Perth Hills Flora - GALLERY 3

Pink Enamel Orchid Elythranthera emarginata

The petals really loook like they are glazed - and this one a bit chipped

Scented Sun Orchid Thelymitra macrophylla

These were growing on metre-tall stems

They open in the sun, hence only a few were fully open in the dappled woodland light

Blue Lady Orchid Thelymitra crinita

There were blooms about every 10 m as far as I could see

Purple Flag Patersonia occidentalis

Not an orchid, but just as colourful

Black Eyed Susan Tetratheca hirsuta

These flowers are typical of the species, hanging down rather than facing up into the light

Gompholobiuim shuttleworthii

One of two pink members of the Pea family, Fabaceae, in the Perth Hills

White Banjine Pimelea ciliata 

Like many of the common shrubs, these flowers are worth stopping to look at closely

Hibbertia pachyrrhiza

A low ground creeping species, hiding in the undergrowth  

Hairy Yellow Pea Gompholobium tomentosum

A yellow shrubby member of the Pea family

Bristly Cottonhead Conostylis setosa

Only a few centimetres high but it catches the eye

Bristly Yellow Featherflower Verticordia acerosa

The pollinated flowers turn red, emphasising the yellow of the fresh flowers

Beaufortia macrostemon

A member of the Myrtle family with no common name

The whole bush was aflame

Perth Hills Flora - GALLERY 2

Red and Green Kangaroo Paw Anigozanthos manglesii

These are a symbol of the Western Australian flora - here in setting sun

Many-flowered Fringe Lily Thysanotus multiflorus

A small individual plant growing afresh after a forest fire

Climbing Fringe Lily Thysanotus scaber

This one is trailing along the ground as there were no shrubs nearby to climb over after a forest fire

Milkmaids Burchardia multiflora

Flowers and forming seed-pods

False Blind Grass Agrostocrinum hirsutum

Easily mistaken for one of the blue orchids

Billy Buttons Craspedia variabilis

A simple composite flower

Everlasting Daisy Hyalosperma cotula

These are about to open into bloom, they grow low in scattered groups, carpeting open clearings 

Yellow-eyed Flame Pea Chorizema dicksonii

Over forty species of the Pea family, Fabaceae, grow in the Perth Hills

Crinkle-leaved Poison Bush Gastrolobium villosum

The poison is monofluoroacetic acid, the main active constituent of 1080 poison  

One-sided Bottlebrush Calothamnus quadrifidus

Last year's fruit and this year's flower

Prickly Hakea Hakea amplexicaulis

New fruit forming

Hakea fruit opened after a forest fire

Wavy-leaved Hakea Hakea undulata

West Australia

I have been back from Western Australia for a week or so now and it has taken a while to catalogue the thousands of photographs I took on the trip. Although I was there to help Simon with his eagle studies (see previous post), it was impossible to not notice the wealth of wild flowers that were in bloom as we walked through the forests and heaths in the Perth Hills. WA is famous for its wild flowers and many were new to me as I live in eastern Australia where many of the flowers differ from those in the west. So, here I have selected and posted a some shots that give an impression of the variety of colour and form of those plants. There is a set of ten pictures in this first gallery and more will follow as I slowly progress through the catalogue. Only the species names and a few notes are given. This not an intense post, I simply want to share their beauty.

Perth Hills Flora - GALLERY 1

Sticky Starflower Calytrix glutinosa

Variegated Featherflower Verticordia huegelii

The flowers turn from white to pink after fertilisation

Blue Leschenaultia Leschenaultia biloba

White Cottonhead Conostylis setosa

Rough Honeymyrtle Melaleuca parviceps

Like bursts of fireworks

Hairy Pimelea Pimelea imbricata

Resurrection Plant Borya sphaerocephala

These plants of dry rocky places spring into life after rain 

Goodenia drumondii 

Are there so many plants in Western Australia that this one cannot be given a common name?

Native Fuchsia Grevillea wilsonii

   Flowerhead detail of Native Fuchsia Grevillea wilsonii showing the uncurling pollen-presenters

    

Wedge-tailed Eagles in the Perth Hills

A nine week old wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax chick on its eyrie

I have been over in Western Australia for the past week helping Simon Cherriman ring/band and satellite-tag wedge-tailed eagle chicks for part of his PhD study on the species'  behavioural ecology. As this is Simon's study, I will only post a few snippets here to give a picture of the birds; how we ring them, their habitat and prey. To read more on Simon's work please visit his website at simoncherriman.blogspot.com.au.

The wedge-tailed eagles' habitat in the Perth Hills is mostly woodland with open patches of heath, so there is considerable cover for potential prey species. This is quite different from the more open landscape of central Australia, or the open hillsides which golden eagles live in in Scotland. There is a chick in an eyrie on the right of the photograph.

Simon measures the bill of a young wedge-tailed eagle.The sex of even young birds can be determined by the size of their bills and feet relative to their age.The females are larger. Bill Brown, who has also been helping Simon, holds the chick firmly but gently. He is well-accustomed to handling eagles as he has studied them in Tasmania.

This chick was about four weeks old. At this age the chicks are still mostly covered with white down, with only the first brown feathers opening from their quills on their wings and tail.

Simon pulls himself up by rope to reach an eagle eyrie. Although this looks easy with modern climbing equipment, Simon also makes it look easy because he is one of the best, probably the best, tree-climber I have seen, whether free-climbing or with technical aid.

The Perth Hills eagle study area is only about 30 km from the city centre of Perth, less from the airport. A Qantas flight passes overhead; there seemed to be a flight like this every few minutes while we were at this nest site.

The eagles appear to select the largest trees in their territory to nest in. Often these are remnants of the once widespread forest which would have been mostly of such grand trees as Jarrah Eucalyptus marginata, Marri E. calophylla and Wandoo E. wandoo. This nest was about 25 m from the ground, similar to most of the nests in the area.

While at the nest sites, we searched around the base of the nest trees and any other perches in neighbouring trees, looking for the remains of prey. At this nest site there were remains of a minimum of two Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, three Kookaburras, one Australian Magpie, one Australian Raven, twelve Shingle-back Lizards and two young Western Grey Kangaroos. These are all woodland species and the eagles possibly catch the lizards after watching from perches in the high trees. We do not know if the birds are be able to see the understorey where the shingle-backs live from high in the sky. However, Simon's study should reveal just how the eagles hunt, as the tags measure the height that the eagles fly at. So for now this is only my supposition.

The four week old chick is here placed in a bag ready to be lifted back into its eyrie. This bird has a standard numbered metal ring on its right leg and a coloured metal ring with a unique number on its left leg which is more easily read in the field or caught on camera.

Simon checks that a larger chick, which has been fitted with a satellite-tag, is alright before he abseiled back down out of the tree and we left the bird to settle down. Satellite-tracking of eagles and other birds is a well-established method for finding out where birds move to, revealing where they hunt and whether they migrate or wander nomadic-ally, and if so where to. The full details of this birds movements will be analysed by Simon as part of his study, but meanwhile a sample of the information he has collected from previously tagged eagles can be read on his website as linked above. And I am sure Simon will post snippets of information on this bird's movements as soon as he can.  

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.