Category: wildlife

Driving only 10 minutes west from our property in tall eucalypt forest takes you into a completely different habitat: open woodland, which is much more open, the trees are smaller (and, of course, different species) and the undergrowth is sparse, as it is much drier here.

There were many mistletoes in flower, attracting different species of honeyeaters, like this Yellow-faced Honeyeater.

Also rich in nectar are Grevilleas

and Melaleucas (Paperbarks)

One of my favourite flowers was in bloom, too: a Fringed Lily

Insects were still numerous, making the best of the sunny and warm autumn days.

These sawfly larvae are not caterpillars, but a type of primitive wasp. They were crossing the road, huddled together in the shape of a leaf. They frequently stopped, and started moving again as soon as the frontrunners started tapping their “tails’:

We are still busy,  moving to our new property south of Atherton, but here is a first impression of our birdlife there.  Erica and Mike, keen birders from the US, stayed with us in December, and took this footage:

It was very dry then, but since the beginning of the year, we’ve had more than 600mm of long-awaited rain. It brought out many frogs, including these Orange-thighed Treefrogs (Litoria xanthomera):

one male calling:

and it didn’t take long at all:

success!