Bushwalk Australia

We do get many types butterflies and moths around here but I don't recall having seen that type before, not sure though.
I mostly only tell the difference by the prominent colour and or size.

Im not a fan of spiders but Ive seen a few of these tiny guys in my surburban backyard and they are pretty cute - peacock spider - maratus pavonis.
Sorry the photo is not very good but the spider is tiny and kept jumping away.
I never noticed how colourful some jumping spiders were until seeing peacockspidermans videos on youtube - the videos are amazing showing the spiders dancing.
For example https://youtu.be/d_yYC5r8xMI

Something is putting holes in my yard. Deeper than wide - I'm thinking bandicoot or potoroo. Wish an echidna or two would move in and take out some of the ant nests . . .

First appearance of this year's generation of magpies.

I had the opportunity to take another few shots of one of the 2 eagles ( a pair) flying over the property yesterday.

We often hear Koels, and sometimes see males around sunset, but this is the first female (I think ...) I have seen. Lucky she stayed around to get a pic.

I would be grateful if anyone could confirm my id.



Quick update - I got to listen to the male for much of this afternoon, and as of 5 minutes ago saw them together.

cajun wrote:We often hear Koels, and sometimes see males around sunset, but this is the first female (I think ...) I have seen. Lucky she stayed around to get a pic.
I would be grateful if anyone could confirm my id.

You are correct cajun. It's a female Eastern Koel.

Many Thanks MickeyB.

And this year the butcherbirds have four chicks. All currently cuddling up in the wattle outside the window. They don't look at all happy to be there . . .

I saved a joey today that caught herself into the two top wires in my fence.
I've heard some bleating went to investigate and found the poor critter hanging upside down with the mother bouncing around in full panic.
Anyway I sent the mother away, cut the wires and let the little one free. Two minutes later she was back into the mother's pouch and off they went.

My 'backyard' is the Cradle Mountain day-walk area.
So, the other day, three separate platypus sightings.
Two during the late afternoon in Pencil Pine Creek and another at about 9.40PM at Ronny Creek.

Franco wrote:I saved a joey today that caught herself into the two top wires in my fence.
I've heard some bleating went to investigate and found the poor critter hanging upside down with the mother bouncing around in full panic.
Anyway I sent the mother away, cut the wires and let the little one free. Two minutes later she was back into the mother's pouch and off they went.

Nice work, Franco. I am curious – how and why did you send the mother away? Did you believe you might have been in danger of being attacked by her if you were seen approaching her offspring?

And now the miners are giving their twins dinner in that wattle. They look dreadfully uncomfy there, with the amount of wind atm.

First time they've brought their little 'uns here. And they're none too happy about me looking at the window. Keep bouncing around and peering at me angrily from all sorts of weird angles. Oh, the stress of parenthood . . .

Toc........toc..........toc........toc, in the early hours this morning.
Steady & continuous, sounds like the second hand on a large wall clock or
a dripping tap outside my flyscreened window.
I'll see if I can get a pic of the culprit before the sun rises....by the sound of it's call
I'm pretty sure it's a Striped Marsh frog.

PS...it avoided my camera lens by diving deep & long on this occasion,
but i know where he lives so I'll be back.

But I did capture this rascal noisily clambering from limb to limb in my Ice Cream Bean tree.....it's in flower.
The native birds, especially the Rainbow Lorikeet's love the nectar....& so do Possums.

Musk Lorikeet, was at the neighbour's but it's close enough to home.
Slightly out of focus, lens is out of calibration as it's only a kit lens and an entry level body.

Pretty bird, Hiking Noob.

Yeah I don't think I'd ever seen them before, for some reason these bottlebrushes seem to be really popular with Lorikeets even though there are a few more around.

Tawny Frogmouth and child-

EDIT-This one was in the backyard.

Here is a photo of a young tailless male king parrot that often visits us. Apart from missing his tail he seems to be very healthy and it doesn't appear to affect his flying.

I have seen this bird several times over the past few weeks and I believe it could be a hybrid between an eastern rosella and a crimson rosella. It does look more like an eastern rosella however it doesn't look like a typical specimen (young or old). It also has blue tinges in the white parts of the cheek which a normal eastern rosella doesn't have (Eastern rosellas have white cheeks and crimson rosellas have blue cheeks). Each time I have seen this bird it has been with a small flock of crimson rosellas. I know it isn't the best photo but can anyone confirm if my theory is correct?

First thought is an Eastern adolescent that's transitioning to full adult plumage.

Crimson/Eastern hybrids generally have far more red. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/rare-hybrid-rosellas-spotted-in-canberra/7326060
But they also can hybridise with other species, such as ringnecks. The colour & patterning there is very similar to an Eastern/Ringneck hybrid.

After finding holes all over the place for almost a year I finally spotted an echidna.
She heard me coming so hid and remained there for over an hour.


I think it is a female because there is a burrow near that spot and near most of the holes .
About 32cm in diameter.

A couple of years ago I took a bit of old soft wood; drilled holes in it and hung it in a tree in the North facing front og the house.
Today while pruning the rampant Hardenbergia I happened to see dozens of tiny little native bees, I may have done something right in providing nesting habitat as I've never seen them here before

north-north-west wrote:First thought is an Eastern adolescent that's transitioning to full adult plumage.

Crimson/Eastern hybrids generally have far more red. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/rare-hybrid-rosellas-spotted-in-canberra/7326060
But they also can hybridise with other species, such as ringnecks. The colour & patterning there is very similar to an Eastern/Ringneck hybrid.

Thanks NNW. I agree that whatever it is, it's transitioning to adult plumage. I Googled Crimson/Eastern hybrids and there are many variants.

Moondog55 wrote:A couple of years ago I took a bit of old soft wood; drilled holes in it and hung it in a tree in the North facing front og the house.
Today while pruning the rampant Hardenbergia I happened to see dozens of tiny little native bees, I may have done something right in providing nesting habitat as I've never seen them here before

Sounds like you have a healthy population of Mason Bees. It's also good to have some mud nearby as this makes it easier for them to build the cover over the nest hole.

Michael.

Thanx Michael, I'll set some water up to drip then, the wattle and the two Kings Park in the nature strip are still in minor flower so plenty of food around
Now that they are here I'll prepare new blocks with fresh holes for next year
Mud will be in short supply until I get the bog/frog garden done so I'd better get a rock under the tap and let it drip a little

We live at the foot of the Dandenongs in Melbourne. Every year around this time we find a moth like this around our back door. These shots with and without flash taken when resting on the flywire.
The mysterious thing is that the green fairly closely matches the colour of the fly wire door frame (which is out of view) though this could be coincidence.
It is quite a beautiful little creature and about 30mm across. Does anyone know what it is?





Please forgive the blurry pictures and crappy uneven cropping effort. It is hand held macro with a Canon point and shoot.

Crikey - I googled "mottled green moth Dandenongs" the first reply was to do with household pest control

neilmny wrote:Does anyone know what it is?

I have no idea what it is Neil. I haven't seen anything like that on the other side of the hill to you.

There is a Field Guide to Butterflies & Moths of Australia on Flickr. You could post your photo on there and hopefully someone can answer your question.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/aus_lepidoptera/

Thanks MickyB. I had a browse through that gallery and found something very very close only in shades of grey/white called pingasa chlora but I don't think it is exactly the same.

neilmny wrote:something very very close only in shades of grey/white called pingasa chlora but I don't think it is exactly the same.

Pingasa chlora is found in Queensland and south-east Asia so it's not that species. I also had a look on that site but had the same problems. I found similar looking moths but none occured in Victoria.

Another bird in the backyard, new Butcher Bird for the season-