Pardalote Holt: #gold coast wildlife

Showing posts with label #gold coast wildlife. Show all posts

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Summer rains and the rainforest creeps closer

For those of you who don't live in Australia we have had a wet summer. La Nina has been active and according to the news we've had the soggiest summer in 4-years. Figures have been bandied about but our little corner of SE Queensland has been very damp with some dam filling downpours and steady rain throughout. The effect on the Holt is very visible with green stuff shooting up all over. Unfortunately this has included the invasive weeds and I've been forced to put the backpack on a conduct some spraying. I dislike using poison for a variety of reasons but removing some weeds by hand just isn't feasible due to the need to get the entire root system.

Singapore Daisy

Singapore Daisy is an attractive ground cover and popular with insects but it causes rashes on the dogs skin and will quickly take over if you don't deal with it.

Mother of Millions

Mother of Millions is well named, a fleshy plant that spreads like wildfire and needs to be removed as soon as it appears.

Mistflower

Another attractive groundcover which produces small flowers. It loves the banks of creeks and spreads quickly but care must be taken or the poisons can leech into the water.

On a far more positive note the lush foliage has attracted some of the rainforest birds down from the mountain and Whipbirds have been calling throughout the season. We've also had visits from a pair of Little Shrike-Thrush which is a first for the Holt.

Little Shrike-Thrush

The Little Shrike-Thrush is a busy mid-sized insectivore that hops around in the mid-foliage searching for grubs. It's difficult to capture due to its frenetic activity, but the Whipbird is even harder.

Eastern Whipbird

Whipbirds prefer the lower ground cover and will often search for food under fallen fern fronds and logs. They are a challenge to photograph and I can't say that I've ever managed a decent shot of one.

With the heat and humidity other critters have been abundant.

Golden Orb Spider

Golden orb Spiders have been spinning their massive webs across the forest, trapping flying insects. This is a female with the far smaller (and out of focus) male sitting carefully distant above it. Their webs can stretch for 10m or more and are surprisingly strong and sticky.

Green Tree Snake

Venomous snakes are legendary in Oz but this is the harmless and very beautiful green tree snake. They are about as thick as your thumb and about a metre in length when grown. This one spent a good time slowly meandering around the tree ferns. They have no fangs nor venom and are quite inquisitive so if you don't spook them they'll stop and have a look at you. They feed on frogs, lizards and small mammals.

Palemouth

The dams attract a host of Dragonflies but this Palemouth prefers the mid canopy and shrubs. It's a small dragonfly coming in at around 16mm in length, but a pretty insect with its ochre stripes. Below are a few of the dragonflies more commonly seen skimming the waters of the dam and enjoying the lilies.

Blue Skimmer

Yellow and Black Flutterer

Australian Tiger munching a bug

Almost done!

Mating Billabong Damselflies

And here are the hosting lilies!

Water Snowflakes

Marshwort

Away from the dams the treetops have been noisy at nights as the Koalas have been growling out their mating calls. For a relatively small furry creature they can make surprisingly deep bellowing cries that can carry for a considerable distance.

A mid-morning doze after all the singing.

The wet has also brought out the frogs, in numbers!

Graceful Treefrog climbing the window

Meanwhile back at the ranch our turkeys have settled in nicely and Mildred (pictured) has recently gone broody and is sitting on a clutch of eggs.

Mildred

and onto the birds....

Regulars

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Bush Turkey

Cicadabird

Common Bronzewing

Dollarbird

Double-barred Finch

Eastern Spinebill

Forest Kingfisher

Galah

King Parrot

Laughing Kookaburra

Little Corella

Noisy Friarbird

Noisy Miner

Olive-backed Oriole

Pacific Black Duck

Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Rainbow Lorikeet

Sacred Kingfisher

Sacred Kingfishers

Scarlet Honeyeater

Spangled Drongo

Striated Pardalote

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Eastern Yellow Robin

Golden Whistler

Grey Shrike-Thrush

Leaden Flycatcher

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

Willie Wagtail

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Crested Pigeon

Eastern Boobook

Eastern Whipbird

Figbird

Little Friarbird

Little Shrike-thrush

Little Wattlebird
Magpie Lark

Masked Plover

Pacific Baza
Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater

Rufous Whistler

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

and that's all for now folks!

Monday, November 16, 2020

October brings some rain

October has been fairly quiet for me. I managed to take some leave, which meant an opportunity to catch up on some of the long list of garden jobs and to do a little birding. It's also peak breeding season for our hens as well as some of the native birds. I noticed that a Bush Turkey had built a breeding mound behind the chicken runs. "noticed' suggests I might have missed it, but no, the mound was over a metre tall and 6-8 metres square. Bush Turkeys and chooks often don't get on well as the male turkeys are obsessed with raping the chooks and both sexes steal eggs; however, Bush Turkeys are also very aggressive towards Lace Monitors and Goannas, especially around their mounds, so I watch with interest to see whether we would benefit or otherwise from the mound. Certainly a number of baby Bush Chooks were hatched and there were odd occasions when I had to nip outside to separate a randy Bush Turkey from a distressed chook. We lost a number of eggs, averaging two or three a day, but we have an excess of eggs so that wasn't an issue. The big win was that prior to the mound being built the Lace Monitors had been circling and they will rip into eggs and any chook they can catch sitting on them. Once the mound was complete they vanished and I haven't seen one since (although my neighbour reports in sightings including one individual supposedly the size of a small crocodile). So, I think the experiment has been a success and the Bush Chooks can stay (they are legally protected anyway) with my blessing.

Bertie the Bush Turkey guards his mound

A few months ago we managed to find a girlfriend for Dymple (our Peacock) and 'P-Diddy' has been in the peacock run since Feb/Mar (they need 6-months to settle). I managed to catch Dymple at the end of last month and put him in with her (he's normally free range) and as it was peak breeding season he immediately flourished his tail and set to wooing her. I can announce that only yesterday an egg has appeared and so we wait with bated breath to see if more come and P-Diddy sits on them.

Meanwhile, back on the dam its nice to see that we still have turtles. We don't see them often but this Saw-shelled Turtle came out on the banks for a short bask as the days started warming.

Saw-shelled Turtle

Regulars

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Thornbill

A pair of Brown Thornbills

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill in the grevilleas

Bush Turkey

Cicadabird
Common Bronzewing

Dollarbird

Double-barred Finch

Eastern Spinebill

Forest Kingfisher

Galah

Intermediate Egret

Still feasting on the Rainbows

King Parrot

Laughing Kookaburra

Little Corella

Noisy Friarbird

Noisy Miner

Olive-backed Oriole

Olive-backed Oriole in the Silky Oak

Pacific Black Duck

Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck
Rainbow Lorikeet

Scarlet Honeyeater

Striated Pardalote

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Eastern Yellow Robin

Golden Whistler

Grey Shrike-Thrush

Spangled Drongo

Willie Wagtail

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Crested Pigeon

Eastern Boobook

Figbird

Male Figbird with Native Tobacco buds

Female Figbird

Leaden Flycatcher

Little Friarbird

Little Wattlebird
Magpie Lark

Magpie Lark

Masked Plover

Pacific Baza
Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater

Rufous Whistler

White-headed Pigeon

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Australian Ibis

Black Cormorant
Glossy Black Cockatoo

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Monday, October 19, 2020

September, glorious September

Peak birding time and at last pressure at work begins to ease.

I commented early in the year on the absence of Silvereyes, well they still haven't arrived but nature 'abhors a vacuum' and we've noted that the bushes have been busy with Brown and Buff-rumped Thornbills. These tiny little birds (about 9-10 cms long and weighing in at a heft 7-grammes) have been flitting around in the Grevilleas in pursuit of bugs seemingly unconcerned by the chase games being played by the Honeyeaters (Brown, Scarlet and White-throated) who prefer the nectar provided by the flowers. Indeed, the Brown Thornbills are far more interested in inspecting the dead flowers where the juicy bugs are lurking.

Brown Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Meanwhile, back on the gradually evaporating dam my Rainbows (fish) are being culled by an Intermediate Egret who seems to have set up home.

Hunting from the long grass at the waters edge

Success, a fat, juice Rainbow fish.

It's a good job that the Rainbows are such prolific breeders.

Talking about Rainbows, the Rainbow Lorikeetts have been performing their usual acrobatics on the Bottlebrush tree which has flowered well this year.

I'm unsure as to why feeding upside down is so popular

but it's all the rage on the Bottlebrush

The fish are the only thing breeding as its Joey season... I've been very please to see we appear to be getting up to half a dozen Wallabies on the dam wall most morning and at least two of which are carrying joeys. This one looks as if its about time he got out on his own two legs, but perhaps he's the stroppy teenager type.