch.These are charming little marsupials, and a small population live in the garden, foraging in the leaf litter mostly at night and sleeping in nests under the litter during the middle of the day.

An adult male quenda on the front doormat

When I went out for a walk around the garden in the early morning, a young quenda came right by me and began foraging in the mulch for invertebrates.

They burrow their snouts right under the litter, sniffing and probing for food

The youngster was quite unafraid of me as I squatted down and watched it going about its business.

But I had to be quick with the camera as the little quenda could move quickly when it decided to. It was good to see a native animal thriving in a garden setting. The conditions are good for them; they have food and shelter, and it is a cat-free zone, so the population is probably exporting animals out to the surrounding native bushland. What a terrific wildlife garden.

 

Sundews and orchids

Pale Sundew Drosera peltata

 It is well into spring now in Canberra and I have been running around trying to keep up with the wildlife as the breeding and season flies on. So, I have not had time to upload many posts, there is just so much to do, see and record. As there has been so much rain, the wild flowers are all blooming well. One species that is normally quiet reluctant to flower and tends to grow on moist banks or in gullies is the Pale Sundew, and I have never seen it flower so well as this season. There are large stands of it in places and all the plants in the groups are flowering.

Insects trapped by the sticky tips  on the specialised sundew leaves - adapted to digest nutrients from the insects bodies 

The tiny petals on the flowers do not seem to last long, and flies were the main pollinators this day. Their individual flowers were insignificant to our eyes, but on-mass they were unusually spectacular, dotting the greenery on the floor of the forest.

The sundews growing on this bank shone like fireworks in the backlight

The backlight also picked out the dramatic drooping flowers of the Nodding Greenhood orchids growing nearby. This orchid is listed as rare/threatened in the Canberra area, but on this shady bank there are scores of plants. Perhaps the species would thrive better if it grew as more individuals or smaller groups. I know of a few other colonies, but not many.

Nodding Greenhood Pterostylis nutans

And while I was photographing these spectacular plants, a pair of Tawny Frogmouths were looking down on me . The male from the nest and the female from her daytime roost. Well, it was while I was checking on the progress of this pair that I found the flowers.

The male frogmouth on the nest during the daytime

Frogmouths are so difficult to find, that one has to look really carefully and pay attention to everything in the forest. Some clues to the birds' presence, such as their droppings, lie on the ground. So my eyes are up, down, all over the place, checking everything for signs. If you are looking for frogmouths, you are likely to see everything else.

The female frogmouth in her roost

   

Heads or Tails

Not the head, but the tail of a Shingleback

The local reptiles are beginning to show as Spring moves on and the days warm up. There have been rustles in the garden when the little skinks scurried for cover as I passed and I saw my first Shingleback Tiliqua rugosa in the bush a few days ago. These are a species of blue-tongue skink, one of the larger types of lizards in south-east Australia, and as they are slow moving and terrestrial, they need a few tricks for defence from predators.

A Shingleback out in the open, seen from above - a raptor's eye view. Which is the head end?

Their main adaptation for protection from predators is deception by camouflage. They are a simple long brown, grey shape that mimics a stick or small broken branch lying on ground. This probablly hides them from aerial predators such as, in our area, Little and Wedge-tailed Eagles. Then if a predator ventures closer, it might be tricked into attacking the tail rather than the head end of the Shingleback because the tail mimics the form of the head. The skink's next strategy when touched is to turn itself around into a tight U-shape, open its mouth wide open, and thrust out its large blue tongue - a shock or startle defence. Blue is such an unusual colour in animals, that it probably has a particularly high startle effect. However, this startle is mostly bluff as the Shingleback has little else to defend itself. They are mostly vegetarian, with a fondness for soft flowers, so they do not have large or sharp teeth or claws.

When seen from ground level, the eyes make the head more obvious

I would like to see their defence in action against a predator, although at the same time would rather not as I like shinglebacks and would not like to see one hurt. They are such quiet non-aggressive animals. Perhaps the evidence of me seeing them quite frequently when out in the bush is enough to prove their defence's efficiency.

Shinglebacks are quiet and easily overlooked, but their slow lifestyle makes them easy prey for their main predators,
which these days are the introduced fox and domestic cat 

See the previous posts on shinglebacks listed on the right for more information on them, including a shot of that blue tongue.

Bathing in the creek

Thigh-deep water is just the perfect depth for birds to bathe in and have a good splash around.

The wet Spring in Canberra continues, and the number of birds visiting the garden pond for a drink or bath has dropped dramatically. Few birds are using it, mostly the local residents such as the Red Wattlebird, Superb Fairy-wrens and the Crested Pigeons. When it is hot and dry, birds from all around seem to drop in, but the ground in the nearby nature reserve, at the top of our street, is saturated with puddles lying all over the place. The dams are full and the water courses are all running and bubbling. So there is no need for the bush birds to go elsewhere to seek water.

The rosellas could immerse their bellies with a gentle dip, their tail lies softly on the surface and they can jump straight into the air and fly off if any predator approaches while they are otherwise potentially vulnerable. Consider this when you set up a bird bath in your garden. Provide gradual edges, not steep edges for birds with different leg-lengths.

I heard these two Crimson Rosellas splashing when I was out walking through the woods the other day. The creek line they were in is usually a dry ditch for most of the year. This Spring it has been full of water every day. It wasn't the perfect picture opportunity, with branches obscuring the view - which was a probable reason why the birds were using that spot. However, as they were happy to bathe a few metres from me I grabbed a few shots.

Overhanging or nearby branches are valuable assets as they provide cover from predators
 and safe perches for the birds before and after entering the water. 

The rosellas were so confiding in me that they flew up onto a perch to dry their feathers while I stood watching. Although they did keep watching me too, just in case I was a predator.

The water ran off the birds backs, like snow-melt running off a well waxed snowboard. 

The waterproofing on the birds' feathers is provided by the preen gland (uropygial gland) which is below the feathers at the base of the tail, just about at the bottom the bird's back in the image above. Birds collect oil from the gland with their bills and spread it over all their feathers when they preen. Not all species of birds have this gland, some rely on powder down for a similar purpose, but more on that in a later post. For now, just look at how well the oil system works as the water runs off the tip of this rosella's tail.

   
Meanwhile the rain is hammering down again...........

Black Morels

Australian Black Morel Morchella australiana 

This wet Spring has not only been good for flowers, but also for early fungi and yesterday I found a stand of these morels, a classic Spring mushroom. If I have identified these correctly, they are of a recently identified species and apparently an Australian endemic morel, probably the only one. However, I am not a mycology expert, for more information read this article which describes the naming of what looks like the species I found. The species was only named in 2010.

The distinctive black ridges on the caps above stipes that were turning brown

I did not pick any of these, although I know the taste value of morels, because it was a new species to me, and I always err on the side of caution when eating fungi. Now that I have looked them up, perhaps I should have. Although, as some were already turning past their best freshness, I think I'll just wait for next year's crop.

I like to eat wild mushrooms, and I like to photograph their colours and shapes too 

Black Morels are found in south-east Australia; Victoria, New South wales, and apparently the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Although I cannot find any records of the species in the ACT, which puts me in a dilemma. Is it a rare species which I should submit a record for, or do I follow the fungiphile code and keep the location of my find secret. No, I'm a scientist first, I'll do the right thing and submit the record. And for the record, the morels were growing in a scattered group over an area the size of a tennis court. The fruits were in clusters of twos and threes, and the habitat was Yellow Box - Red Gum Grassy Woodland, within several kilometres of the Canberra city centre. Because of their proximity to the city, I do wonder if they have are accidentally introduced specimens of the European Black Morel. Any comments welcome from anyone who knows more on these fungi.

Remember - never eat any fungus that you do not know to be absolutely safe to eat.

Spring Flora

False Sarsaparilla Hardenbergia violacea 

It has been a wet Spring in Canberra this year, following a wet winter, so there is lots of growth sprouting in the bush. All the plants need now is a bit of sunshine and warmth to bring out the flowers. Although the fruit has blossomed well, I fear that there have been too few insects out and about to pollinate them. I'll know in a week or so, and the local wild flowers might be having the same problem.

Alpine Grevillea Grevillea australis

Nature is full of surprises though and when I was out for a walk through the forest on Black Mountain the other day I was amazed at how many flowers were out in bloom. Purple tufts of False Sarsaparilla were creeping over the ground and up through shrubs, the local native grevillea, the Alpine Grevillea, was showing as well as such a shy flower can show, and the moist air was rich with the scent of wattle - several species were in flower. While all around there were tiny single-flowered orchid stems. Their subtle tones hidden, then shown, by shadows and speckles of light dropping through the leafy canopy.

Box-leaf Wattle Acacia boxifolia

The main insects I saw were Painted Lady and Cabbage White butterflies. Although of course to our human eyes, those would have been the obvious ones. I did see some flies dotting about and several caterpillars on leaves. A few were stretching and folding themselves across the paths after a rain shower. I hope there were more.

Dusky Fingers Caladenia fuscata - white form - about 10 cm tall
(Highly sensitive, very rare/threatened)

Yet, once again, despite all the abundant purples, reds and yellows, filling the woodland with a coloured haze, it was the teeny inconspicuous orchids that stole the show. Why are we attracted to orchids so much? Well, for me, it is the way such small, highly specialised plants can grow in such nutrient-poor soils. They were literally shooting straight out from the leaf and bark litter on the forest floor, with nothing but a poor stony soil beneath.

Dusky Fingers Caladenia fuscata - pink form

These finger orchids are so short that we have to get down on our hands and knees, or lower to see the detail of their flower forms. Yet, they are probably holding their flowers at a perfect height to catch the attention of passing flies or whatever insect they rely on for pollination. For, as witnessed, most flies that I did see were hovering and wandering through the forest at just such a height as they passed through the low shrub layer. There was probably another set of insects flying through the canopy, where the next layer of greenery grew.

Blue Fingers Cyanicula caerulea 
(Highly sensitive, very rare/threatened)

It's good to take a ground level look at the world now and then. To see it as others do.

First frogmouths now on eggs

A few pairs of Tawny Frogmouths are now incubating their first eggs of the year. The earliest eggs in Canberra were probably laid over last weekend, about the 27th August. This is a little early, the earliest I have seen birds on eggs has been the 12th August several years ago. Most will probably lay in early-mid September which is not much different from the usual dates. Some birds began building their nests over a month ago, possibly in response to the high rainfall in the area during the past few months over winter. However, after a warm spell, there has been some colder weather and this might have halted any early developments. This bird is unusually easy to see as his tail breaks the outline of the branches. Their tails usually lie along the nest branch. (It is the male that incubates during the day, while both sexes take turns at night).

When seen along the nest branch, a predator's view, the bird is less noticeable. Its grey plumage blends well with the colour of the tree's branches.

This nest is quite large and substantially raised up above the branch. This causes the bird's tail to lie high above the branch and hence, reveal the bird's presence.

Meanwhile, the females roost by day, relying on their camouflage for concealment from potential predators. Spots and flecks blend with spots and flecks.

Thick Bush and Clear Roads

An adult male Flame Robin Petroica phoenicia

Winter is almost over in Canberra and the first of the Spring migrants are moving in, as I have seen on a few recent August days up in the nearby Brindabella Ranges, in the Namadgi National Park. The White-eared Honeyeaters were the most vocal with their chopping calls, there were a few Flame and Scarlet Robins, back from their winter quarters in the lowland paddocks and woodland, but most of the birds had yet to return. 

The forest was rather quiet overall. At this time of year the characteristic sound is that of singing lyrebirds. These birds reside there all year and lay their eggs in mid-winter when snow is on the ground. Their incubation takes several weeks and the single chicks take several more weeks to fledge. So, perhaps they need to lay early to give the young time to grow over their first year. 

A small part of the heavily forested Brindabella range

I first counted lyrebirds in the area in 2001 and 2002, before the catastrophic bush fire which burnt out most of their habitat in January 2003 - over a hundred thousand hectares. As I had those counts, I have been counting them in the years post-fire to measure how their numbers have compared over the years since.

They came back slowly from single birds singing along transect lines, to similar numbers as pre-fire after several years. Now however, their numbers are dropping and on one transect there have been no birds for two years. The reason? One might be because the fire destroyed so many trees and most of the ground cover including the leaf litter, that the regrowth has come up thickly with grasses, shrubs, ferns, and saplings all competing for space. That has created a dense mass of vegetation at ground level. Lyrebirds need leaf and bark litter to forage in for invertebrates, their main food, and leaf litter needs space to collect on open ground.

A Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae forages on an open part of forest floor

It  is good to see the forest recovering, but it will take many more years for the full structure of the mature forest to re-establish. The lyrebirds will survive, and once the saplings grow tall and shade out the lower plants, the ground cover will open up and leaf litter will build up, then the lyrebirds will have more foraging habitat. 

Thick regrowth smothers the forest floor - no room for leaf litter to collect and lyrebirds to forage

The open ground is also an important habitat feature for other birds such as the robins. The Flame and Scarlet Robins both hunt by perching on a low branch, then swooping down to catch invertebrates they see on open ground. As there is now so little of that under the close ground covering vegetation, they are largely restricted to hunt in what open spaces there are. The main ones being those along the forest roads.

The artificial open ground of a forest road - but leaf litter only collects along the edges 

There were robins hunting along most of the roads, which made bird-watching of them easy. I wondered how many there were hunting in the thick vegetation. However, the bush where I tried to walk in for a look was impenetrable, wandering off the track was not an option. There are some open spaces, and there will be lyrebirds and other ground-foraging birds there. And there will be more in future as the forest grows into shape.

A male Scarlet Robin Petroica boodang hunts from a perch above the forest road

The open roads are also good for insects as they allow sunshine to reach the ground. It is cold up in the ranges and insects benefit from the extra sunshine through the gaps. What amazed me was how the robins were mostly catching small insects that I could not even see. Butterflies were easier to spot as they spend much time basking in the sun. Such as the Australian Painted Lady butterflies that were out sunning themselves last week.

An Australian Painted Lady Vanessa kershawi basks in the sun on a forest road
 (note the specific blue centres to three ocelli on the hindwings)

The Australian Painted Lady is a migrant butterfly and these were probably some of the first to arrive in the area. Soon the forest will be busy, and noisy once the large numbers of migrant birds return. 

Flame Robins are rather smart-looking birds

Varied Sittellas

A Varied Sittella Daphoenositta chrysoptera walks down a branch

I have been out doing the rounds of the Tawny Frogmouths over the past week, and will be doing so for the next few months as the breeding season runs on from now. Although it is still winter in Canberra, the birds are beginning to nest and the frogmouths are in pairs beside their prospective nest sites. Some have even began to build, adding a few sprigs to forks in the branches.

Meanwhile, many of the passerines are still in mixed winter flocks, flitting through the woodland canopy. And while I was out, I was passed by a flock of Varied Sittellas as they worked their way through a wood. There were twelve of them in the party, it took me several attempts to count them as they shifted position so often and quickly.

Although their colouring blends well with that of the dead limbs they climb on,
their quick jerking movements and constant twittering betray their presence.

Sittellas fill a similar niche as European nuthatches, searching for invertebrates in dead wood, mostly by climbing down the branches rather than up like treecreepers. They are also known as barkpeckers, which is very apt, as they chip away at the dead bark, opening up cracks with their seemingly delicate, but obviously strong little bills. The bottom mandible is curved, allowing them to probe deep into holes.

They are comfortable in all postures

Sittellas are cooperative breeders, the whole group helps to build one nest and feed the chicks when they hatch, but that will be a few weeks yet. For now, they will work together as a team, searching for food in the dead branches. This is one of those species that would be lost if all the standing dead timber were felled. Tidying up dead wood is not good for nature.

They even perch on top of branches like other birds

One bird which likely has eggs now is the Wedge-tailed Eagle, and a single male bird glided over the canopy while I was with the Sittellas. A sign that his partner was probably on the nest incubating eggs.

A Wedge-tailed Eagle slipped overhead

The sittellas were noisy, constantly chittering as they had to be to keep in contact with one another. The eagle was silent as it soared alone. And the frogmouths sat quietly in the winter sunshine, patiently waiting for Spring.

Meanwhile, the Tawny Frogmouths sat quietly in their sunny winter roost