Category: wildlife

Since the Cissus vines have started fruiting, an ever increasing raiding party of Topknot Pigeons is feeding an the grapes.

They come in quickly, feed for a few minutes, then fly off into nearby trees to rest and digest before coming back about half an hour later for another feed. Today we saw about 20 pigeons. They are very large and conspicuous, flying noisily between roosting and feeding trees. As they are quite wary, I didn’t get close enough for a really good photograph.

 

Another topknot down the road:

Two mature male Victoria’s Riflebirds have started displaying a few weeks ago, after finishing their moult.

Ready

 

A 2.3m Carpet Python patiently, but unsuccessfully, looked for a King Parrot meal.

Every summer a few of these fruiting bodies of the Bridal Veil Fungus mushroom .

They look beautiful and delicate, but smell of rotting meat (to attract flies).

This species is very quick: I discovered this in the morning,

And here is the beginning of tomorrows mushroom:

 

Every summer a few Noisy Pittas migrate to our forest from the lowlands to breed here (and possibly eat many leeches).

This juvenile was foraging, when it was chased away by an adult bird.

The adult Pitta then settled down in a sunny spot to sunbathe for a few minutes. The Pittas here are very shy, so I didn’t try to get closer for a decent photograph. What is interesting is the bright blue band on the rump. It is not easily visible when a Pitta flies past, and the bird books I consulted show the band much narrower and nearer the tip of the tail.

Cassowary Dad made a surprise visit, accompanied by one 10 month-old juvenile.

It might be a female, as she is quite large already, with very robust legs and big feet.

Today, a few days later, Dad and Wattle showed up here together, already very comfortable with each other.

More little cassowaries in the making soon…

A rare two-headed cassowary

After an early wet start in December (cyclone Jasper’s aftermath brought us more than 550mm of rain) and then 2 dry weeks, the monsoon is on its way.

The frogs had their first outing:

swarming termites attracted a Boyd’s Forest Dragon:

Lots of beetles are out and about:

A number of Christmas Beetles also came to our moth light.

And many moths:

The moth sheet was the best it has been for a long time. Maybe the mild winter helped?

It was also a big season for the Red Roarer cicadas -they had an unexpected (i.e. not in sync with their supposedly 7 year cycle)

bumper population. Thankfully it didn’t last very long, 5 weeks of their ‘singing’ at about 85 decibels is quite enough for us.

Another big and noisy cicada is the Double Drummer (Thopha saccata). It was interesting to watch one hatching:

This winter we spent a few weeks in southern Western Australia to indulge in the feast of wildflowers, and we were, of course,  also looking for birds, Southern Right Whales, Honey Possums and Numbats.

WA has over 13,000 plant species, including about 400 species of orchids in the south.

Here is a very small selection to give you an idea of the immense variety.

We can highly recommend to spend at least a couple of weeks in the south-west.

The best months for wildflowers are September and October.