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.