Busy Breeding

Steady, soaking delicious rain is refreshing the earth, the plants and all the creatures including us.  There may be some negative aspects to living in the tropics but I wasn’t enjoying the dry crackly feeling of the last few months and I am delighted to feel the earth soft again under my tread.

The house garden is full of activity and there are several nests we have been observing closely.  Two Figbird pairs have constructed their flimsy stick nests in a Calophyllum inophyllum and a Yellow Oriole pair has built a more substantial nest in a neighbouring Syzygium angophoroides.  Not far away a Black Butcherbird pair has built a nest on a tree branch which is beautifully sheltered by a palm frond.

The Orioles have been very busy feeding a couple of youngsters as have the Black Butcherbirds.

As the adult Oriole flew off the nest this morning I looked up and was surprised to see one of the babies was sitting on the edge of the nest while the other fledgling was already flapping and jumping through the little branches of their nesting tree.  The parent bird returned to watch over them and to chase off firstly a Helmeted Friarbird and then another Oriole.

Then I watched while an adult Butcherbird smashed up a beetle on a dead tree stump and fed it’s babies.  We are wondering how long it will be before  the newly fledged Orioles become food for the Butcherbird’s hungry youngsters.

As we have a huge population of Yellow Orioles on the property we are somewhat philosophical about this possibility – it is all about keeping a balance.

 

 

 

Slippery as an…..

More action on the muddy puddle!  I heard a guttural croak and saw a Great Egret in hot pursuit of another that had been lucky/smart enough to capture an eel.  The pursuer gave up the chase quite quickly but the captor of the eel still took quite a few minutes to kill and swallow its prey.  This process mostly seemed to involve a fierce grip on the eel, an occasional shake and a rinse?  in the water.

Finally it managed to swallow.

And then it stood still looking, I thought, a bit uncomfortable…….or is it just too easy to anthropomorphize?

A feeding frenzy

A short sojourn to Brisbane for a family wedding (actually I had great fun as mother of the groom!) but as always we are pleased to be home.   As we drove down our driveway a cloud of white lifted off the front wetland so I was soon heading off with the binoculars to see what was happening.   I think the word has got out that there is a concentrated food source at Wild Wings and Swampy Things ….it is great fun just watching the different species together, their interactions as well as their various manners of feeding.

I had several attempts at capturing Great and Intermediate Egret in the same photo at the same angle for a comparison of head shape and neck length.  My aim is to improve my identification skills so that I don’t necessarily have to rely on a close look at the gape in order to tell the two species apart.

The main perching tree near this particular feeding location is a Leichardt (Nauclea orientalis) which has often featured in this blog.  While it is a popular preening position, as well as the nearest tall tree if there is a disturbance, no species was willing to share a perch with the Whistling Kite which has been making at least one daily visit.

Preening with a friend

So, at the end of a very hazy day, yes the dust has even reached Daintree, I took a few minutes to check on bird activity on the mudflats.  I was hoping that the Lathams? Snipe I had observed late yesterday may have been in view – no luck with that but we have a Jacana back on the waterlilies which is pleasing.

A number of species are taking advantage of the concentrated food source in our rapidly shrinking ponds and many of the birds as well as the ponds are becoming very muddy in the process.  Some of the Royal Spoonbills are so grubby they are really not very photogenic!

This Spoonbill is one of the cleaner members of its group and it seemed content to share a branch with the White-necked Heron while they both had a good clean-up.  Quite a peaceful and relaxing scene to observe.

There was a Little Egret on the opposite branch but it was too far apart from the others to make a good photo.

Movements on the Mudflats

Dry conditions continue with only some very light showers to dampen the dust recently.   This White-necked Heron has been taking advantage of the drying ponds for some time and seems to share space with a Great Egret quite amicably.

The neck markings on the W-N Heron, which are quite striking in its non-breeding plumage, are just visible from this angle.

We rarely see a female Darter on our wetlands and a second male visiting usually creates  considerable angst for our regular male although he is tolerant of Little Pied Cormorant, Egrets, White-faced and White-necked Herons.

This Australasian Darter had just emerged from the water and had given itself a good shake so that its previously saturated feathers appeared almost fluffy.  As it made its way up the post to dry off it used its tail for balance and gripped tightly with its webbed feet.   The outstretched wings provided more balance assistance as well as some ‘lift’ to help it get to the top of the post where it could dry off more thoroughly.

As the dry weather continues any remaining waterholes will become very popular ….. so we’ll wait and watch with anticipation.

Unearthed

The continuing dry weather this year is allowing some much needed work around the wetlands.   Allen has used the blade on the tractor to pull Para grass (Brachiaria mutica) away from the edge of the water.  He then went on to form a better drain into  Graham’s Pond but work is slow as he has to keep a watch out for Macleay’s Water Snakes (Enhydris polylepis)…….yesterday afternoon he unearthed ten of them.  When I walked down with the camera I could only find a couple of very small eels but as I started to walk back a pair of Pacific Baza flew low over my head and landed in some nearby trees.

Even from a distance their profile is unmistakable -  I imagine they had come in to see what delicacies the tractor may have been revealing as did a Whistling Kite later on.  As I moved around trying to get a better angle of the Baza I heard a ‘cooee’ and there was Allen walking towards me holding a little Macleays.  As the poor thing was rather stressed for an immediate portrait I returned to the house with it held lightly in one hand and it gradually started to relax.  I took some photos but it was difficult to get the right angle with camera in one hand and snake in the other.

So the snake went into a clean bucket with a little water, some leaves and a rock to hide under.  This morning Allen took some better photos of a much cleaner snake, in  fact it was glistening in the morning sun!

This is the only species of Enhydris that occurs in Qld and is described as a subaquatic species.  It has dorsally placed valvular nostrils – they are just visible in the last photo.

When finally, and I must admit somewhat reluctantly, I returned this lovely creature to the swamp I put it down on the edge of the shallow water.  It immediately submerged into the muddy bottom layer and was gone from sight.

I have learnt to admire snakes since living here and have handled pythons on numerous occasions when needing to remove them from chook pens or the proximity of orphaned fruit bats in care.  However, this is the first occasion on which I have enjoyed handling a snake and it has been a wonderful experience although there is no doubt that the snake’s small size combined with the knowledge that Macleay’s Water Snakes are not considered dangerous gave me confidence.

Great-billed Heron

My photos do not do justice to this magnificent and somewhat stately bird.  The Lumix has been tested to its limits but I couldn’t resist posting the photos anyway.  Although this is certainly not the  first sighting of Great-billed Heron on our property it’s presence always generates excitement and I am happy to have some photographic record.  I acknowledge there is room for improvement!

Yesterday’s guests saw this Heron in a couple of locations during their morning visit .  In the afternoon I walked to the hide and was surprised to find the GBH in full view on the edge of one of the islands.  I watched it for some time before risking a return to the house for the camera.                                                                                                             Unfortunately the bird moved to the far end of Graham’s pond, where we have recently slashed some Para grass – not really the background I would have chosen.

The weather is starting to warm up and without any recent rain the ponds are drying up quite rapidly which means there are greater areas of shallow water with a concentrated food source so there are quite a few opportunistic birds enjoying some easy meals.

Mt Lewis spectacular day

What a wonderful day was had by all on our day out to Mt Lewis.

Barb and I and her brother Richard and wife Susie headed up to Mt Lewis arriving mid morning.

We were able to see most of the must see birds that are sought on that moist mountain top.

Golden Bowerbird, Toothbilled Bowerbird, Spotted Catbird, Chowchilla, Atherton Srubwren, Yellow Throated Scrubwren, Fern Wren, Grey Headed Robin, Pale Yellow Robin and a host of others.

But we also went to see what orchids may be in flower and while there were not quite as many as we would have liked and we were not able to drive right to the end of the road due to road works we did enjoy what we saw.

Thelychiton adae - Slender Cane Orchid

The Slender Cane Orchid (pictured right) was quite common, but usually seen high up in large trees. This plant was previously known as Dendrobium adae.

As can be seen in the attached photo the plants were often seen growing in colonies on older trees with a host of other epiphytic plants.

Trachyrhizum agrostophyllum - Buttercup Orchid

The Buttercup Orchids were not as common and were in the early stages of flowering.

Once again they were a bit high up in the trees so not so easy to get a good photo of the flower.

This plant was previously known as Dendrobium a.

Dockrillia linguiformis - Thumbnail Orchid

The final post is of a small orchid with a vibrant white flower and a tongue-shaped (hence the species name linguiformis) leaf.

Once again growing high on a tree trunk in a well lit and ventilated spot.

A very easily overlooked plant as the leaves sit flat against the tree trunk. I only spotted it because I saw the flowers sticking out from the trunk.

Sorry that the photos are not crystal clear but we were at full zoom on all of them and white flowers tend to flare a bit.

Soldier’s Crest Orchid – Oberonia titania

Oberonia (OH-bur-row-nee-a) J.Lindley 1830 titania (ty-TAY-nee-a) Endlicher.

This delightful tiny plants Genus was Named after Oberon the King of the Fairies and this particular species was also named after titania the Queen of the fairies. Quite a whit on the part of both Lindley and Endlicher the botanists involved.

Common name: Soldier’s Crest Orchid.

Oberonia titania

The plant seen at right is about 50mm across with the flower spike being about 80mm long. These dimensions give you an inkling of how tiny and “fairy-like” the individual flowers are at about 1mm across.

I have found quite a few of these orchids growing on fruit trees in our tropical fruit orchard. They seem to favour Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna). Perhaps because of the fairly rough bark. I have also found them growing in the Mangrove community on similarly rough barked Bruguiera sp.

The mature plants seem to have reddish tinge to the leaves, particularly those that are growing in direct sunlight.

Oberonia titania flower spike

The orchid family is one that constantly amazes me with its dramatic contrasts. From flowers that are large, flamboyant and colourful to ones that are so small that it is hard to comprehend what minute insect would be visiting the flowers to enable fertilization.

If you enlarge the top photo you can clearly see that there are fully formed seed pods on this particular plant so fertilization has been achieved.

Northern Pencil Orchid – Dockrillia calamiformis

Dockrillia (doc-RILL-ee-a) calamiformis (calam-ee-for-miss) Jones & Clemesha.

Northern Pencil Orchid / Bridal Veil Orchid

Named after A.W. Dockrill, a botanist who specialises in Australian orchids. calamiformis = having a reed-like form.

This species was previously included with Dendrobium teretifolia as a northern var. fasciculatum

Northern Pencil Orchid

This orchid species is by far the most prevalent epiphytic orchid at Wild Wings and Swampy Things Nature Refuge.

It appears to attach itself to any tree that has a rough flaky bark.

For much of the year it presents itself as a series of pendulous terete leaves, usually on the underside of a branch or on the  trunk of an older tree.

Flowering is often towards the end of the dry season, with the flowers only lasting a few days.

A couple of days ago Denis Wilson (The Nature of Robertson) featured a southern cousin of this plant seen at Jervis Bay (Dockrillia teretifolia).

Superficially the two plants are very similar. The labellum on the northern plant doesn’t roll back like the southern plant does however.

Flowers of Northern Pencil Orchid

The other striking feature of these attractive orchids is their delicate sweet scent.

This is particularly strong early morning and late afternoon, but certainly adds to the delight of these stunning plants