This week at our place...

Talk about drough and flooding rain! It has been really dry this summer at our place in Brisbane West. The last few days it's been raining and today it's been torrential. When it starts to rain, we hear the frogs come out, especially around our pond. I went up the front to check on the resident Crested Pigeons, who roost in the trees above our letter box. The pair were huddled together, looking very forlorn. I always think about the animals out in the rain, while I'm all cosy inside. It must be hard for some animals to hunt and forage in this weather and others would find food more plentiful.

Before the rain came, I heard the Noisy Miners alarm calls outside. I went out to see about a dozen flying about near an Acacia. There were also two Grey Butcherbirds making a ruckus. I spotted a Common Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) trying to protect itself in a rather exposed spot. I've never seen Ringtails at our place (only the Common Brushtails). However I knew they lived in this area, as I've seen one dead on the roadside.

 



When the first rains came, I immediately heard an Ornate Burrowing Frog (Limnodynastes ornatus). It has a deep, nasal 'unkh' and is easily distinguished by the patch behind and between its eyes. I've only seen this species once before, they like to stay well hidden until it rains.

 

I've noticed the lovely Red Triangled Slug (Triboniophorus graeffei) around our garden lately, mostly in areas where the grey water keeps the ground moist. Once the rain came, I spotted this fello moving through the garden. Aren't they amazing looking? These slugs have a noticable breathing hole right inside the red triangle. Look closely at the photo and you'll see it. If I was a bird I'd think twice before eating this slug, the triangle makes it look like a warning against poisen. However this slug (Australia's biggest land slug) is not poisenous. Native slugs only have one pair of tentacles, while introduced slugs have two pairs.

 

 

 Everyday I go over to the sandpit with the children. It's always interesting to see what insects may have climbed in and left tracks. We've even come across the occasional possum tracks in the sand, which is a real thrill. I really liked the pattern this insect made in the sand. It must have felt like it was going round in circles :P

 

 

This past week while driving, I saw a snake on the road. By the time I did a U-turn and stopped, I saw a woman picking the snake up off the road. She saw me there and came over. She was very upset that a gorgeous Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) had been hit and was obviously going to die. My daughter loves snakes. She has a real interest in reptiles at the moment and has been asking me if she can have a pet snake. She was also very sad to see this animal dieing but I think it struck her to see an adult quite upset as well. Snakes are an animal many people would prefer to see dead. As a child I remember seeing people purposely drive their vehicles, so they could kill a snake on the road. A snake in no ones way. I rarely see snakes anymore and wanted to take the opportunity to show my children that I do care about these animals and so I drove back to see if I could help. Then here we were on the side of the road shedding a tear for the death of a beautiful animal and part of our local ecosystem. Then today lo and behold, we spotted a Green Tree Snake out on our pool. We have only ever spotted one snake before at our place, a Whip Snake. So after our episode with the Tree Snake that was hit and killed, it was really lovely to see one in our own backyard. My daughter was thrilled.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 





Haig St Reserve Ipswich

I've been busy this month. We've been away on holiday and it was the Christmas/NY period.

I believe it's very important for children to play in nature. There are many reasons for this (which I will post about another time). Some children (and adults) may think at first, that there is nothing to do out in nature, especially if you go to a reserve or park with no play equipment. Children may not even venture away or may say they are bored. If your children haven't spent time away from toys, play equipment or media, then they may need some encouragment at first. We always love spending time at the local creek. There are fallen logs my children climb on, puddles they splash in, the creek to swim in and trees to climb. Then there are endless objects to pick up and discover. Sometimes my daughter will walk with me and say she is bored or tired. This is when I need to encourage her a bit.

I recently took them bushwalking at Haig St Quarry Reserve in Ipswich. My daughter likes to stop and look at things along the way and doesn't particularly like the idea of just walking. So I often tell her we are going on an adventure and I tell a story as we walk. She loves fairies and so we pick up gum nuts along the way and try and find the one which would be a suitable drinking cup for a fairy. We both think bloodwood gum nuts are the best at Haig Street. We walked the Willy Wagtail circuit which is about 1 km.

At the end of the walk there is a wooden deck which overlooks the reserve and view out to the Toowoomba range. Again we talked about fairies hiding under the decking and waiting for people to leave before they fly about again. We often make fairy coves out of natural items. We collect stones and small twigs and build a little cove at the base of a tree. So sometimes it takes some imagination on my part, to make the trip into nature more appealing.

 

The reserve has the lovely Angophora leiocarpa also known as Rusty Gum. If you didn't know gums, you might think this is a Spotted Gum at first glance. They are quite similar. I have slowly developed an eye for this lovely gum. It's a deeper orange or rusty salmon colour bark which sheds. It also has a finer and lighter green leaf. I think the most obvious thing about the Rusty Gum however is the whole tree structure. The branches have a lovely gnarly look about them. I will take some photos of the whole tree soon but here is an upclose look at its bark. I love this tree.



Termite mounds can be seen in trees at the reserve. There are often hollows made in them from Kingfishers.

We spotted several Sacred Kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus). They make a very distinct call of four repetitive notes.

 At the end of the Willy Wagtail walk there is an outlook toward the Toowoomba Range.

 



 

We saw a Tailed Emperor Butterfly (Polyura pyrrhus) on the fence and enjoyed a good look at it while we had a rest.



There was also plenty of Wall Skinks (Crytoblepharus virgatus) at our rest stop, basking in the sun. They are mostly black with two wide white lines lines along their backs.



Lastly we completed our walk with a cooked breakfast at the end. There is also a playground at the reserve, so the children had a play before we went home. 



Tawny Frogmouth

We have had two Tawny Frogmouths roost around our yard for many years. Sometimes we spot both of them, at other times we can only spot one. They seem to have two favourite roosting sites. One is behind the children's cubby house in a small Narrow Leaved Ironbark. The other spot is the Poinciana Tree just at the back of the house.

Recently we had only seen one Tawny Frogmouth in the usual roosting sites. I was a little worried about the mate, as we didn't spot two for quite some time. Then yesterday my daughter spotted the pair in our Poinciana tree with a baby chick. They were there again today and so I got some photos of them. I guess we had only seen one all this time, as the other was sitting on eggs in the nest elsewhere.

Apparently Tawny Frogmouth pairs take turns sitting on the nest. So while we could only spot one, the other was off at the nest. They breed between Aug and Dec.

 



Each time I've been out today to have a look, the adults keep a close eye on me. The chick was very active also, moving about on the branch and keeping an eye out for me. It's so thrilling to see this pair with a healthy chick. I feel very blessed to have them roosting nearby and to be able to watch this stage in their lives.

Want to know Gum Trees? Part 2

So my first tip to identifying gums was to become familiar with an area. Walk and look at the trees until you can see which ones are similar. Before too long it won't look like a wall of green anymore.

So my next tip is to keep looking and walking and becoming familiar but now pay attention to the bark. The bark is a key identifying tip, especially when it comes to gum trees. I'll talk more about gum trees soon but for now start to notice the bark. I've added some photos below of what types of bark you may come across, particularly in the bush of Brisbane and surrounds. Again I wouldn't worry about taking out your ID book or trying to name any of the trees. I'd just look at the bark.

Smooth Bark

 

 

Iron Bark

 

 

Stringy Bark

 

 

Box Bark

 

 

Bloodwood Bark

 

 

Here I have introduced five bark types. Smooth, Iron, Stringy, Box and Bloodwood. See how each of the bark types are rather unique? Looking at the bark type is a key identifying feature, which can help you narrow down what type of tree you are looking at.

 

Now next time you go for a walk, have a feel of the bark on the trees. Does it come off in strings or flakes? Is it smooth or rough and difficult to pull off? The other thing to look for, is if the bark is rough or smooth over the whole tree or only some of the tree. Perhaps there is rough bark only at the base and it's smooth further up the trunk. The photo below is what a half bark might look like. Rough at the bottom but smooth further up the trunk. So take a few days and look at the bark of trees.

 

 



Half Bark

Bushwalk discoveries

Today on our bushwalk we discovered a few wonderful things.

A Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquantus) feeding chicks in its nest. There were two adults feeding the chicks. It's hard to see in the photo but the bird had a really large spider in its beak. It waited until its mate came and fed the chicks, then it flew off with the spider. I'm guessing it ate the spider itself. I wondered why it decided not to fed it to the chicks? My kids call these two Butcherbirds, Mildred and Rosie. I'm guessing it's more than likely a male and female feeding the chicks but we'll go with Mildred and Rosie anyway.

I also spotted this gorgeous butterfly known as Large Grass Yellow or Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecaba). It was flying quite fast about 1 metre about the ground. I crept up and got a few photos before it flew off again. Reading tells me they are quite common in Brisbane and during all seasons. It was a deep yellow with black markings on the wings. It was small, maybe about a 4cm wing span.

My daughter has a great eye for animals. We really complement each other out in the bush. I'm guessing it must be her height. She can see things I often miss. She spotted this female Golden Orb Spider (Nephila Plumipes). The females are large, often 5xs the size of the male. They build an orb web and the silk is yellow in colour. The females abdomen in the photo is narrow, showing that she is either young and/or hasn't developed any eggs yet. Her abdomen will get really big and round when the eggs have developed. The females are really large, I wouldn't want to walk into a web!!! Golden Orbs are really easy to recognise, they are large with blank and orange legs.

My daughter also spotted this Tent Spider (Cyrtophora moluccensis). Tent Spiders vary in colour, this one had black, white and yellow on its abdomen. They build a tent or dome like web and sit upside down in the middle of it.

The understory has a lot of Barbed Wire Grass (Cymbopogan refractus). This native grass is really easy to identify, its seed heads are similar to a barb wire. It is a clumping grass and has a distinct lemon scent. You can often smell it when it gets disturbed or by picking some leaves. It grows well on nutrient poor and stony soils which it is growing in, in these photos.

 

 

So we enjoyed our walk and saw some interesting things. It was a real treat to watch the Grey Butcherbirds feed their chicks. My daughter watched them intently. Will be nice to see the chicks start to fly.

Want to know Gum Trees? Part 1

At first trying to identify gum trees can be like a huge wall of green. You may look out at a natural area and just see hundreds of trees. Where to start? Sometimes it may be so overwhelming you may not even start. I have a few tips that might help you and over the next few weeks, I hope to introduce you to these little identifying 'tricks' I use.

My first tip is to start small. Pick a location you frequent often. A place where you want to know what lives there. Perhaps your garden, a local park, reserve or creek. I totally recommend your own garden as a starting point as this is so accessible. However your own garden will most likely have introduced plants species, so you need to be aware of this.

So my first tip, is pick a location and visit it. Don't even bring your ID book. Just walk around and look. On my property, I walked everyday for a month and just looked (that's my property in the photo). I focused my attention on the large trees first. Gums will probably be the tallest trees you can see. Once you understand the gums in the area, you will understand what the forest type is (wet or dry Eucalypt etc) and this will help you to identify more plants.

As each day passes you will start to pick out similar trees. I turned this into a game with my daughter. So I would stand beside a tree and she would find the closest one that looked just the same. Then she would stand beside one and I would have to find one just the same. This game would be easier at a local reserve than in your own backyard (if your backyard is small). Though if you have several trees the same, you could still try.

So my first tip is about becoming familiar. Don't worry about  naming any of the trees. Start to expand your senses. Walk a similar track and look, look, look. These leaves are shiny green but these are dull green. This bark is smooth but this bark is really rough. This tree is very tall but this one is much smaller. Look, look, look and ask questions. The trees will become familiar to you and you will broaden your search patterns and be able to point out the ones which are similar.

So go on and try, I'd love to hear about it.

We found our mystery frog

We found our mystery frog tonight and I was right, it's Littoria fallax, commonly known as Dwarf Green Tree Frog. I heard it calling tonight, so my daughter and I went outside with a torch to hunt. We spotted five, yes FIVE Striped Marsh Frogs. The little fello with one eye was calling "toc" very loudly. Then I could hear the "reeeek...pip, pip" even while we were right there, shining torches and cameras into the pond. I couldn't find it and was looking all about the reeds, then my daughter spotted this tiny little frog sitting on the reeds. Here it is, isn't it adorable? Sooo excited to finally catch a glimps.

Littoria fallax is only tiny, 2.5cm long. This little one is all green, however they can be green and fawn or all fawn. The most distinguishing feature I noticed, was the narrow brown stripe from the nostril to the eye. So very pleased we captured some photos of it.

This morning we also spotted this large Green Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea). It was calling earlier this morning, a deep "crawk" and I had a look around and couldn't see it. Then when I pulled the cover off the pool so my daughter could have a swim, she immediately spotted it. It was happy enough for me to take photos and then quickly moved away when we got into the pool.

Easily distinguished due to its size of about 10cm. Doesn't it look rather relaxed and content there on the side of our pool? I really wanted to have a hold and for my daughter to hold it too but I thought we wouldn't disturb it too much. Maybe another day when we spot it again, we'll have a hold.

Lastly I'll add another photo of the Striped Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes peronii). We saw five tonight. We have a wire grate over our pond to keep it safe for the kids. I have worried about whether this would be an obstacle for the frogs but it doesn't seem to be. It is probably providing a safer sanctuary for them and the fish from predators such as Kookaburras.

 

So I am very happy and frog content tonight. Mystery solved! So to my current knowledge my place is home to four frog species and a toad.